He Bought A Pickleball Team: Inside Team Ownership And Family Connection With Los Angeles Mad Drops Owner Alex Geesbreght
Dinks On Tap: The Happy Hour Pickleball PodcastShow Notes
Pickleball has a remarkable way of pulling people into your life who probably never would have been there otherwise.
You can be on the court with someone 20 years younger than you, someone 20 years older than you, a complete beginner, or a highly competitive player, and somehow everyone still feels like they belong. That mix of movement, competition, family connection, and community is a big part of what keeps so many of us coming back.
In this episode, we sit down with Alex Geesbreght, majority owner of the Los Angeles Mad Drops, to talk about what makes pickleball so different and what he has learned through team ownership in Major League Pickleball.
Alex shares how pickleball brought multiple generations of his family together, why competition can make us feel more alive, and how those experiences have shaped his approach to team dynamics, team culture, and leadership.
We also get a behind-the-scenes look at professional pickleball, including how a team owner thinks about trades, players, long-term growth, and the responsibility that comes with helping shape the fastest-growing sport while it is still finding its footing.
And because Alex brings years of experience as an entrepreneur and leader to the Mad Drops, the conversation goes well beyond pickleball. We get into business leadership, the leadership lessons he carries into professional sports, and why being willing to have difficult conversations matters when you are building something with people you genuinely care about.
If you’ve ever wondered why pickleball seems to become so much more than a game for the people who play it, this conversation will probably feel very familiar.
Pour something cold and press play.
Cheers,
Casie and Lauren
Dinks on Tap
Let’s keep the conversation going! Connect with us:
Instagram: @dinksontap
Facebook: @DinksonTapWebsite: dinksontap.com
Check out Prax Leadership to learn more about Alex's approach to leadership.
Want to see the team Alex talks about in this episode? Head to the Los Angeles Mad Drops official site for the roster, schedule, and everything happening with the squad this season.
More from Dinks On Tap: The Happy Hour Pickleball Podcast
How did a game three grown men made up on a badminton court, because a 13-year-old was bored, turn into the thing your group text runs on? We found the kid who complained, and he still can’t believe it either. In this episode, we get into our summer vault, full of conversations, stories, and a little pickleball drama we never got around to airing. We sat down with Frank Pritchard, the bored kid himself, who can answer “When was pickleball invented?” because he was there when his dad, Bill Bell, and Barney McCallum made up the game on Bainbridge Island. We also cover Picklr’s Chapter 11 filing and the “is pickleball dying” headlines that followed, Genie Bouchard’s paddle-tap walkout and what it says about pickleball etiquette, and why the drinks after play keep the pickleball community together. You’ll learn: Why it's called pickleball, and the Pritchard family member who came up with the name A firsthand account of who invented pickleball, from the teenager whose complaining started it What the original pickleball paddle was made of, and which founder designed it The pickleball history most players don’t know, including how scoring and serving used to work Why Frank took a 30-year break from the game, and what brought him back What Picklr’s Chapter 11 filing means for your local club, according to the general manager of the Picklr in DFW How the pickleball business can struggle while the number of people playing keeps growing Why Genie Bouchard skipped the paddle tap, and whether we think she was justified How we won a tournament this summer by giving a screaming team a taste of its own medicine
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