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Hey Padel enthusiasts welcome to Padel Smash Academy, I am Cesc and I am here with Julian and we're all about Padel! Whether you're new to the sport or an experienced player, you've come to the right place. Our goal is to provide you with the best tips & tricks, news, and weekly lessons to help you improve your game and take your Padel to the next level. So grab your Padel Racket and let's get started with all things Padel on Padel Smash Academy.
Hey Julian Cesc here and
welcome to another exciting
episode of Padel Smash Academy.
And today We have a true paddle pioneer
in the United States, Jake D'Amelio.
We are all things paddle.
Hey Jake, thanks for coming on the show.
Of course, thanks for having me.
Why don't you tell us a little
bit about yourself before paddle?
People kind of want to know what you do
and then finally how you got into paddle.
Yeah, for sure.
So, uh, I grew up in a town
called Rumson, New Jersey.
Um, I played football in high school.
Um, football was a, you
know, big part of my life.
I lived in a town where it
was kind of like a bubble.
So everyone knew everyone.
Um, then I ended up going to school
in Long Island for two years.
I played college football there.
Um, school was not for me.
I just couldn't do it.
I'd be in class looking at the teacher
and it was just, it wasn't working out.
I was thinking of a million things.
So I actually ended up going
out, um, visiting my buddy
in the University of Utah.
I went out skiing there
for like three seasons.
Every single winter I'd go out there.
I worked on the mountain.
I was just skiing and all that.
Um, but making eight bucks an hour and
drinking beer every day and snowboarding,
it's not, you can't do it forever.
Um, so one of these days, one of my
buddies hit me up and was like, Hey,
why don't you come to the city and,
you know, come sell, you know, loans.
Uh, I'm in the alternative
financing space now.
I'm a loan broker.
Um, I gave that a try.
I worked in the city for two years.
I ended up going there,
being super successful at it.
COVID ended up hitting me.
Um, I kind of wanted a new path.
I wanted to escape my town.
I wanted to get out of my hometown.
Um, so I ended up moving to Miami.
Um, I moved here about five years ago.
Um, Miami's been amazing.
The people I've met here have
been, you know, truly magical.
This place is unbelievable.
I love it.
I never, you know, take it for granted.
So let's go back a little bit.
You talked about loans.
What type of loans does money depend on?
So I'm an alternative financing space.
So, I give unsecured
money to business owners.
So, if a business owner goes to the
bank and they get declined, I'll come
in and I'll have to give them the money.
It's just at a higher rate, shorter term.
Sound like a merchant
cash advance business?
Merchant cash advance, hard money.
Real estate, stuff like that.
Um, I grew my company, you know,
first started with 10 employees.
We're up to like 65 employees.
It had like 100 at one point.
Um, it was just too out of control.
I kind of had to knock
it down a little bit.
So it's most of your
business here in Florida?
Yeah, I have two offices here in Miami.
I have an office in Stanford, Connecticut.
I have an office in New
Jersey in my hometown as well.
Great.
The main headquarters is here in Miami.
So how did you, I mean, you came down
here to Florida, right, I assume for the
weather and just for business, correct?
Yeah, I just, I wanted to, like I said,
I wanted to escape my hometown and I
wanted to be around a bunch of hustlers
and guys that were doing better than me.
I mean, there's guys that
are doing better than me now.
You know, look down on anyone.
I love competition.
I love getting after it every single day.
And that's what Miami has to offer.
So well, I love it here.
That's great.
So how did you get into paddle?
Like what?
What did you see it one day?
Did you ever play in
the other racket sports?
Because you said football, which
is I know, football was my main
thing, but I grew up as an athlete.
Of course, I played everything.
Baseball, basketball, that
and I always played tennis.
My mom was a tennis player.
So I grew up, you know, I lived
across the street from the park, so
I always kind of had racket skills.
Um, I take my, uh, my athleticism
from my mother, not my father.
Um, but, um, paddle, you know,
I guess two years ago, I started
going to reserve seaplane.
Um, and I liked the sport.
And I really didn't know where it would
take me, but I knew it was a good workout.
And I hated doing cardio on the treadmill.
So I was like, this is, this is my cardio.
And then I started seeing that.
A lot of wealthy individuals play paddle,
and you know, I want to become successful,
I'm successful where I'm at right now.
Um, but I, you know, I have a big
ladder to climb still, obviously.
But I just loved what paddle had to offer.
Pickle wasn't, you know, you
can't just meet people in Pickle.
You go to a park and you start
playing and it's, it's not like that.
You know, there's the, there's a show
in Paddle, and that's what I love.
I love show, man.
It's, it's entertaining, right?
It's entertaining.
So, Jake, uh, for the past two years I've
been seeing you, you're a true athlete.
I mean, grinding it on the paddle core
with lessons and unbelievable matches
and the screaming, the shouting.
You, you go very passionate.
Very passionate, man.
Very passionate.
I played with you once,
and you are an athlete.
I appreciate that.
But you're really putting, uh,
uh, so much behind the sport.
I mean, not only on, on, on the
court, but also outside the court.
And you've been a, a, a truly pioneer
in the sport, putting your, your, your
cash behind it, your faith behind it.
Tell us a little bit about all the great
things that you're doing with Paddle.
Well, let's talk about that.
How did you How did you say, Hey, look,
I'm going to get into the paddle business.
How did that come to be?
Yeah.
You know, you know, I started,
I play a paddle X a lot.
I'm good friends with Nale.
I love his courts.
Um, Nale reached out to me, you
know, cause I've always rocked
my brand, you know, always
had the Novak logo everywhere.
Um, and then Maxi Rosas reached out to me,
you know, cause I would play with him, you
know, he would give me lessons and stuff.
He was like, hey, do
you want to sponsor me?
And I'm like, well, I've
never really done this.
I'm like, what do you mean by that?
You just want to wear my brand?
He's like, no, I need some
money to travel and stuff.
And I'm like, eh, I don't know about,
you know, giving a kind of an am money.
He's like, listen, give
me 20 grand for the year.
I won't let you down.
I'll help you grow the brand.
And then that's kind of where it
flipped the switch in my head.
And I was like, maybe
I could build a team.
Cause one of my goals and my dreams
in my life was to always build
a team and own a sports team.
And I don't, it's not, you know,
considered like football or anything,
but I will get to that at that point.
I want it to grow massive.
Um, and then Nolly reached out
to me and was like, Hey, do you
want to sponsor this tournament?
Cause he saw Maxi wearing my logo.
And that's kind of where
it flipped the switch.
When was the first Red Paddle tournament?
Probably like six to seven months ago.
Something like that.
And in that time span, I mean, I
must've had hundreds of people reach
out to me, you know, for me to sponsor
clubs, just everything, you know, and
obviously, um, you know, Marin helps me.
You guys are familiar with Marin.
Um, my wife helps me with everything, but
you know, and then, I was like, let me
just assemble a team and you know, I play
with all the local guys But I was like,
I want to target some bigger players.
I want to have the U. S. team,
and then I want to have the guys
that play in Europe as well.
Um, and it just flipped the switch.
And you know, I started
sponsoring all the circuits.
Charles over at Red Pal, he reached out
to me, wanted me to be the main sponsor.
And, you know, right now I'm investing
a lot of money into the sport.
I don't know where it's going to go.
I don't have an answer for that yet.
That was my question.
What's the goal?
Yeah, I think the ultimate goal is to keep
building paddle inside the United States.
That is the biggest goal, of course.
We're with you.
We're with you.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I mean, you know, the way the sport's
grown since I've gotten into it the
last two years, it's like, out of this
world, I've never seen anything like it.
More clubs, more people are playing.
Tennis is even getting,
like, knocked out of the way.
Because before I, you know,
got into paddle, you know, I
still wanted to play tennis.
I would go and I It
just didn't make sense.
Like, no one was behind it.
You go to a paddle place
on a Monday, it's packed.
You know what I mean?
You go to a tennis court, there's
maybe one guy there, you know, playing.
So, now, sponsor is pretty broad and open.
What does that entail?
I mean, it entail a salary?
Does it entail just giving them shirts?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And what are their responsibilities?
For sure.
And how many do you have that you sponsor?
Yeah, so, I have a team
about 13, 14 players.
Sometimes I forget I had so many
people involved at some times.
Um, each player has their own
payroll depending on their level.
Um, right now, um, you know, the
payroll on the year is like a
little over 300, 000 and change.
That's what I'm spending, you
know, between sponsors, um,
between paying the players.
The most one single player gets
paid a year is 75, 000, which is,
you know, the top of the line guy.
Um, I'm sure you guys know, you
know, who I'm talking about.
I don't need to disclose
names or anything like that.
But the, the Premier Paddle
League guys, they're, they're
getting paid the most out of it.
So what's your responsibilities?
What do they have to do?
Well, I have the front logo on their
shirt, and you guys all know, you know,
like, uh, Coelho and Tapia, they have, you
know, their main sponsor, Qatar Airways,
or Alpine, that's what I am for them.
Um, they have to do certain Instagram
posts on Instagram, social media.
Um, they have to, you know, come play
tournaments here inside the United
States and help grow the sport.
That was my biggest thing when I
drew up the contracts with Marin.
Was that like, anyone could wear a logo,
but like, what are you going to do to
help build it in the United States?
And that was my biggest thing.
And I want to start, you know,
I want to build my own circuit.
That's my ultimate goal.
Sorry if Charles is listening to this.
Um, but I, I want my own circuit.
And I want it to be the players that play
in premier paddle to be inside the united
states because they have the miami Premier
paddle they're going to be coming here.
That's going to be good.
You know, I'll have a sponsor in that
but like Can we do the whole circuit
around the United States and grow it?
You know what I mean?
In Las Vegas, can we
do it in New York City?
How is that gonna work?
There's all these other
tournaments, and there's only
so much amount of time, right?
Yeah, but the problem is, and I
don't know if you guys know this,
the Premier Paddle League, it
really doesn't pay that much money.
Of course.
The players make their
money from their sponsors.
Yeah, a hundred percent.
I mean, Koki and um And Young
West won the tournament.
They won like 50 grand each.
Like it's not a lot.
Yeah, you know what I mean?
Yeah, not yet.
Not yet.
You know these guys that are
paying them, you know, they're
only gonna remember it like four
years ago It was almost half that.
Yeah.
No, no I mean, the sport's
growing all around the world.
And once those big guys get in there,
once there's more eyes on the sport.
If I could get some IEPC funds,
some private equity firms
involved in the sport of paddle.
We could do a million dollar purse.
Like you have guys competing
for 250, 000 on a weekend.
Like it's going to draw attention.
It's going to bring you will have all
the professional players moving to the
US and a lot of some of my players.
And I know a few guys, they,
they are going to move.
What you might just do is create
competition and the premier is going
to have to bring that up as well.
No problem.
So we'll compete and we'll go head to
head because that's a good thing for the
players and the players need that because
for, I don't know, 30, 40, 50 years.
They've been playing for, you know,
for passion, and it's about time, you
know, that, that, that purse goes more.
You know what I mean?
The type of money these
guys are making now.
Well, actually, I asked him the
other day, and he said The most.
He made one year in prize
money was like, uh, $60,000.
Yeah.
A whole year.
Crazy.
And he was number one for 14
years and years, number one.
Number one.
Crazy.
And now that's crazy.
These number 1, 2, 3 players, they're
making less than half a million.
Yeah.
You know, if it wasn't for the sponsors,
they wouldn't be able to survive
the top guys like top five making
between three to 4 million a year.
I know what they're getting paid.
And listen, that's a lot of money.
But the problem is they live in Spain.
Yeah.
Half of their money is gone.
Yeah.
Then there's no way, you know,
like we have 10 90 nines,
we have our own business.
We could write stuff off, we could
buy properties, this and that.
These guys, if they make 2 million
bucks, a million bucks goes out the door.
But if you come to the United
States, there's more opportunity.
Taxes are less, there's
just more opportunity.
Everything They see that they, they're
seeing that, that's why they're coming.
So, so Jake, uh, we love your vision.
Uh, what I mean, I'm, and your passion.
And your passion.
Passion.
I mean, uh, I, I, we truly,
truly appreciate that part.
So tell us a, a, a little bit about Novak.
What, what, what you, what
are you cooking there?
What are your things that you're
can be putting together, if you can?
Yeah, I mean, my, uh, my ultimate
goal is to own my own paddle facility.
Okay.
That's, uh, that's in the works.
I'm going to.
I'll disclose that when the time is
right, you know, when it's opening, when
everything's going on, I think that's
about a six, six months to 12 months out.
Um, it's going to be a regular facility.
No, no, no, it's going to be private
and it's going to be for the best
players in the world to come be at.
And, you know, it's going to be.
It's going to be big and badass.
Wayne's going to have to
compete against me for sure.
Wow, look at that.
And it's okay, you can listen to that.
It's all good.
Hey, listen, I started the whole
Novak trend in sponsoring the
players, and a few weeks later,
Wayne started sponsoring players too.
So I think, you know, and
listen, I love good competition.
I'm good friends with Wayne.
We need people like you and us, you
know, really pushing battle in the USA.
It's just that I, I, I really see
so much potential in the sport over,
like I said, I had the opportunity
a few years ago to invest in a
pickle team and I didn't do it.
Um, I have a few buddies that
play pickle and they're all slowly
transforming over to the paddle.
Really?
And, uh, The athletes will.
The, the growth of the sport,
like I said before, is just out
of this world and I truly love it.
Like it's so electric and fun to watch.
Like, you got guys hitting a poor trace
and they're running out of the court.
You got the bug, my friend.
And then like, you know what I mean?
And the bug hasn't stopped
because I played golf for a while.
I got super into golf.
I'm a member over at Trump.
I need still need to cancel my membership.
I haven't golfed in like two years
because I just got so into to
paddle and I don't get sick of it.
Like I'm walking downstairs, I'm
watching these guys warm up and
it's like, it's just so amazing
to watch the way paddle is.
And then you have guys looking through
glass and watching other guys warm up.
Like, yeah, it's not
like tennis whatsoever.
Yeah.
It's more entertaining.
Look at the tournament.
So then there's three, 400 people
just, you know, watching around here.
Yeah.
Wait, give it another year.
There's going to be a thousand,
2000 people at these tournaments.
You know what I mean?
I just, I just think two years ago.
This is a 400 person tournament.
This place is going to be packed all
weekend long and Novak's the main sponsor
and people are going to ask what it
is and they're going to get the same.
Not only you, I mean, we know we
do podcasts with, with different
paddle brands that everybody sees.
This is the next goal rush, you know, for
any sports, you know, paddle is going to
be, everybody wants to jump on this train.
You as a pioneer, you saw it first,
you know, and you jump on it first and,
and your name is going to be out there,
you know, one of the first ones here in
the United States together with Wayne
and all that, that they're putting
Paddle into the, everybody's eyes.
Yeah.
The way I saw it was if no one's going
to start getting into the sponsoring
and doing the tournaments, like
someone's going to eventually do it.
I was like, I'm just going to
go all in with this, even if I
don't get the ROI I'm looking for.
I'm having so much fun doing this.
It's a passion of mine.
I truly love it.
Like, I just want to grow the sport.
And I like building stuff.
Like, I built my business
from the ground up.
Like, I just truly enjoy building
things and seeing them work.
And the Novak brand is blowing
up in players deserve it.
Especially a lot of players here.
And it's fun, you know.
I got a team of guys, you know.
I, I help them with life
coaching, you know what I mean?
Cause like, they go through a lot
of stuff, you know what I mean?
Like, some of these players, they're not
like the guys in, you know, Spain where
they can just train paddle all the time.
These guys have to balance
between work and trying to
compete, you know what I mean?
Like the other weekend, you know,
Maxi lost in New York and he's
like, you know, what's going on?
What am I doing wrong?
And I'm like, you're not
training enough, you know?
You're not, you're not
putting in the work.
You're not going to see the results
you want to see if you're only training
one day a week and then you're playing
money games with a bunch of guys.
But I get it.
You know, it's tough, but I want
these guys to be full-time, us paddle
players where they don't have to work
for someone and they have to compete.
You know?
That's they, they all want that.
Yeah.
And it's not there yet, yet, but then
you'd be able to make money to do it.
You're definitely helping.
You're definitely, definitely
helping that situation.
And we need more people like that.
That's response.
Yeah.
I mean, that's how you're gonna
take when you start seeing
those professional players.
Really taking the, that, that's
when the sport's going to be.
Oh, for sure.
To the next, to the next level.
Well, look at Nico Agritelli,
you know what I mean?
Yeah.
He's a, he's a U. S. paddle player.
Yeah.
And he's grown.
He played for Team U. S. in the.
Yeah.
When they were in Dubai and all that.
So like, the sport's growing.
I just need it to keep growing here.
Yeah, but actually.
Now that you mentioned, uh, Nico.
He was saying that when he
played the PPL and he plays with,
with the professional players.
He said they're at that different level.
Oh, of course.
I mean, he was just telling me that
You can't even compare the two.
The only way I can be at that
level is to train with them.
Yeah.
And I think what they need is the
Novak paddle class coming too.
Yes, yes.
I, listen, the PPL league I think
is great, but that's something
that That was another question.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You wanted your own team.
Why didn't you go that route?
Well, you know, first off,
it's a big production.
You know, like the Reserve Cup
is a two, three million dollar
production for a weekend.
The PPL, I'm assuming, is somewhere
in that vicinity range as well.
I don't think I'm ready to take on
that yet, because if I invest that
money into it now, then I don't
know where it's going to lead me to.
Like I said, I do want to own
my own circuit, but I want to
do it once I have my own place.
Okay, and what do you
think about the format?
You know, the men's, women's, and mix.
Yeah.
Paddle's not meant to be played mix.
I think they just do that for the fans.
But to be honest, you know,
they just did it in New York,
and there really was no fans.
You know what I mean?
No disrespect to PPL, but it's not,
it's not being ran the right way.
I thought that it was a big improvement.
I mean, I went to the one in San
Diego, the one obviously in Miami, and
that one The one in Miami was great.
Definitely, definitely more an improvement
when it comes to the professional, the
feel of They definitely put on a show.
It's cool.
And there were some, there's
people there, um But I think
you were right about the mix.
It was, what's their goal?
What's PPL's goal?
You know what I mean?
I think the same with everybody, the
years and everybody, the exposure,
getting people out there, you
know, uh, eventually, you know, uh,
creating this franchise that that's
what the Americans are used to.
I think, I think he's trying to make.
Uh, and universal sport, international
sport to make it Americanized by
the team, you know, team LA playing
against the team, same thing
as NFL or something like that.
But those players will never
be able to commit full time.
Yes.
That's the problem.
And I'm not sure if that will work because
they're accustomed to something else.
So it's.
It's like they want the, the Europeans
and South Americans to conform to their
style and it's, it's, it's kind of tough.
I don't know if there's a
compromise or something.
I just think the biggest thing is
that to keep growing it here so
the players from Europe are all
over and they compete for serious,
because everyone's after the money.
That's what everyone's after.
No one cares about, yes, everyone
has love for the sport, but these
guys want to make more money.
And if 16, 17, 18 year old kids
can play and grow inside the U.
S., by the time they're 21, 22,
they could be competing with the
guys who are playing now in Spain.
You know what I mean?
And competing for, you know,
two 300, 000 games, you know?
You're right, there has to be motivation.
Okay, it works for me, I'm gonna play.
American football, basketball, or paddle?
American football and basketball
are making a lot more money.
I'm going to go there.
We lose a lot of athletes.
For that also, you need
to have infrastructure.
That's what he's bringing.
Because without the right coaches
and the right clubs, you won't
have the junior development.
So where, how NOVAC
professional paddle circuit?
What will be the structure?
Will it be similar to the premier paddle?
It's going to be very similar to
premier paddle, except The prizes
are going to be a lot bigger, and
every person that competes is going
to have a chance to make money.
Okay.
Because, you know, you have
guys that travel here, they
don't want to travel for free.
I want everyone, just like this,
everyone has a chance to make money.
At least make it worth
their while, you know.
Yeah, I mean, there should
be a back draw, I think.
Yeah.
You know, I know it's the best that's
supposed to win, but like, it's
not fair that Tappy and Coelho win
every freaking match and they get
paid and then no one else gets paid.
Yeah.
Yeah, they get paid by their
sponsors, but I'd like to see
everyone have a chance to make money.
Yeah.
You know?
That's right.
I think I should do, I don't
know, 12 games, you know, are
12 all over the U. S. 12 spots.
I think that'd be cool in
a few different states that
people are attracted to paddle.
You know, I want to bring it all over.
And no one in U. S. can travel to
go see this premiere thing because
it's all over the world all the time.
But if it's, you know, in Florida, then
it's in New York, like, I don't have a
problem traveling back and forth to there.
You know what I mean?
Right, right, right.
Yeah, like you say, you know,
going back to the Maxi Rolls or
something you call it, your tellies.
You know, the financial, the travel
expenses, it's so big that for you to
fly to a tournament and you're going
to make For you winning and it's six
on the box or a thousand to get your
rating up or nothing, if you don't win
nothing, you know, or nothing, that sucks.
And that's what the pros dealt
with for many, many, many years.
And that's why I got
involved with Charles.
I told him, you know, I'm like,
there has to be some more.
Cause they were doing like 5, 000 to the
winner and I'll be split between everyone.
And I'm like, dude, you got to do
these games for like 20 to 40 K. So
also this is supposed to be 10, 000.
I'm going to make an announcement later.
I'm doubling the grand prize.
Well, we hope I live.
That's awesome.
We're going to do a recap tomorrow,
so we'll definitely talk about that.
We'll make that announcement later.
How much is it going to be?
So 20, 000 total.
Everyone thinks it's 10,
but it's gonna be 20.
Nice.
I can't let him compete for that.
Right, right.
Jake, you're very generous, man.
You're very generous, thank you so much.
Um, you know, so, uh, I mean, I'm
really, really excited Yeah, thanks for
having me on, I really appreciate it.
And you know, you guys are great to join.
I've known you for what?
Two years now coming into the club.
Thank you for everything you've done.
And then obviously our
relationship has grown.
We've got to get to play more,
but you're playing with top dogs.
I don't know if I can handle that.
Maybe one set.
That's about it for cool to see you
guys, the way you look at paddle
and how you want to grow the sport.
It's cool to have another fellow
friend like that, you know,
that has the same vision as me.
We use different formats, but I
think it's our, our core mission.
And you said it in the beginning.
We don't do it for the money,
we do it for the love of sport.
And we're growth before profit,
you are growth before profit.
And that's the way we think, that's
the way we sell our YouTube channel.
Seeing a smile on someone's
face and seeing something
grows, what does it for me?
I don't care about the money,
all we have is time, that's it.
That's it baby.
Alright Jake man, congratulations on
everything and good luck on everything.
I appreciate you, thanks guys.