Dinks On Tap: The Happy Hour Pickleball Podcast

What really goes on behind the scenes of Major League Pickleball?

In this episode, we sit down with LA Mad Drops team owner Alex Geesbreght to get an inside look at how MLP works, from team contracts and player movement to the MLP draft, scouting, ownership, and the business behind the sport.

Alex walks us through some of the biggest questions we have had about pickleball players, pickleball teams, and the decisions happening off the court. We also talk about where the league could be headed, what still needs to evolve, and why the next few years could be especially important for pickleball leagues.

You’ll learn:

How trades work during the MLP season, including who starts the conversation and what teams are actually trading for.

What happens when team contracts expire

How the MLP draft works and why teams are bidding for draft positions rather than directly bidding on players.

Why a salary cap and minimum team spending could become important parts of the league’s future.

How a team owner thinks about roster decisions, spending, and building a competitive organization.

What Alex looks for when evaluating pickleball players, including qualities that have very little to do with pure talent.

Why a stronger developmental system could change how pickleball teams discover and develop future stars.

How professional teams can build sustainable pickleball business models through sponsorships, merchandise, events, and stronger local communities.

Why permanent home venues could help pro pickleball feel more like a traditional professional sports league.

What could make future pickleball leagues more sustainable for owners, players, and fans.

We also get into Alex’s competitive side, the players he loves watching, and why he believes pickleball has become much bigger than what happens on the court.

If you have ever wondered how the business of Major League Pickleball really works, this conversation gives you a rare look behind the curtain without taking away the fun of watching it all unfold.

Pour something cold and press play. Cheers,

Casie and Lauren

Dinks on Tap

Listen to Part 1 of our conversation, where we get into Alex Geesbreght’s story, how he became involved in professional pickleball, and what led him to ownership of the LA Mad Drops.

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.

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.

Nobody warns you about this part of pickleball.

Your favorite doubles partner moves away, levels up, or… stops putting you on the calendar. Suddenly, “it’s just pickleball” doesn’t come close to describing what’s happening.

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Amanda Sovik-Johnston, founder of The Connected Competitor and the sports psychologist behind the blog post “Pickleball Will Break Your Heart”. We talk about the mental game behind partner breakups, changing groups, and the real grief pickleball players can experience when relationships on the court shift.

Amanda explains why losing a pickleball partner can hit so hard, why being left out can trigger more than disappointment, and how ratings, skill gaps, and changing friendships can turn a game you love into an emotional minefield.

In this episode, we talk about:

Why losing a doubles partner can feel like a real breakup

What to do when your pickleball partner starts fading out without saying why

Why pickleball players can take partner changes so personally

How Amanda handled her own partner moving away, including the goodbye letter and the "auditions on the off days"

How performance anxiety can actually come from worrying about whether you belong

Why anxiety in sports often has a social side

What DUPR rating conversations miss about ratings, access, and friendships

Amanda's three intentions for every game and how naming your intention before you show up changes who you play with and what you get out of it

Why healthy competition can make both you and your friends better

What to do when your regular group dissolves and how to keep growing without leaving meaningful relationships behind

The pickleball community gives us connection, competition, friendship, and sometimes heartbreak. And if you’ve ever lost a partner, watched your group change, or wondered why being left out bothered you so much, this conversation will make a lot of things click.

Cheers,

Casie & Lauren Dinks on Tap

Let’s keep the conversation going! Connect with us:

Instagram: @dinksontap

Facebook: @DinksonTap

Website: dinksontap.comCurious about your rating? Check out My DUPR Coach to get an initial DUPR rating, especially if you're new to the game.

Connect with Amanda:

Instagram: @theconnectedcompetitor

Website: https://www.theconnectedcompetitor.com/

Read the blog post that inspired this entire conversation: Pickleball Will Break Your Heart

If your biggest opponent lives between your ears, start with The Inner Game of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey, the performance classic Amanda references with her coaching clients.Want more of Amanda's take on the game we all love too much? Her pickleball book is in progress, and www.theconnectedcompetitor.com is where the news will land first.

You know how everyone at open play decides how good you are as a pickleball player before you've hit a single ball? Your paddle, your shoes, your warmup, whether the next twenty minutes are worth their court time?

It happens to beginners. It happened to an Oscar winner, and she told us about it over dinner.

Rivulet invited us to what we understood was a cast party for The Dink movie. Instead, we ended up at a table for eight on a terrace at Soho House with Mary Steenburgen and Ted Danson. The next night we were at the premiere in Westwood watching the cast come through when we spotted Ben Johns across the atrium and decided the polite thing to do was run him down. Then we hosted a happy hour before a screening for our own pickleball community in Dallas:

This week we get into:

Our "is this really happening" moment at Soho House, and how fast it turned into the easiest conversation of the trip

Mary's paddle stack story, involving a group of strangers making up their minds about her, and what happened after that

What Ted said about the people who keep turning up at his house for dinner now, and how casually he said it

The celebration that gets under Ben Johns' skin, and the nearly identical one he finds hilarious

His celebrity foursome, which he admits has no chemistry in it whatsoever, plus the pick that made Lauren want to switch partners

What the whole cast had to learn before shooting, and what all of them did together on the final day

Why the trailer undersells this pickleball movie by a wide margin

Aaron Chen and Cleo King, and the scenes that land harder than the marketing lets on

The tennis rivalry storyline, and the choice that keeps it from turning mean

The bar Casie set before she handed out her rating, which involves Shawshank Redemption

Our Dallas crowd, unfiltered, seconds after the credits, including one review that ranks this above The Devil Wears Prada 2

This one is for anyone who knows that pickleball people get to laugh at pickleball, and understands that the deal doesn't extend past us.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

Learn more about the Mental Caddie or LPV Coaching, check out Lauren’s website or book a Chemistry Call.

What if the most “irresponsible” thing you ever did… (joining a sport with a wiffle ball and a weird name) was actually the smartest move you’ve made for your physical health, your sanity, and your social life?

In this episode, Casie & Lauren are doing what they do best: pickleball + truth + tequila. We’re talking Mardi Gras (yes, balls, yes, beads, yes, strangers screaming at you like they’ve known you forever)… and why pickleball could basically be the same experience but with less glitter and more knee braces.

We also tackle one of life’s greatest mysteries: why the rally ends and your brain immediately goes “nope” on the score. Lauren dives into the neuroscience of play and explains why “pickleball brain” is your brain prioritizing survival over bookkeeping.

And then Casie gets real about the emotional plot twist no one warns you about: how a career change can crack open an identity crisis, and how the court can become the thing that pulls you into a new chapter you didn’t see coming, complete with an identity shift, better habits, and the kind of community that makes you feel tethered again.

Because yes, this pickleball lifestyle might start as “cardio with friends” but it ends up being a full-blown life transformation.

In this episode, we’re pouring out:

Why long rallies hijack your brain into performance memory mode (and why your internal bookkeeper fully quits).

The real reason everyone asks “what’s the score?” and why transactive memory turns doubles into a group project.

A simple habit to boost mental clarity in-game so you stop getting accidentally robbed of points.

How chasing floats, chasing lobs, and chasing “one more game” can spark a huge glow-up in physical health, sleep quality, and stress reduction.

Why pickleball brings back childlike joy… and why that joy hits deeper than you think.

The spicy truth about friendship shifts: your energy isn’t free, your circle evolves, and meaningful connections start replacing convenience hangs.

How “finding your people” turns into an actual social community that can carry you through the messy middle of reinvention.

So grab your shot of Point Blank Reposado, squeeze a lime, and join us as we connect Mardi Gras madness to midlife magic, from the boardroom to the baseline, from burnout to belonging… and from “what’s the score?” to “who even cares, that rally was ART.”

Let’s get you back to the kitchen. Just try to remember the score this time.

Cheers,

Casie & Lauren Dinks on Tap

This episode is a re-release from our archives, and the conversation still feels just as relevant today.

Let’s keep the conversation going! Connect with us:

Instagram: @dinksontap

Facebook: @DinksonTapWebsite: dinksontap.com

Learn more about the Mental Caddie or LPV Coaching, check out Lauren’s website or book a Chemistry Call.