Court Connection: New pickleball paddle retailer connects with OMB Bank on partnership

An Ozark resident is aiming to serve up retail sales with a focus on the rapidly growing sport of pickleball.

Last fall was the launch of e-commerce venture Hampton Paddles, said Hector Cruz, who debuted his line of pickleball paddles at Fall Market Days, an annual festival in Ozark at Cassidy Station. Cruz said he and his business partner David Hoover, who resides in Texas, conducted research and development of their pickleball paddles for several months prior to the festival and starting their website. The partners determined that while the pickleball retail market is getting crowded, their product was viable and had room for growth.

“You want to try to find where there’s massive growth in the market and in the industry. And pickleball is just continuing to explode in popularity,” Cruz said, adding he works remotely full-time as a fundraising coach and consultant with St. Augustine, Florida-based The Focus Group, which provides fundraising training and consulting for nonprofits.

Cruz said most pickleball paddles are plain-looking and colors are generally black or grey.

“The designs aren’t very appealing,” he said. “Basically, the thought is why can’t pickleball paddles be quality and pretty? So, the niche that we serve is more female. Our designs are kind of more female – not exclusively female – but that’s sort of the niche that we’re starting with.”

Plaid, checkerboard and floral patterns are the three current designs for Hampton Paddles, and the equipment has been approved for competitive play by the USA Pickleball Association, which governs the sport. Prices range $90-$110.

“We do have a couple of different sweatshirt options that are for sale on the website too. We also have a box that people can purchase that has a bunch of extra accessories with it,” he said, adding the branded items include a sweatband hat, wrist sweatband, pickleballs, towel and stickers.

Cruz said while the paddles are designed locally, they are manufactured in China. While he anticipates some increased costs for production due to tariffs, he said there’s currently “a lot of shifting ground” in that area.

Getting the paddles approved by USAPA is a requirement for tournament play, Cruz said, adding it takes about four to six weeks to get paddles approved. It’s a process that was $1,500 per paddle when the owners first started seeking permission but has since tripled in cost, he said.

Hampton Paddles is part of an expanding pickleball market, both in participants and companies seeking to sell products to players. Pickleball, which originated in 1965, is an indoor or outdoor racquet activity that combines elements of tennis, badminton and pingpong, according to the USAPA. According to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in the U.S. SFIA noted the sport’s roughly 19.8 million participants had grown year-over-year nearly 46% in 2024 and 311% since 2021.

USA Pickleball approved 1,225 new paddles and 81 new balls in 2024 while registering 476 new manufacturers and brands.

“The market is getting full, but I think we have a product that is differentiated enough that’s allowed us to be successful,” Cruz said, declining to disclose startup costs or early sales figures.

Cruz said he’s in discussions with myriad venues, such as local country clubs, and pursuing wholesale opportunities for outlets to sell his products beyond the website. Currently, The Pickle, a pickleball venue which opened last October at 3350 E. Montclair St., is the lone brick-and-mortar retail outlet, he said.

Cruz and Hoover have Evangel University to thank for their current partnership. The two met around 15 years ago, not long after Cruz began working for the university as an admissions counselor. He served as the counselor for Hoover’s sister and met her brother and other family members at that time. The two men became friends and stayed in touch, leading to Hoover approaching him a couple years ago with the idea of selling pickleball paddles.

Over Cruz’s 15-year career at Evangel, which ended in 2023, he served in a variety of roles, including capital campaign manager, director of alumni engagement and senior development officer.

In the bank
Part of the early success for Hampton Paddles was a recent partnership struck with OMB Bank, which Cruz said placed an initial order of 200 paddles, which are now in production. The paddles for OMB were designed by the bank’s marketing team, said Sophie Pierpoint, vice president and business development officer for the Springfield-based company. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed by officials.

Ryan Bowling, vice president and director of marketing, said OMB’s custom-designed paddle – which has a herringbone pattern – is named The Harrington, in honor of Mark Harrington, the bank’s founder and president.

“We’ve ordered a couple hundred of these exclusive paddles to use in upcoming promotions and events,” Bowling said via email. “This marks our second major paddle collaboration – we’ve also produced two co-branded designs with Hexa Paddles and placed similar orders with them. These partnerships are part of our broader strategy to celebrate the growing enthusiasm for pickleball while deepening our local and regional relationships in meaningful, memorable ways.”

Pierpoint, who started at OMB in 2022 and has played pickleball since 2020, said she’s facilitated “hundreds” of connections on pickleball courts. Some have led to partnerships with businesses, such as Hampton Paddles, while others have persuaded customers to switch their banking to OMB.

“It’s like the new golf for business networking,” she said.

She said OMB also is involved in pickleball tournament sponsorships and has made an undisclosed investment in branded gear. At the tournaments, the company has recruited eight residents who are pickleball and bank ambassadors she refers to as Team OMB.

“We are the bank that backs pickleball. That’s just one of our hashtags that we use,” Pierpoint said. “It gets our name out there. And even though we’re a local community bank, we have customers all over the country.”

Pierpoint said she doesn’t envision the bank’s collaboration with Hampton Paddles to be a one-off, adding OMB also plans to continue working with Branson-based Hexa Paddles.

“It’s just a different locally owned company and it’s a different kind of product that they have,” she said of Hampton Paddles. “We are always open to helping and support local business owners. So yeah, I’d love to see us continue to do more.”

Next serve
Cruz said Hoover primarily handles the financial aspects of the company, while he is responsible for order fulfillment and shipments, among other duties.

While Cruz said he and Hoover currently are the lone employees for Hampton Paddles, the owners plan to hire a digital marketing manager this spring. Additional designs also are in the works, he said.

“Where we are right now with our three, we feel strongly that these are three really good quality paddles and good designs to start with,” Cruz said, adding they want to get a better sense of their products’ popularity before investing more money in additional designs and production. “We definitely have plans to expand the current designs to other options and then also start a line that’s focused on more masculine designs for male players.”