Key Highlights
- Using his engineering background, Elliott began building custom paddles designed to generate more spin, quickly attracting interest from professional players. Also Read: As Pickleball’s Rapid Rise Fuels Demand for Certified Coaches, PPR Course Comes Under SpotlightOne of the first professionals Engage signed was a young Ben Johns, now the sport’s biggest star.
- The brand’s gritty paddles helped establish Engage as an industry leader, while also sparking debate over the legality of the then-novel design.
- As pickleball matured, paddle-related controversies became common - from excessive grit and power to durability and quality-control issues - yet Engage maintained a strong reputation built on consistent quality, a loyal customer base, and paddles backed by a limited lifetime warranty. Challenging timeHowever, Elliott admitted the past two years were challenging.
- While competitors embraced mass production and thermoforming technologies through Chinese and Asian factories, Engage continued manufacturing exclusively in the United States.
- That commitment ensured quality oversight but left the brand offering what Elliott called “Gen 1” paddles in a fast-moving “Gen 3” marketplace.“The long story short is that China caught up, and they started making good paddles overseas using technology that you can’t do in the US,” Elliott told The Kitchen Pickleball.
