We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Bradlee Berry. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Bradlee below.

Hi Bradlee, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

My family and I moved to Newport Beach, California after running High-End Country Clubs in La Quinta, California. My wife and I noticed that Orange County lacked a successful Racquet Sports Company to teach tennis and pickleball to all levels of play. In 2021 we launched OC Racquet Sports and the rest is history.

We lead over 50 classes of week in tennis and pickleball and our clinics are designed for players of all ages and skill levels, from beginners to advanced competitors. Led by our experienced and passionate coaches, our clinics offer a unique opportunity to improve your technique, strategy, and overall performance on the court. With a focus on small group instruction, you’ll receive personalized attention and feedback to help you reach your tennis or pickleball goals.

Bradlee, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Bradlee has 25 years of experience working as a Director of Athletics and tennis professional at world-class Private Country Clubs throughout California before starting OC Racquet Sports. He played D-1 college tennis for the University of Arkansas in the S.E.C. conference. Bradlee has attracted players from all over the country for his renowned instruction and positive coaching style. In addition, his tennis recruitment videos and connections have helped many junior players achieve their dreams of receiving scholarships and playing college tennis. Bradlee’s expertise in adult tennis has received very high recommendations. He coached and led his ladies’ tennis teams to 2 USTA National Championships in 2014 & 2016. Throughout his career, he has attracted numerous celebrities and professional athletes including Phil Mickelson, Avery Johnson, Steve Kerr, Bo Derek, Alex Kerfoot, Donald Rumsfield, Jesper Parnevik, John Danforth, Jaleel White, and Mark Hurd. Additionally, Bradlee has served as a practice partner for many professional tennis players including Michael Chang and Sesil Karatantcheva. Bradlee has a B.S. degree in Industrial Technology and has the highest tennis professional rating possible from the U.S.P.T.A as an Elite Professional. This status demonstrates expertise in both tennis teaching and management. Bradlee is committed to a career-based education and has most recently earned the Accredited Professional Coach credential. This credential shows his knowledge of teaching skills, business concepts, and sports science, demonstrating the importance of professional excellence and continuing education. His expertise, leadership skills, incredible ability to connect with others, and hard work have helped others grow their tennis game and ignite their passion for tennis.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

I think the advice for managing a team and keeping everybody happy is communication. A good leader creates communication with his/her employees to receive feedback to strengthen the business. This allows the employees to feel heard and help grow the company.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I had run successful and prominent country clubs my entire life. My leadership with those respective clubs always came with a big salary that included huge bonuses for meeting the club’s goals. When I started OC Racquet Sports we did not have any clientele in classes. We know it would take a while to grow the business and we did everything we could to keep the customer happy. This included teaching classes without the minimum number of students, which initially led to loss. We kept moving forward and just completed our summer camps with over 300 students.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ocracquetsports.com/
• Instagram: @ocracquetsports1
• Facebook: OC Racquet Sports
• Linkedin: Bradlee Berry