Every pickleball court has its characters.
There’s the player who never seems rushed, gets everything back, and somehow wins points without looking like they’re trying very hard. There’s the banger who sees every ball as an invitation to hit harder. And there’s the person who came for the exercise and stayed because suddenly half their social life revolves around people they met at open play.
Audrey Banada, better known throughout the sport as Pickleballmama, has spent enough time around pickleball to know all of them. She’s competed professionally, coached players, created content, and raised three kids who have grown up around the game.
When we first shared Audrey’s story at Empower Pickleball, she was thinking a lot about the part of pickleball that made people fall in love with the sport in the first place: the open play, the community, the personalities, and, most importantly, the fun.
Now she’s turned that idea into something tangible.
It’s called Dinkii Pickleball.
How Pickleballmama Created Dinkii Pickleball
When we spoke with Audrey earlier this year, Dinkii was still taking shape. She told us she was developing character-based pickleball personalities inspired by the different types of players you encounter at open play.
The idea wasn’t to make another piece of pickleball merchandise. She wanted to capture the personalities and little quirks that make the culture around the game so recognizable.
That idea has now become a collection of plush pickleball bag charms, each with its own personality, playing style, and story.
And it started with Switch the Sloth.
Meet Switch the Sloth
Switch isn’t in a hurry. She’s patient, steady, and intentional. She isn’t trying to overpower anyone or turn every rally into a highlight. She shows up, figures things out, and plays at her own pace.
According to Dinkii’s character story, Switch didn’t originally find pickleball because she was searching for another competitive sport. She found it for the same reason so many recreational players do: the people.
That’s what makes her an interesting first character for the brand. There are plenty of pickleball products built around playing harder, getting faster, and winning more. Switch represents something else: the idea that you don’t have to be the loudest, fastest, or most competitive person at the courts to belong there.
Sometimes you just have to show up.
And then there’s BANG! He has a slightly different philosophy.
Meet BANG! the Bull
Every open play has a BANG! You know exactly who we’re talking about. The ball sits up a little too high, and you can practically see what’s about to happen.
BANG! the Bull isn’t interested in slowing things down. He’s the banger. He’s competitive. He’s aggressive. And according to his Dinkii description, he “goes full send.”
But there’s a little more behind the character than just hitting the ball as hard as possible. The BANG! mentality is about committing to your shot, trusting your game and not playing scared when the pressure is on.
Put Switch and BANG! next to each other and the idea behind Dinkii starts to make sense. One waits while the other attacks. One is perfectly happy letting the point develop while the other has probably already sped it up.
And somehow, they both belong on the same court.
That’s pickleball.
Building a Pickleball Brand Around Community
This is also one of the reasons we wanted to share what Audrey is building.
So much attention in pickleball naturally goes to professional players, major tournaments and established brands. But the sport is also being built from the ground up by coaches, creators, community organizers, and entrepreneurs who see an opportunity and decide to create something of their own.
That’s part of the reason we created Empower Circle: to support people within the pickleball community who are helping move the sport forward in their own way.
Audrey fits into that story. She’s taken something familiar—the personalities we encounter every time we play—and turned it into a brand of her own.
And there’s a big difference between having an idea and actually building it. Creating the characters is one thing. Turning them into physical products means handling design, manufacturing, inventory, website development, marketing and finding customers who connect with what you’ve created.
That’s the part of entrepreneurship we don’t always see when the finished product finally shows up on Instagram.
Meet Dinkii Pickleball for Yourself
For now, there are two very different personalities waiting to meet you: Switch the Sloth and BANG! the Bull.
So if Switch sounds a little like you—or BANG! reminds you suspiciously of your doubles partner—you can go meet them for yourself.
Meet Switch, meet BANG!, and discover Dinkii Pickleball at Dinkiipickleball.com.
