Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley Owens.
Hi Ashley, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Our journey with CourtReserve was born from a deep-rooted passion for tennis and pickleball and a shared frustration with the outdated systems at our local club. Before venturing into the tech world, our professional paths had been diverse. I had worked in marketing and sales in the medical device industry, and I was even a police officer before that. My husband, Tim Owens, was a software programmer. However, our unwavering love for racquet sports ignited the spark of entrepreneurship in Tim and me. We were not just casual players but active members of the tennis community, from coaching our kids to participating in leagues and tournaments.
The turning point came when we experienced firsthand the inconvenience of the antiquated reservation process at our own club. We needed a digital platform for checking court availability and for signing up for lessons. Everything was done manually in person, which was a significant inconvenience in today’s modern world. We would drive about 25 minutes to our club, only to find that all the courts were booked. It was a complete waste of time and a huge disappointment.
So, after many of these frustrating experiences, Tim and I finally decided to take matters into our own hands in 2015. Fueled by my marketing expertise and Tim’s background in software development, we went to the drawing board to conceptualize our idea for a complete digital club management platform to help players quickly reserve courts, lessons, and check out court availability. We launched to the market a year later. In 2020, we reached our first significant milestone: 100 customers. As of May 2024, CourtReserve now serves over 1,500 customers globally in 19 international markets, and we have over 2.5 million players in our database. Our team’s success has allowed my husband, Tim, and I to dive into our newest entrepreneurial venture, Old Coast Pickleball Club, which opened on April 26th, 2024, in St. Augustine, Florida.
Our two-court indoor pickleball facility will offer a pro shop powered by CourtReserve’s all-in-one club management platform to help us run our club efficiently for players, members, and staff. We also are opening a second indoor flagship location in St. Augustine, Florida, by early 2025 that will host 12 pickleball courts, golf simulators, a pro shop, and more. We are excited to return to what started it all: our love of racquet sports! We also have a unique advantage for our CourtReserve tennis and pickleball club customers, as we can now step into the shoes of club owners to better understand what they need to streamline their businesses’ operations and court reservations.
It wasn’t obstacle-free, but the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
We have certainly faced challenges at both CourtReserve and now, with the opening of Old Coast Pickleball Club. But we don’t view these experiences as struggles. We view them as lessons that fuel our determination and resilience. We are big fans of trying almost anything out, testing the results, and then deciding whether to try it again or assess how we could have done things differently. There is no rule book for entrepreneurship; we continue to learn something new everyday. We are grateful to be able to learn so much from the fantastic teams we have built at CourtReserve and Old Coast Pickleball every day.
I appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about CourtReserve and Old Coast Pickleball?
We are proud to introduce our two companies, CourtReserve (https://courtreserve.com) and Old Coast Pickleball Club (https://oldcoastpickleball.
Old Coast Pickleball Club, the first and only indoor pickleball facility in St. Johns County, Florida, is a unique gem. Nestled against stunning coastal views, this two-court facility, powered by the renowned club management platform CourtReserve, is located at 76 Dockside Drive, Suite 108, St. Augustine, FL 32084, at the Shipyard Marina. The club offers a range of exciting activities, including daily rated round robins, organized drop-in sessions by skill level, and various competitive formats like leagues and Moneyball games. But that’s not all. The club has ambitious plans to expand by early 2025, with a second flagship location that will host twelve indoor courts, aiming to welcome players of all ages and skill levels.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
My brother and I grew up in a single-parent home. Things weren’t always easy, but one of my cherished memories is playing tennis with him after school and on the weekends. I don’t know how, but my mom managed to get us these really old, run-down tennis racquets and we would just go to the local high school’s courts and hit tennis balls back and forth. That was my first real experience with tennis, and it helped me and my brother bond when we were kids. And now, everything has come full circle.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.courtreserve.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/courtreserve
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CourtReserve/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/courtreserve/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/courtreserve
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@CourtReserve
- Other: www.oldcoastpickleball.com
Image Credits
CourtReserve
