We’re looking forward to introducing you to Lee Kincheloe. Check out our conversation below.
Hi Lee, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: What do you think others are secretly struggling with—but never say?
Taking risks. Everything is a risk, so take risks on things that are truly valuable: a new idea, a new skill, a new friend, a new adventure. Don’t fear failure because it’s how we grow and learn. Don’t fear judgment because our autonomy, journey, and potential, are worth more.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
When I launched Tennisbloc in 2016 at age 24 while getting married, I was thrilled. I had grown up in a working-class family in Louisburg, NC, always with a desire to create. Then when I fell in love with tennis (and later with pickleball), I quickly learned first-hand, the barriers that existed. Classes were far away, and often required a lot of money to get really involved with membership costs or private lesson costs being out of reach.
My solution was to pester a bunch of clubs and parks and eventually get my first job in a club shop. Soon after, I began coaching for small clubs and HOAs, giving me insight to how broken things were for venues and their programs as a whole: ever-revolving instructors, ever-changing registration process, ever-changing schedule/logistics, communication needs, customer service needs, and more. The results? Tennis and pickleball programs simply weren’t able to take root and grow the way they could
Tennisbloc’s mission is to make tennis and pickleball more affordable and accessible to communities across the Carolinas. We partner with parks & rec, clubs, HOAs, and schools, offering year-round classes, camps, and private lessons. With experienced and community-focused instructors, along with modernized technology, we offer a turnkey solution for venues, and expand the opportunities for players to get plugged in.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What relationship most shaped how you see yourself?
My son. Having a child encourages you to be the best possible version of yourself. It also helps you develop self-discipline, patience and sacrifice for others, and the opportunity to demonstrate love and grace. He looks at me and thinks I’m the best, yet it’s hard not to feel imposter syndrome sometimes when I could never be as great as he sees me. But that pushes you to be the absolute best you can be, and in that journey you have the honor of influencing and molding an entire new human while gaining a life-long relationship.
Having a mini-me also helped me strengthen and sharpen my self-accountability and become a more authentic version of myself. They’re there during all the moments: the good, bad, and hard ones. They see your reaction and hear your words, and they’re an incredible way to see a true reflection of yourself. What a great gift! This helps catalyze growth and is a wonderful thing.
So how has it shaped me? It’s helped me be a stronger, more disciplined, more self-accountable, more sacrificial, more patient person with more grace than I did before he came along.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Absolutely – We never took any outside funding, and we grew with a very grassroots approach. When COVID-19 hit, due to it being a non-contact sport, we experienced a substantial influx in growth. Right after COVID-19, we ended up growing too much too fast and found ourselves nearly facing bankruptcy from debt expenses we incurred to keep up with the growth.
While it was a “good problem to have”, it was certainly a problem nonetheless. Our projections became less reliable because of the oddity of that chapter. It took a lot of discipline and prudence to weather this. Not many people actually specify what this means: In my case, it meant borrowing money from friends, cutting my personal pay, being strategic in loan swaps to lower interest rates, and being prudent to maintain the necessary cash flow to keep going.
But that’s sometimes part of the journey; and I was blessed to have received those trials. Out of it, we made the hard choices, we were able to have long-term discipline, and are now far better equipped for the next chapter. When challenges arise, you simply cannot give up – you must push through and find the solution, whatever it takes and with no exception.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. How do you differentiate between fads and real foundational shifts?
Value, impact, and infrastructure. Cryptocurrencies gave people a storage of wealth that didn’t rely on any one particular fiat. This was theoretically great, but speculative until government fiats started crashing and it became a safe-haven for people who lost everything overnight. The impact is how big of a problem is being solved. I.e, does this help a large amount of customers or industries? This technology is one that nearly all people and industries can participate in.
Its longevity became clear as soon as the infrastructure for it began: companies spent serious money building ways to integrate cryptocurrencies into their current infrastructure. That’s money they will put major resources into to help ensure their investments succeed. If it had only been a technology that made transactions cheaper and faster, it may not have stuck around or been worth the investment.
The same approach can be taken with the emergence of AI. The value is an extension of IQ points, the impact is on nearly all people and businesses, and the infrastructure is rapidly emerging with few barriers to integration. If an emerging trend has both real intrinsic value, and the infrastructure to support it, you’re likely looking at a foundational shift.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: Could you give everything your best, even if no one ever praised you for it?
I’d like to think so, but certainly imperfectly. I think that’s the journey we’re all on. I believe we are called to be the best version of ourselves possible, and that includes the seven fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. It’s through recognizing that we all fall short and that’s ok, but that there is something greater than us that we can experience and grow from. In the long run, it’s then displaying those traits to others to the best of our abilities by allowing that higher power to emanate through us.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tennisbloc.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tennisbloc_official
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/10431410
- Twitter: https://x.com/tennisbloc
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tennisbloc/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/tennisbloc-raleigh
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHbMD525_10w8ULZ9yVYI6A
