Hidden Gems: Meet Jackson Bowen of tennisbloc

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jackson Bowen.

Hi Jackson, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Lee Kincheloe, the other founder, and I met when we were both in high school. We have very different personalities and backgrounds but we both shared a passion for tennis.

I came from a well-off family that was able to pay for my lessons, club memberships, and travel to tournaments. I also grew up in Naples, Florida with many opportunities to get involved in the sport. I moved to Raleigh with my family in 2001. Things were going great and then while I was in high school my father lost his job. We went bankrupt and lost our house. I quickly learned how difficult it was to stay involved in the tennis community when I couldn’t afford training, memberships, tournaments, and equipment. I gave up my dream of playing college tennis and started assistant coaching. This is when I met Lee.

Lee came from a working-class family in Louisberg, NC. He couldn’t afford a fancy club, lessons, or tournament travel. Even if he had the financial support, the closest tennis classes were 45 minutes from his home. He started assistant coaching, working in the pro shop at a local club, and doing court maintenance.

Although we had very different personalities, Lee and I hit it off since we shared a passion for tennis. We started coaching together at a few small neighborhood courts run by HOA’s. They helped us by advertising to their community and we were so grateful to offer the amenity. We were successful and started earning more income than we thought possible.

This is when we decided we would try to grow this business model enough to support us while we pursued our college degrees. I was pursuing a humanities and biblical studies degree from Southeastern in Wake Forest. Lee was pursuing a business degree in the entrepreneurship program at NC State.

Little by little, we gained momentum over the next 10 years as we refined our business model and branded ourselves as “tennisbloc LLC”. We wanted to be ‘the tennis program that was right around the bloc’. We wanted to bring tennis all over North Carolina to the places where it did not exist. We wanted to give as many people as possible the opportunity to get involved in the sport.

We were determined to break down the boundaries that had been keeping people out of the sport.

We now have over 60 coaches and locations across the state that are made up of city parks, neighborhood clubs, and schools. Tennisbloc added a third owner, Grant Yentzer, who is our primary web developer. We also added several key staff that deserve recognition: Walt Tallman, our administrative assistant, Eric Hilpert, our sales executive, and Brandon Sterman, our talent recruiter. We could never have made it to where we are today without their help.

We are nowhere near the end of our story and every day is an adventure as we stay focused on our mission to make tennis & pickleball programs more affordable and accessible.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I guess it is how you define smooth. We have had to work multiple jobs, early mornings and late nights. We didn’t pay ourselves for the first several years of the business and instead relied on the income from other jobs. We did not make any investment, we ‘boot-strapped’ our way little by little.

If I am being totally transparent, there have been many days where I ask myself, is this really worth it? I felt pressure from my family and my friends as they watched me working my tail off for very little return for the first 5 years. Many of my peers not to mention my siblings were working great jobs and making great money while I drove a beat-up car and lived in the most affordable housing I could find with multiple roommates.

I lived on a modest budget and found ways to have fun without spending money. This certainly impacted my relationships with significant others, my friends, and my family. Now that they see where I am today, enjoying the success of years of sacrifice, they are proud of me.

Almost every day there is a new challenge to face and it can be overwhelming. I have to remind myself that these were the challenges that I once dreamed of facing.

I attribute a few things that kept me pushing onward.

1. My faith in my higher power that this is his purpose for my life.
2. Lee’s friendship and sharing in the struggle. Misery loves company but so does Joy. We share our victories and our struggles. We push each other forward and pick each other up when we are ready to give up.
3. My stubbornness to accomplish what I set out to do.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We work with a multitude of communities and cities across North Carolina to create positive and meaningful tennis communities directly in the heart of HOA’s and city park facilities.

From the moment we wake up, to the last thought before falling asleep, we have one goal: to continually improve the efficiency and infrastructure of the tennis industry.

We work constantly to identify industry obstacles; both from a player perspective, as well as a technology pipeline perspective, and stop at nothing to create the perfect solution.

How do you define success?
I define success as accomplishing your goals. I feel that we have done that and are continuing to do that at tennisbloc.

Pricing:

• We offer 10-week group tennis classes for $100 or less
• We offer week-long day camps for kids ages 4 -12 for $175.
• We offer 10-week pickleball classes for $100 or less
• We offer discounted packages of 3, 6, and 10 private lessons.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tennisbloc.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tennisbloc_official/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tennisbloc
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/tennisbloc
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHbMD525_10w8ULZ9yVYI6A/featured

Image Credits
Evan Miller and Samantha Leigh