Dan Schuyler owns Beach Boyz, a unique and exclusive pickleball training facility in Southwest Florida. The successful entrepreneur who spends most of his time trying to think of more innovative and cutting-edge approaches to help players grow in the sport said no the first time he was asked to play pickleball.
“One weekend, I went up to Palm Island, a resort off the coast of Florida. I was playing with the tennis pro there, and he said, there are 3 guys over on that pickleball court who need a fourth. I hesitated, Well, I don’t play pickleball. I have two fake hips, and I only play on clay. And he goes, Come on, just go over there. They can’t play unless they have 4, and I won’t charge you for playing,” he said.
Schuyler took up tennis for exercise during a 2 year treatment plan for Type 2 diabetes. He had tried swimming, bicycling, and golf, but none of the activities stuck.
“I owned a jewelry store out on Sanibel, so we were members of the Sanctuary Golf and Tennis Club and did a lot of nonprofit work. I got to know the tennis instructor up there, Christie Bradley. I said, would you mind giving me a tennis lesson,” he said.
Tennis was an excellent fit for Schuyler. He began to play all the time and would eventually lose 70 pounds. Nonetheless, that day at Palm Island, he eventually agreed to be the fourth player on the pickleball court, and two and a half hours later, he was in love with the game.
“When I came home, my tennis coach, who was also a senior pickleball pro and didn’t tell many people about it, I told her, you’re not going to believe this, but I played pickleball this weekend. I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t tell anybody. And she goes, ha, you’re hooked, aren’t you? I said yes,” he said.
Schuyler began to sponsor the local pickleball events at country clubs, something he was already doing with tennis. He could tell pickleball was entering its epic explosion. There were invite-only tournaments, events were starting to be live-streamed and at the tournaments he sponsored he could feel the energy and passion people had for the sport.
“I had started taking lessons with Simone Jardin, Catherine Parenteau, and Chad Edwards, and nobody knew anybody then, right? So, I’m taking lessons with these stars, and I sponsored that underground pickleball tournament. And on the way home, I said, you know what, I’m going to build my own court. And that’s how I came to build Beach Boyz,” he said.
Beach Boyz began as a 4,000-square-foot industrial building. Schuyler and his good friend, a custom home builder out of Boston, drew up a design on a paper napkin. Once they had the concept in mind, they immediately went to work.
“I made it very high-end. You have crown molding, white Italian marble bathrooms, and the court was put down by More Sports, which does all the US Open courts. It’s the only court in the world that’s made this way. It is seven layers. You can play for two and a half hours, and you don’t feel it. Then I put in a little gym. There’s a spa here. There’s the red room where you can go and meet. There’s a retail room, a ping pong room. And Paddletek, I was talking to Curtis at Paddletek, and he became the ambassador, so he became one of the corporate sponsors. He helped pay for the floor, and we made a Paddletek sky suite where you can sit up and look down on the games. And it just took off because back then, pickleball was nothing yet,” he said.
Schuyler had a boat from southern Maryland cut in half and designed a boat bar called Pickaholics. There are 8 cameras in the facility so patrons can take a lesson and watch it later. The full kitchen serves 30, and they even have their own china and personalized glasses.
Schuyler provides his customers with high quality products. He notices every detail and is meticulous about every aspect, whether it is through his jewelry or inside Beach Boyz.
When Hurricane Ian, the largest hurricane in the history of Florida, landed in the fall of 2022 it left the island of Sanibel under water, compromising both of his businesses
“Our personal house was on Fort Myers beach, which we lost when 8 and a half feet of water crashed in. Our house got washed away and destroyed. And, of course, the island of Sanibel, there’s nothing left of the island, basically, or Fort Myers beach. We lost the jewelry store. It’s just devastating. And so, you know, an eight-hour period, anything that we had built over the last 60 years of my life was gone except for Beach Boyz. Beach Boyz got 3 feet of water,” he said.
Schuyler was left in shock, but as a big part of the pickleball community, a man devoted to giving back and helping the game, he posted a message on social media giving a status update on Beach Boyz and asking the community for help cleaning up.
“I had about 40 people. Some I knew, some I didn’t. They showed up at Beach Boyz with buckets, mops, vacuum cleaners, and humidifiers. The unity was overwhelming. People just showed up, and they started cleaning. I was speechless because they would ask me, where should I start now? I was still in a state of shock because I lost the jewelry business and the house, and I was just standing there in the corner of Beach Boyz, and they asked me, and they saw, I guess, the confusion on my face, and they just turn around and go to a corner and start cleaning. It was amazing. I’m so grateful, so thankful. We had Beach Boyz up and running in 8 hours,” he said.
Schuyler explained it as the best part of pickleball displayed that day through its amazing community. He is reinventing his jewelry business and will launch online only in February but will have appointments for people to see him at Beach Boyz, where a room has already been set aside for jewelry.
As for his future plans, he is eager to get out there more and play.
“I’m, of course, staying at Beach Boyz. I’ve opened up a chiropractor business, a massage business, and a fitness center in Beach Boyz. So I don’t need to leave. My future is that I’m starting to play tournaments, which I could never do before because I was too busy running the booths and helping out. I played last week and got gold. I played this weekend and got silver, and I’m going over to Del Rey to play in the tournament tomorrow. So I’m now really starting to enjoy the fellowship in the game and sitting back and relaxing a little bit,” he said.
