There are few things more satisfying on court than a clean shot, a great rally, or a drill that finally starts to click.

Collecting balls?

Not so much.

That was exactly the problem that started FLIPP.

Recently, local pickleball player and YouTube reviewer Pablo Galvez met with FLIPP creator Miguel to test the latest pre-production model, talk through the story behind the product, and see firsthand how FLIPP works on court.

Pablo is an avid pickleball player who reviews local courts, gear, and equipment on his YouTube channel, and we were grateful that he took the time to do a full 17-minute interview and demo. The conversation covered everything from the original idea, to the engineering challenges, to why FLIPP is designed to help players, coaches, and clubs spend less time chasing balls and more time actually improving.

Why FLIPP Exists

The idea for FLIPP came from a simple but frustrating realization.

When Miguel started taking tennis lessons later in life, he noticed that a surprisingly large part of each session was spent collecting balls. Not practicing. Not getting feedback. Not building rhythm.

Just picking up balls.

“When you are paying for court time, renting a ball machine, taking lessons, or trying to get better quickly, that wasted time adds up fast.” – Miguel, NKORT Founder

Existing tools helped, but none of them solved the whole problem elegantly. Ball tubes are simple, but slow. Rolling collectors can help gather balls, but usually do not work as a proper hopper. Traditional baskets are useful for feeding balls, but still require bending, walking, and manually collecting.

FLIPP was created to combine fast ball collection and a usable hopper into one mechanical device.

One product. One motion. Less wasted time.

A Hopper When You Practice. A Collector When You Flip It.

During the demo, Pablo immediately understood the core idea.

In hopper mode, FLIPP stands at a comfortable height for drills, serving practice, coaching, and feeding balls. When it is time to collect, you simply flip it over — which is exactly where the name comes from.

Once flipped, FLIPP becomes a push-style ball collector. Open the front collection arms, push it across the court, and the balls click into the basket as you move.

No bending down. No stopping every few seconds. No carrying one tool to collect balls and another tool to hold them.

As Pablo put it during the demo, it feels a bit like “a lawn mower for the court.”

That is the idea. Push, collect, flip, practice.

Built for Pickleball, Tennis, and Padel

One of the most important advantages of FLIPP is that it works across multiple racquet sports.

The same device can collect:

• Pickleballs
• Tennis balls
• Padel balls

No mechanical adjustment is required when switching between pickleball and tennis. For players, coaches, families, and clubs that use the same court space for multiple sports, that matters.

FLIPP was designed for the reality of modern court sports: many players do not live in just one category anymore. They may play pickleball one day, tennis the next, and padel when they get the chance.

FLIPP is built to follow that player.

No Batteries. No Electronics. Just Smart Mechanical Design.

A common question is: how does FLIPP actually collect the balls?

The short answer: patent-pending mechanical design.

There are no motors, no batteries, and no complicated electronics doing the work. FLIPP uses a purely mechanical collection system designed to let balls enter the basket and stay there.

That simplicity is intentional.

Sports equipment gets used hard. It goes in trunks, rolls over courts, sits in garages, gets used by kids, coaches, clubs, and serious players. A product like this needs to be practical, durable, and easy to trust.

The magic of FLIPP is not that it is complicated.

It is that the mechanism makes the job feel simple.

Designed for Real-World Court Problems

One of the best moments in Pablo’s video is the fence demo.

Anyone who plays pickleball knows this problem: balls roll toward the fence, get stuck along the edge, and suddenly you are chasing them one by one. It is annoying, repetitive, and exactly the kind of small friction that makes practice feel slower than it should.

In the demo, Miguel pushes FLIPP parallel to the fence and collects the balls along the edge in one pass.

That may sound like a small detail, but it is one of those things you only appreciate when you have spent enough hours on court.

FLIPP was not designed from a spreadsheet. It was designed from actual frustration, repeated practice, prototypes, player feedback, and court testing.

From Garage Prototype to Pre-Production Model

The FLIPP shown in Pablo’s video is a pre-production model, but the journey started much earlier.

The first versions were handmade prototypes built in Miguel’s garage in Vancouver, British Columbia. Over roughly two years, the design went through seven prototypes before reaching the version shown in the interview.

But as Miguel explains in the video, there is a big difference between making a prototype and manufacturing a real product at scale.

A handmade prototype can prove the idea.

A production product has to be engineered so it can be manufactured, assembled, shipped, used, repaired, and trusted by thousands of customers.

That transition has involved months of engineering work across Canada, Italy, and China, with a focus on durability, manufacturability, cost, and long-term use.

Durability and Replaceability Matter

Pablo also asked one of the most important questions: what has been done to make sure FLIPP lasts?

That question matters because FLIPP is not a decorative gadget. It is court equipment. It needs to handle repeated use, rolling, folding, transporting, loading, and unloading.

The production version has been engineered with stronger walls, reinforced structures, improved joints, high-quality wheels, and serviceability in mind.

The wheels, for example, are not an afterthought. They are designed to roll smoothly and handle real use. The larger wheels are replaceable, and the design allows for quick maintenance without complicated tools.

That is especially important for coaches, clubs, and heavy users. Eventually, parts like wheels can wear down on any piece of rolling equipment. FLIPP is being designed so maintenance is not a headache.

A better product is not just one that works well on day one.

It is one that keeps working.

Easy to Transport

FLIPP is not only about collecting balls faster. It is also about making the entire practice workflow easier.

After collecting balls, FLIPP can be returned to hopper mode so you can continue drills. When practice is finished, the handle folds down for transportation, helping it fit into car trunks, including smaller sedans.

It also includes an elasticated nylon net to help keep balls secure during transport.

That matters because the real job is not just “pick up balls.”

The real job is:

Get to the court. Practice. Collect. Feed balls. Move around. Pack up. Go home.

FLIPP is designed around that whole sequence.

Why This Matters for Coaches, Players, and Clubs

For recreational players, FLIPP makes practice more enjoyable.

For serious players, it helps protect valuable court time.

For coaches, it can reduce dead time between drills and make sessions flow more smoothly.

For clubs and training facilities, it offers a modern, versatile alternative to traditional baskets and single-purpose collection tools.

And for anyone using a ball machine, FLIPP solves one of the least enjoyable parts of high-repetition practice: cleaning up the court after hitting dozens or hundreds of balls.

The benefit is not just convenience. It is more reps, more rhythm, and more time spent doing the part of the sport you actually showed up for.

A Startup Built by Players, for Players

One of the things we loved about Pablo’s interview is that it captured the human side of FLIPP.

This product did not come from a giant sporting goods corporation. It came from a real player who had a real problem and decided to solve it.

That is what makes this journey exciting.

FLIPP has already been supported by early backers on Kickstarter, and the first production run is moving toward delivery. The product has been shaped by feedback from players, coaches, and supporters who believe court sports deserve better tools.

We are still a young startup, but the mission is clear:

Help people spend less time collecting balls and more time getting better.

Pre-Order FLIPP

FLIPP is designed for pickleball, tennis, and padel players who want a faster, smarter, and more enjoyable way to collect, carry, and practice with balls.

If you are a coach, player, club, ball machine user, or someone who simply wants to make practice more efficient, FLIPP was built for you.

Watch Pablo’s full interview above, see FLIPP in action, and join us as we bring a new kind of court equipment to players around the world.

Pre-order FLIPP today at NKORT.com.