Local business owners team up against pickleball ringers with bragging rights on the line

ST. GEORGE — Sometimes all you need for a good fun sporting event is braggadocio and a wager.

Both were apparent in a pickleball contest Saturday morning at Picklr, where two local business owners tested their mettle against a ringer and a Utah Tech Trailblazer.

Twin brothers Ryan and Jeff Gardner are co-founders and owners of Bucked Up in St. George, a health and sports fitness store that sells training supplements and workout gear.

“We got a lot of people down here in St. George that talk a lot of smack,” Ryan told St. George News. “They support us a lot.”

The duo likes to compete in pickleball, so much so that they have a standing offer with Bucked Up employees.

“If they can beat the twins, we’ll double their paycheck on the next cycle,” Ryan said.

The Gardner’s didn’t face employees on Saturday at Picklr. Instead, the competition was a little tougher.

Landon Daily, a semi-professional pickleball player from Farmington, and Dylan Rainbow Ciampini, a standout student and pickleball player at Utah Tech University, teamed up to put the smack-talking Gardner’s in their place.

Daily and Ciampini represented BoxHouse, a local real estate company that specializes in providing tiny houses for affordable places to live. 

Jeremy Johnson is a business developer at BoxHouse. He knew Ryan Gardner from previous work experience and he spent a lot of time listening to the Gardner’s talk about how great they are at pickleball. 

“I’ve worked with BoxHouse and Jeremy knows I’m a pickleball player,” Daily said. “Jeremy said, ‘Hey, I know these guys who are kind of competitive, let’s set up a match.’ And I was like okay, let’s do it.

“So I found the best player I knew I could get to come play with me, and we set up this match,” Daily added.

“And it was awesome,” Ciampini said. “And when you say competitive, no kidding. These guys were so fun to play against, and legit. They gave us a game, made me work up a sweat!” 

Johnson and employees of both BoxHouse and Bucked Up were on hand to cheer for their players. The first game between the duos was fairly close before Daily and Ciampini won it.

Then they stomped on the Gardner twins in the second game.

“It’s a good thing these guys aren’t on our payroll,” Jeff joked. “We’ve been good friends with Jeremy Johnson. This is his MO. He loves to put on some bets and he loves to get some competition rolling.”

“He loves to egg it on, for sure,” Ryan said.

All important bragging rights were at stake of course, as well as a possible future sponsorship from Bucked Up to Ciampini.

“We’re willing to pony up from Bucked Up,” Ryan said.

The competitors were all smiles and handshakes after the match, but the Gardner twins didn’t show any inclination to stop talking smack.

It’s all part of the fun in pickleball.

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