BuzzBallz founder Merrilee Kick shares the history of the RTD brand that has grown to 35 variants and almost 7m in case sales – almost all of which hail from just one market.
In 2010, Merrilee Kick was a high school teacher in Texas dealing with a rocky relationship, two teenage sons and financial challenges. The then-48-year-old was holding down two full-time jobs while studying for a master’s degree at the same time.
Put mildly, Kick’s future seemed uncertain. Then, she went shopping for tennis balls.
The idea for BuzzBallz came to Kick from the plastic containers




