Today we’d like to introduce you to Skylar German.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I started coaching junior athletes in beach volleyball in 2023 – I started with just 2 athletes that came to trainings consistently and it steadily grew year over year. We outgrew all of the beach volleyball facilities in our rural city of Manhattan, KS, and I had the dream to build an 8-court beach volleyball bar and grill. I knew adults wanted to play too, we just didn’t have the facility within 2 hours of us. I started creating the concept of 785 Dive when I was 28 and opened it 3 years later in spring of 2026. It was an incredibly difficult learning process but it is growing like crazy and we are expanding into swing and line dancing, live music, karaoke, cornhole, and more! We still train juniors twice per week and host tournaments, but it’s turning into something our community desperately needed in terms of recreation, social events, and quality of life.
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?
It was the hardest thing I’ve every done. Acquiring the funds to build this meant a lot of sacrifices and selling parts of businesses I had been building for years. It was a full-time job for nearly 3 years and nobody knew about it until the final 6 months when construction started. I was also the on-site project manager, and had to learn a lot very quickly about construction, supervising, and making effective decisions. We hit delays and hurdles every step of the way but I was determined to do anything that needed to be done to get this up and running.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I have been investing in residential real estate for years, quit my 9-5 job a couple years ago to be a full-time realtor, and this is my first commercial venture. Apart from running 785 Dive, I’m a realtor, coach indoor and beach volleyball, and manage my rental properties.
I’m most proud that I had the courage to bet on myself. I didn’t have years of experience in construction or running a bar, but I figured everything out. I lost a lot of sleep not knowing how this project would come together, but my confidence is returning knowing I can handle anything that comes my way.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
I always tell the kids I coach that volleyball is a lot more than game. It taught me how to be part of a team, to be resilient, that there’s lessons in losing, and how to have quiet confidence in yourself when half a gym is hoping you lose! For me, there was no other reality than 785 Dive being a success and I believed it to my core. I didn’t believe that because I think I’m so smart or so experienced, but because I made the conscious decision to be adaptable and relentless. That type of intensity and competitiveness I gained through sports has definitely conveyed to my adult life and work!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.785dive.com
- Instagram: @785dive
- Facebook: @785dive
