ALL THE EGGS
I was in an area of my life where I didn’t have a whole lot of growth going on. I was just going to the gym. Going to work. Trying to figure out some stuff. Nothing was bad but nothing was amazing. Then I found pickleball. I just loved it. I loved the people. I kept getting invited back to those high level games. I really don’t know why they kept inviting me back. But I’m very appreciative of their time and energy they gave me and it payed off. Tessa, Craig, Jack, Kyle Koszuta, they all kinda pushed me to be where I’m at. Within about six months I was getting to a 4.0/4.5 level. I got a lot more confident. I thought if I can genuinely dedicate the time and effort to this, I will actually be very good. So I put all my eggs in one basket and went for it. I went from making six figures to making zero dollars. Giving it all up almost feels like taking a step backwards, but I’ll tell you right now, taking that type of risk is a risk that a lot of other people won’t take. So what I’ve learned. Two things. If you treat people well, good things come to you. It could be ten years later, could be a day later. You sometimes meet people accidentally that could change your life. Two, you can live a pretty decent life by being happy. Money used to decide what I was gonna do. How I was gonna live. I don’t live for money anymore. There’s no correlation between money and happiness. But there is a correlation between happiness and living a good life. It’s just finding out what your ‘good life’ is. I know so many people that are so surrounded by the idea of money that they can’t get themselves out of it. Good life for me is playing and traveling all over the world to teach pickleball. All of that is paid for by sponsors and companies that put on these clinics. But I had to find all that. I don’t think anybody has life all figured out. It just comes down to everyday, learning a little bit, try to do your best and treating people well. With risk comes great reward. You’re gonna figure it out. It might not be simple but you’re gonna figure it out.
DANNY JENSEN - @2ndjensen
Professional Pickleball Player
Scottsdale, AZ
DRAGON
I wear pit vipers. Those are my funky sunglasses. That’s my vibe. I love a backwards trucker hat. This morning I woke up and I was like it’s kinda cold out, I’m gonna throw on my dragon onesie and just, you know, roll around and have a tail and just have fun with it. I like to be fun and funky. But I love to win. My goal would be to become a 4.0 by the New Year, finger’s crossed. It’s so hard to do. I take it very seriously and like, who doesn’t. I have a little black book of all the guys and girls I wanna take down on the court and I like to go to different courts and earn my court cred. If I’m not on the podium every other weekend, I’m upset with myself. But that’s where the good self-talk comes back. It’s like, you know what? Take baby steps. This is a process, not an event. Pickleball is my therapy, rather than paying an actual therapist. I’ve developed coping skills just by getting out on the freakin’ court and smashing that ball. I’m juggling a lot and sometimes for me coping looks like pushing the world away and kind of being an introvert when I’m naturally an extrovert. Pickleball has made my life do a 180. It’s where I can cope. It’s where I can really just let it all out and leave any stress and drama from work, from personal relations, whatever, and just hammer it out on the court. And I feel great afterwards.
ALEX LYNCH, 35 - @dinkdirty
Scottsdale, AZ
The JO & MO SHOW
Mounir: We’re both former athletes. He’s younger, cooler and more handsome than me but we still had some things in common. One day, two other guys were looking for two others to play with and we were super redescent to play. We were like hey, Jake’s this big time football player, I’m a highly mediocre basketball player at best, but we just finished working out, so we’ll give it a try. And that was it. We were hooked. One day, he came up to me, and I thought someone died. Or something was really wrong. He comes up to me, no smile, no pleasantries, no hello, high five. He’s looking at me dead in the face. I genuinely thought something was wrong. So I was like oh man, what’s up, how do we fix this thing that you’re upset about?
Jake: Yeah, I was like ‘Mo, I’m disgustingly obsessed with trying to get better at pickleball.’
Mounir: And I said back to him: ‘Bro. Same.’ There’s been some pretty high highs and pretty low lows for me and pickleball and playing with someone like Jake, certainly saved my life. Jake said to me once, I was… I didn’t want to tell him but I was talking about being late for pickleball because I was going to therapy and he was like ‘Bro, just so you know, that’s strength. You don’t have to be shy about telling me you go to therapy.’ And he said it in passing, like it wasn’t a big deal. So yeah, he’s my guy.
Jake: Yeah, he pretty much said it all.
Mounir Gad & Jake Overstreet
The JO and MO Show
Los Gatos, CA
@thejoandmoshow
I WOKE UP
I have a busy season with my yoga instructing and my wedding photography business. I teach yoga for a bachelorette company where bachelorette parties will come into town so I go to different Airbnbs to instruct but it’s very seasonal so in the summers it’s dead. It’s just too friggin’ hot. Same with weddings. People aren’t getting married here in the summer so I was just getting off slow season and because it’s so slow, I’m not making money, I’m falling into this depression. I legit have depression. But I was the most depressed I’ve beer been in my life and I found pickleball and it gave me a purpose. I woke up every day excited to go play. Before pickleball I remember just being like, I don’t even wanna get out of bed. I’m naturally a very introverted person. Being a photographer and a yoga teacher, I have to be extroverted because I’m telling people what to do. People are very shocked when they hear that I say that I’m introverted because of the career path I’ve chosen but going out to the pickleball courts, I had so much anxiety. I had to give myself a pep talk like ‘get out of the car, you can do this’. But it’s such a welcoming and inviting community, even though I had that much anxiety, everyone was so nice. They were like, hop in here! Come play with us! Don’t worry, we will help you! It’s given me this newfound confidence. Having anxiety and having depression kept me low and after playing pickleball, you meet people and if you wanna play, you gotta get people’s phone numbers, you have to be able to talk to them and say ‘hey, you wanna play sometime, let’s exchange info.’Getting better at pickleball has also helped me be more confident not only on the pickleball court. What I’ve noticed is that I’ll enter situations and I’ll be like, hey I can go on a pickleball court and just meet people and talk to people. I can do that outside of pickleball too.
ADRIAN LESOING, 40
Scottsdale, AZ
photo: @athleticcaptures
BRAIN GAMES
AADIT: At my school, I’m the only one that plays pickleball. But I play with my college friends at the courts at Kennesaw State University. I also play chess. And I love math. I like brain games a lot. It’s fun to strategize. Like in pickleball. You need to know who the weaker player is and strategize a lot. I wanna be a pro pickleball player when I grow up. My favorite pro player is Fredrico Staksrud. I absolutely like him. I have a feeling that in his singles game that we have, um like, same style of playing. Attack a lot. He attacks a lot I’ve seen. That’s my style too. I used to struggle with my backhand a lot so one day me and my dad spent thirty minutes getting my backhand better. And it worked a lot.
AADIT’S MOM SADY: It was so quick! He just picked up pickleball in no time. People are so surprised. At six and a half he played for fun then when he turned seven he got more serious about pickleball. His dad has been a tennis player for 20 years and he likes to coach so whatever Aadit knows today, is because of him. He just got the Pride of School award this last week. Voted by his peers. He’s a good kid. He has a huge group of friends at Keenesaw State. He plays with them, partners with them. He plays tournaments with some of them. He partners with his dad in some of the tournaments too.
AADIT: My mom always tells me ‘It’s okay if you lose. Come back in the next one.’ So when I would win in the next game, I used to feel a lot better.
AADIT, 8 and SADY O.
Atlanta, GA
SOMETHING RIGHT
I was studying in school, hospitality, so I’d go home on weekends to play. I met the owners of the courts that were in this housing development. Really nice people from Canada. I really got close with them. So they said ‘hey, why don’t you come and work clinics with us, in the meantime, until you find something else’. So I was like sure! So I was going to Canada to these clinics they put on. I played with Tyson McGuffin and Morgan Evans, Kyle Yates, all those pro guys. I absorbed as much as I could. But then I got a job. I worked in hotels, resorts, clubs, so because of the crazy schedules, I stopped playing as much. Then I just didn’t play. For a year and a half. I was completely out of pickleball. Then there’s a point in my life where I was like, okay, I’m on top. I do it all. I’ve got a job, I got money, I’ve got a car, a girlfriend, you know, bunch of things. Then I started losing myself a little bit. I was partying a lot. You want to go get a beer and that beer becomes a freaking party then becomes a hangover. I had like two car accidents by driving drunk. My girlfriend went away. Friends went away. But then this past November this guy reached out to me, the Director of Racquet Sports at one of the most luxurious companies and clubs, and he is like ‘hey, I’m looking for a new Pickleball Coordinator, are you interested? Let’s talk about it’. My dad always said, ‘Everything happens for a reason’. So I started working with him and I haven’t stopped. I was overweight and not in physical position to play so I have to start all over pretty much. I was focusing on getting better. I play in tournaments, I’ve been teaching a lot, actually I’m going to represent Mexico in the Pickleball World Cup in Lima, Peru at the end of this month. So great news. I think I’m doing great. I haven’t had a drink since like four months now. And to be honest I feel way better. I get to compete again on my level. Being able to go and represent my country is like, well, I think I must be doing something right.
LEOPOLDO LÒPEZ GAXIOLA, 29
Team Member Mexico Pickleball Open Division
Int. Federation of Pickleball World Ambassador
Baja, Mexico
WHY NOT ME?
I grew up in Dubai. My dad was a tennis coach there. So I grew up playing tennis. Since my dad was a coach, I represented him. So if I’m not preforming well, oh my gosh it was horrible. I’d start crying because if I’m losing, who’s gonna wanna have my dad as their coach! So when I moved to California, I stopped playing tennis. I guess I had some deep rooted trauma playing tennis. But I moved to an apartment that had pickleball courts and one of their welcome gifts was a paddle and some pickleballs. So I went out to the courts and I was playing with my fiancé and we just hit the ball back and forth and I was like, this is kinda fun! Ever since then, we’ve been looking for courts. Every time we take a road trip, we bring our paddles. We just wanna play with different people. It’s so addicting. My dad’s no longer in my life anymore but, I don’t know, I think he’d be happy with me just getting back into a sport and a sport that I actually love and not feeling all that pressure. I wanted to be a woman in the pickleball space because I noticed a lot of the pickleball influencers are mainly men. They’re the ones teaching you how to do things. What you should and shouldn’t do. Even a lot of the creators of pickleball products are men. I wanted someone who was… like me.
So I was like, why not me?
GABBY SANTOS - @gabbydinks
Sacramento, CA
AMAZING
Pickleball has changed my life. Absolutely! For the better! Are you kidding me?! Can I tell you… so we start in this journey as a way to get exercise and meet people. I’ve had partners from all over Michigan, Texas, Washington… all over. We love the game. These people will be friends for life. We just went sailing in the Caribbean for two weeks. Four of us couples. And we met playing pickleball. Who does that?! Who gets to do that?! We did! Amazing.
SUSAN BARRON WOLFLEY, 62
St. George, UT
GOALS
Our goal is to get a D1 team going. The mechanism in which we do that is play some high level pickleball. The biggest challenge for us right now is courts. I had a meeting with the director of campus recreation, not athletics yet. That’s somebody I’m trying to get a foot in the door with. We sit at 7,000 feet of elevation, the ball moves far far far quicker. I’m like a 4.3, 4.4 maybe. I got down and play in Phoenix and the ball moves so slow dude, there I’m a 5.0. The elevation conditions your body to become an athlete. ASU, U of A and NAU have no pickleball courts. NAU has a huge opportunity to develop a pickleball team and generate a lot of income for the school right, as a result generate scholarships for students, you know? We had a tournament in February. Two NAU tennis players, one of my buddy Fukundo and this Polish guy, they played 5.0. Never played pickleball before. They won. Pickleball needs to poach tennis players from athletics. That’s a really good mechanism to develop, like, a pro, D1 team, you know?
MAX KRAUS
President of Northern Arizona University Pickleball Club
Flagstaff, AZ
THEY CALL ME PEACH
I’ve been playing pickleball for a little over 2 years. I couldn’t play tennis anymore because of my back. I like pickleball because it’s a short game and you can just hit the shit out of the ball. If you’re having a down day, you just hit that little sucker and you can walk away feelin’ fabulous. In tennis, there’s a bunch of drama queens. In pickleball, it’s not like that. It’s much more fun. They take it seriously, they wanna play but they’re not pieces of shit tryin’ to outdo each other by the way they look, the way they act, and the way they dress. My grandkids think I’m crazy because I play all these sports and they don’t. When I became a grandmother 18 years ago, I didn’t wanna be a grandmother because that’s not me. So we came up with the name Peach. I’m Peach and my husband, their grandfather is Bernie. Not grandma and grandpa, Bernie and Peach. Every time I meet somebody young or old I ask ‘em ‘Do you play pickleball?’ They say ‘oh I really wanna try.’ Then I ask ‘em if they’re single. And they’ll say ‘well, yeah’ and I say ‘well it’s the best way to meet somebody. You can’t beat it. No matter what age! I’m really old and I play. You’re never too old to play.
CINDE COTTEN, 79
Dallas, TX
NO MORE TORNADOS
There was a group of older citizens, if you will. They were playing. I tried to come in and kill it outta the air, ya know? But I didn’t know anything. There’s players that have played longer than me that are better than me and older than me that have taught me stuff that have made my game better. I’m an oil and gas landman. I drill and oil and gas landwells. I like it. There was a boom where they were lookin’ for landmen. Hiring people right off the street. I didn’t even know what a landman was! My dad’s hunting friend was a landman and he said hey BJ would be a good landman. I’ve been doing it for 19 years. A lot of the time it’s about who you know, not what you know. The connections. That’s another great thing about pickleball. I’ve made so many connections and gotten opportunities through this. There’s some guys, 70 years old, and they’ll put it on ya. They can hit it hard. When I was first starting, I’d go up to those guys and say hey what can I do differently that’ll get me a little further along. Almost everybody you ask, they’ll tell you. I learned something new last night even. I created this serve. My friend Zack calls it the tornado. I kinda get to the side, I jump up and I hit it. But I didn’t know you have to have one foot on the ground when you serve. A guy taught me that last night. I was like, huh. Alright. I guess I learned something new.
No more tornados.
BJ CURTLEY, 42
Piedmont, OK
THESE ARE MY PEOPLE
I’m originally from Nigeria, West Africa. I know, it’s crazy. Years ago I have a friend up here after college and we just decided, this will be a cool place to be and since then, it’s just home. For sure I remember the first time I played pickleball. I have a daughter. I take her to play tennis. When we would go, I see these people holding this paddle and I didn’t know what it’s called. So I join. I will play one. I know nothing. No rules, kitchen? I thought they were talking about making breakfast. I played nine games. Lost eight. But I knew I was good. I could figure it out and just keep playing and since then, I never look back. Everybody helped me. I was in Duluth, Minnesota last week. I show up to play at a court and I play with everybody there. It was FUN. That’s what I find out about pickleball all around the country. I go different places. I see people play. I was like, these are my people, even before meeting them.
SAM ADAGRAE, 40
Wichita, KS
50 STATES OF PICKLEBALL
Painting houses. It's what I knew. My dad did it and I helped him. You know how much I got picked on in school? An Asian guy with a Texas accent covered in paint all the time? After I graduated, I tried to make it on my own. My girlfriend managed apartments and she'd give me work but I was actually losing money. Then one day, I got a phone call from a lady asking me if I could paint six hundred dorm rooms in three weeks. Without even thinkin', I said yes with no clue how I was gonna pul it off. I asked my brothers to help and we stayed up for days painting those dorm rooms. And we did it. We got it done. And we made money. Actual money! So I got to thinkin', there's a lot of dorm rooms out there. So my company is doing alright. That girlfriend that supported me when I was a broke house painter? She's my wife now an we have four amazing kids. When I heard that Tom passed away, I knew I had to do something. I decided I'd go to all 50 states and play pickleball in each one in honor of Tom and to spread a little love to whoever is out there on the courts that are feelin' down. That's what I'm doing there with my fingers. Look real close and you'll see, I'm makin' a little heart for that little bit a love. That's all anyone wants, right?
Just a little love and a lot of pickleball.
CHONG "CK" KIM, 52
FRISCO, TX
MAKE 'EM SMILE
I came here from Germany in my thirties. My husband is American. He had a really bad motorcycle accident and he got very sad, very depressed. So we decided let’s load everything up and come over to America. And that’s what we did. My sons, they had birthdays, you know, and we didn’t know what to get for them so we got two tennis racquets and that’s how I started. I went out and played and I just kept going out to play. I worked in a grocery store in the bakery and somebody would come by to pick up our old bakery goods to take to the old folks homes and to the North Texas Food Bank instead of just throwing it out. And this guy that would pick up the food said hey I know this person, she will play tennis with you. Anita Thomas. So I start playing tennis with her. I go to lunch. Anita and her friends would pick me up, we go play and I go back to work. It was great. During the pandemic I wanted to play tennis but it was hard to get people to play. No one was playing anymore. So I went out there, I was hitting the ball against the wall by myself and some people playing pickleball asked me to join them and I did and it was great. I had such a good time. Beginner. Ran around like crazy, you know. I just hit the ball. No technique, nothing. Everybody said “Anne, you look so weird playing”, but I was winning so who cares, right? I just went after every ball. Everything. I like the people that play pickleball. There’s some people that just can’t smile, right? But you know, we try.
We try to make ‘em smile.
ANNE DAVIS, 67
McKinney, TX
ONE STEP AT A TIME
I was born and raised in Malaysia. I came here for work 25 years ago. We’ve been in Texas 16 years now. I have a 23, 22 and 20 year old. My youngest, Virginia, she’s an amazing player. She used to coach pickleball but had to stop because of school. For the past four to five years I’ve been going through a lot of hardship. A lot of depression. I found pickleball and it’s helped me meet new friends that pick me up a lot and got me out of it. I’m doing really well. I’m happy. I’m here playing my game. If the ball goes out? It doesn’t go over the net? It doesn’t matter. Just have fun. Then you get hooked. Then you get better. Then you find new friends. I was scared when I started. It can be intimidating to watch people that are really good. But go out there. See how you feel. Hit the ball around. If you don’t know how, throw it around. Get into the groove, one step at a time. I’m an ice-skating coach. I’ve been teaching skating a long time. Teaching pickleball is the same.
It’s just taking one step at a time.
CHRISTINE YEE, 48
McKinney, TX
WHAT ELSE WOULD I BE DOING?
One day, eight years ago, they had a sign by the door at the Dome. It said "Pickleball Tuesday afternoon". I had no idea what pickleball was but I had that day off so I went and checked it out. I sat on the bleachers and just watched. This lady just points me out and asks me “Are you here for pickleball?” I said I’m just checking it out. She told me to grab a paddle and get out here and play. And I’ve been playing ever since. The year I found pickleball, my youngest left for college. All my friends say the same thing: What would we be doing if it wasn’t for pickleball? And were not really sure. Just sitting in recliners watching T.V. or who knows what. They lady that pointed me out that first day I came in? We became very close friends. I’ve traveled to different states to play. I played with a man from Minnesota, a blind date pickleball partner for a tournament there. We took Bronze. We played in the exact same tournament the next year and took Gold! We went from Bronze to Gold in one year. I’m flying out tomorrow morning to go to St. George, Utah with a big group from Alaska for the Fall Brawl Tournament and the Huntsman Senior Games. I’ve played in Minnesota, Arizona, Oklahoma and Utah. People ask me where do you play pickleball in Alaska? On ice rinks in the summer and we have one court here in the Dome during the winter and a few wooden floors in gymnasiums and that’s it. But there’s some good players here in Alaska.
We’re actually pretty good!
LAURIE BINGHAM, 58
Anckorage, AK