How It Started.

WELCOME!

Always love hearing how people get into pickleball, so I’ll start with myself. I’m 37 and live in Austin, Texas.

I joined Austin Sports & Social Pickleball league to get some exercise and make new friends. I strongly considered basketball but with all the injuries and my work needing me to be on my feet (I’m a yacht chef) I branched out.

Instantly, pickleball was the first sport I’ve played that reminded me of basketball. Fast paced, team oriented, reading your opponent, touch all factor in. I got lucky with athletic teammates and we went 7-0. My competitive nature quickly took over and I began the journey of seeing how good I could get.

I found the next available rec tournament with my partner Hagen (who is 6”5 and athletic) and we won our first 5 games. We made it to the semifinals when our opponents, two ladies in their seventies with knee braces walked on. We glanced at each other and silently agreed to take it easy on them.

They beat us 11-7 and it wasn’t that close! Every time we hit the ball harder, they would just return it even faster. This humbling match had me thinking, is there any other sport where two 75 year old women could crush two relatively fit 30 year old men?

Wow. I had a lot to learn and the next step in my journey had just begun.