SPEAKER_04 0:00

So it's named after a dog.

SPEAKER_03 0:08

Are you a wheel to know like they play the win and that's how they judge their like where they stand as a player.

SPEAKER_04 0:19

It's a big stereotype for all that. We know it's going through.

SPEAKER_03 0:24

If you really want to prove it's not only gonna work well if you don't typically just I would put my career on. I don't want to embarrass anybody, so I gotta be careful about it.

SPEAKER_02 0:37

Tell us one thing you've never admitted on a pickleball court. I am psyched! Andrew Ritter and Eric Handelman are here.

SPEAKER_04 0:52

Thanks guys for joining us on this podcast.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

We're super excited to be here. Yeah. Awesome. Awesome. We appreciate your time. So we got we have a we have a bunch of questions, and let's get going. This is for each of you, by the way. How did each of you get started playing pickleball?

SPEAKER_03 1:08

The hook, honestly, for me started in high school. My senior year of high school is in my gym class. I don't think we were playing the game right by any means. So this is back 2005, it was my first introduction to pickleball. Um, never heard of it before then. Um so Glencove High School, and 10 years go by, and then I see it's in my local YMCA. You know, I'm going to my gym working out, bored at the treadmill, and I see people playing in my gym, decide to jump in with two feet, start getting my butt whooped by people double my age. And that's kind of like what the big growing point for me in pickleball was I said, you know, I need to get better at this game. Um found a place to uh learn the game, which was actually like a certification class out of state. The IPTPA um was hosting in Connecticut, so I went to Connecticut to get certified. It was like a two-day program. And then that was like the foundation of my uh for me, really falling in love with the game when I really began to understand it better, the intricacies of the uh you know the strategy and whatnot. Um but from there I started teaching a little bit in a local tennis club by me. Um that's where my game blew up, and um, you know, like the sport really just started exploding from there.

SPEAKER_02 2:18

So you decided to become an instructor right afterwards.

SPEAKER_03 2:23

No. Or like, you know, yeah, what made you decide to become an instructor? That was all accidental, honestly. Um, you know, like like even you know, working in the pickleball field, I just loved the game. I love the sport, I love the people that were involved in the sport. Um, and it kind of organically happened where you know, I was working in the insurance world, but I was like falling in love with the game. I would see people out at a diner wearing tennis shoes. I'd be asking them if they've ever tried pickleball. My wife would be rolling her eyes. Um, but you know, I just had a passion for the game, passion for the sport. Um, and that's really where it took off. And then, you know, I met some people who were starting, you know, the first indoor club, Pickle and Par. And, you know, they brought me in knowing the program that I was growing at that tennis club at the time.

SPEAKER_04 3:04

You played tennis before? No. Okay, so no tennis, no rackable, no paddle. This was your first sort of paddle racket sport.

SPEAKER_03 3:11

Yeah, a little baseball and uh football growing up as a kid. I was always competitive. Um, as much as I love pickleball, I wish my parents would have maybe thought to throw a tennis racket in my hand when I was a kid because who would have thunk? But um Right. Yeah, no, pickleball I found it was just you know, and I think a lot of people can also, you know, relate in the point where pickleball it's easy to get started, but there is a lot of depth to the game where you know there's a lot of room to get better and enhance your.

SPEAKER_04 3:36

So, how long you've been doing this in total from the beginning till now?

SPEAKER_03 3:40

Um, over ten years, easy. Yeah, that's great. Like like competitively involved in pickleball over ten years. Um working in the pickleball field, I would say like nine or ten years because pickle and par's in its eighth year in Melville, so eighth years. Yeah. Great. Great story. Eric.

SPEAKER_00 3:57

Yeah, so I think I played in middle school too. Um just like it was just a unit in gym class. Then I played a little bit actually when Sweet Hollow Park opened. Right. Um because I worked at a camp nearby and we would play. Um, and then like after camp, we would go down to the courts and just play singles and stuff. And then I didn't play like officially until Pickle and Parr opened. Um one of my friends from tennis was like, you know, you know, do you want to come down and play pickleball at this new, you know, indoor place that opened? And he was like, It's right by your house. Because I, you know, I'm from Melville. You're from Melville, yeah, right, right. So we went and I just couldn't believe that Pickle and Parr like existed in like, you know, 30 seconds from my house. And you know, I got into it, I started playing, I started going to open play there and just you know, playing with the members um literally like three, four times a week. And then I met Andrew and he kind of got me hooked into like you know, like the higher level games and stuff, more of like the private. Yeah, so I started like getting into those like better groups and then um I started working at Piccolo and Poor. And I got certified to teach. I was working, you know, behind the desk and then started coaching and just got hooked on it.

SPEAKER_04 5:10

What do you have to do to be certified to teach? Is there a certain process? Is it courses? Is it like how do you get certified?

SPEAKER_00 5:17

There's a a number of like different certifications. The one I did, because it was during COVID, it was like an online certification called PCI.

SPEAKER_04 5:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

So it was like online. I had to like you know, take a test and then record like a video of myself, like doing different like things. There's like a skills test which I had to like do um you know virtually. So I kind of recorded it, and then I had to record like a demo lesson, and then you submit it to the certification, and then that's what you know I eventually passed.

SPEAKER_04 5:45

That's extensive, but yeah, thorough, cool.

SPEAKER_03 5:48

Yeah, the um there's there's a few certifications, uh, courses that like that I I vouch for that I think are are pretty solid, but they all they do require a minimum, I I believe like a 3-5 or 4-0 level skill level, so that you're able to teach up to you know, at least starting with like beginners up to intermediate. That's great. I just want to add on to the piggyback on Eric's beginning stories because you know there's there's there's a few people like early on that like like the I when I first started playing pickleball, there wasn't like a a ton of like heavy competition. So like when I would hear of like good players coming about, I would seek them out and like even for my own guilty pleasures, like I was looking for you know some good games.

SPEAKER_04 6:28

That's the competitive thing.

SPEAKER_03 6:29

And uh also I would keep hearing about these guys, and Eric was one of them. Oh, they're coming to open plays, and it was like the late night one at like 9 p.m. I'm like, oh okay, I'm I'm gonna make an appearance, and I finally made the appearance, and I was happy I did because you know, like we've been such great friends and co-workers since. But um he um another funny story is like he was playing with this real like I call them like Amazon specials, like real, like kind of like low-grade paddles. And a lot of people go, Oh, it's a lot of people go, Oh, it's the Indian, not the arrow. But I say, you know, a sharper arrow gets a bigger buffalo. Um, so I I you know I ended up putting like a nicer paddle in his hand, or he was trying like one of our demos at the time, and we had discontinued it. So I gifted him that demo, and instead of demo written on it, we put an N on the end, and we we nicknamed him Demon early on because he was because he was like a little demonstration. It wasn't a demo anymore, it was my own paddle.

SPEAKER_00 7:21

But I remember it was like a similar thing with Andrew, like everyone was telling me, like, you gotta meet Andrew, you gotta meet Andrew, and I eventually like I met him, and then you know, that's kind of you know went from there.

SPEAKER_04 7:32

Cool, it's great, and here you are today. That's great.

SPEAKER_03 7:34

You guys are working together and excelling together, yeah, definitely having a lot of fun in the process.

SPEAKER_04 7:39

Cool, but it's all about, right? Fun, working, doing it all.

SPEAKER_02 7:43

So 3.5, 4.0 players. What's the how would you define a 3.5 versus a 4.0? Well, so I I would say like what define the difference. Yeah, like what makes you what makes you become if you're a 3.5 player, what does it take for you to be a say 4-0 is an example?

SPEAKER_03 8:02

Well, I would say like like it it's really one of the hardest things to differentiate, right? And it's one of the hardest parts of our job is like when we approve like club ratings. Um, you know, we've been pushing duper in a big way because that really falls into the hands of okay, now you're responsible for your own way to that later. But I would say 3-5 is like you're really starting to show initiative that you're playing more ball with your partner, right? Like prior to that, it's like, all right, we're playing to get it over the net and we're hoping to win points in a sense, right? We're we're starting to implement strategy or we're showing understanding of strategies. 3-5 is like, okay, you're really showing an understanding of strategy and you're beginning to implement it, and you're on this journey of becoming more consistent with it. Got it. 4-0 is I in my opinion, like you're okay. Now you're you're like the mindset is there, you're becoming Uber consistent, but like now it's also you're trying, you're starting to feel out your opponents and learning your partners better and working with an with your partner against your opponents. But it's it's a competitive field. It's even like like 4-0 and above, it's more so like it's more of like a niche community too, where it's like it's competitive play. Are you playing in tournaments now? Are you pushing yourself? Okay, like I would say, like four-own above, you're you're a tournament player, you know, you're pushing yourself like you know, pushing the colour. Every shot counts, so to speak, right?

SPEAKER_00 9:15

Like you're you're dictating the point, you have a plan, you know, you're you're constructing the point and you're thinking about the the next shot, setting up the point.

SPEAKER_03 9:23

Knowing when you're on defense compared to being on offense, and and and do I have to be more patient against that opponent, right? So like a better opponent, you're gonna have to be a little more patient. You're not just gonna be able to hit winners through the adjust to each player.

SPEAKER_04 9:36

Adjust to your opponent's core position. Core positions. Right, that's real important. You guys have told us that the mindset of coming in. Thinking ahead of what's gonna be. Yeah, right, is a 4.0, right? Yeah. It's great. Yeah. Um thank you guys for that. If you can give uh every player just one tip, one key tip, forget about the level. What would it be?

SPEAKER_03 9:55

I want to give my favorite tip, and I I I stand by this from day one, and this is what helped me get so much better was um when you're playing like recreational play or even open plays, don't avoid hitting to the better player. That's like something that I see happen a lot because I think I think people a lot of times like they play to win, and that that's how they judge their like where they stand as a player. But what's gonna help you get better in the long run is you know, playing the ball, playing the smart shot, like most importantly, but not avoiding like like I could if I went to like a local park or an open play and I paired up against somebody I knew you know one player is weaker and I played them the majority, if not all the shots. Right. All right, did I really win? Did I beat both of them or did I beat the one player, right? So I am uh I'm a big fan of pushing myself to play the smart shot, but if I play the person who I feel has has a good game, I'm gonna see more balls coming back. So my consistency is gonna get better, I'm gonna see a bit a broader shot selection. There was one guy who helped me learn the game early on, and he came from Tampa. At the time, there weren't a lot of people to learn from that were better than me as I was up and coming. And he learned the game down in Florida, where it grew in a tremendous way over the years. Um, but I would go out of my way to like play shots against him and and also for the for the mere fact of having him come back, right? Because if I'm not playing him balls or hitting him the ball, is this guy gonna keep coming to these open plays at my local YMCA? Probably not. That's a good point. He's there to play too much. Very interesting point of view that you said this. I never thought of that.

SPEAKER_04 11:24

Is play the better play, don't just concentrate on the weak play, which a lot of people probably tend to do.

SPEAKER_03 11:28

But but then there's the other extreme where sometimes there's a really great player on court and then everyone's hitting him every ball. So that's not realistic. That's not realistic either, though. So play the smart shots, but don't isolate the better player because A, they won't come back, B, it's not gonna help you get better. Right, right, right, right.

SPEAKER_04 11:46

Um Eric, how about yourself?

SPEAKER_00 11:48

I think a tip in terms of like improvement, like I think a tip would be trying to identify like aspects of your game that you need to improve upon, and then each time you play, trying to pick like one thing to work on. So, you know, a simple one could be hitting a deeper turn. So then next time you play, be like, tonight I'm gonna just really focus on hitting that deeper turn and then actually making those changes and implementing them into your game. You know, a lot of times if we work on something, you know, in a lesson or you're working on something, it's hard to actually implement that into a game when you go out and play. And, you know, that might be because you feel the pressure of the game and you know, you want to win and you don't want to let your, you know, you don't want to let your partner down and you care about winning that game. But, you know, when you think about it, if you're just playing, say, you know, on a random Tuesday night and it's like a recreational game, you know, you if you really want to improve, you have to like really pick those things that are gonna help you, you know, improve and identify them. And it's hard to do it all at once, but I think, you know, say it could be resetting from the middle of the transition zone, you know. Be like tonight I'm gonna focus on really just when I'm in that transition zone, playing a reset and really and trying to like actually implement it into your game.

SPEAKER_04 13:03

So what does a transition zone mean? Transition zone.

SPEAKER_00 13:06

So a lot of people, you know, call it no man's land. Okay, middle of the week coach, we like to call it, yeah, like mid-court, you know. So after you serve, you stay back, try to work your way up. You don't typically just get right up to the kitchen line. You you know, you're trying to work your way up, and we call it the transition, right?

SPEAKER_04 13:21

So it's like stepping up slowly to the kitchen after a few shots.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

Not no man's land.

SPEAKER_04 13:25

Right, not no man's land. Got it. Interesting, great points.

SPEAKER_03 13:28

I love Eric's tip, and I usually reinforce that by telling people I had to practice the right shots to get better and not worry so much about winning, right? Like I lost a lot of games practicing the shots that I had to get better. I started the game with no backhand. I would switch hands and I had to change that. I don't know if you guys have ever switched hands near the kitchen line, but it's it's a hard thing to master. I think we know one guy like who probably is you know of a 5-0 level that's been able to do it. And I I always say he was probably like a professional hot potato like player as a kid, you know.

SPEAKER_02 13:58

Yes, you know, my wife is taking lessons now, and she keeps saying to me, the backhand. I don't know how I'm gonna do the backhand. I'm like, don't worry, don't worry about the backhand. Let's you know, let's worry about the forehand. We'll come to it. You'll get there, you'll get there, you'll get you'll get there.

SPEAKER_04 14:12

And now your backhand's good, obviously. I it's one of my favorite.

SPEAKER_03 14:15

Yeah, I love my backhand. Backhand misdirect.

SPEAKER_04 14:19

Yes, we've seen all the tricks you guys can do. Yes. Mind-boggling.

SPEAKER_02 14:23

What what would you say is the hardest shot for most people to master?

SPEAKER_03 14:26

I would like to just um say like trying to master any shot is probably pretty difficult. All right, all right, no. I would rather like like you know, often something I get like people like they they come into a lesson or they want they the biggest thing I hear people is like, I want to get better at my serve. I'm like, well, like, like, alright, we could spend a little time on serve, and I would say 99, if if not 100% of the time, I go into a lesson like that. I spend five, ten minutes on the serve. As long as they have a good, strong, deep serve with some consistency, we're moving into the next thing. It's like the meat and potatoes of the game. What are we doing after the serve? Let's focus on that. Okay, okay. Um, so as far as like mastering, I mean, I I'm a huge fan of the third shot drop. I know you know a lot of people say the game's transitioning and adjusting, but I would say, especially even for like players like 50 and above, like master to that drop shot when you're the serving team trying to sink in trying to sink trying to sink that third shot drop and uh move in consistently. Um but again, it's it's a partner game, so like your shot's only gonna work well if your partner's playing that game with you. So right, right, right.

SPEAKER_00 15:31

I think resets too, reseg one super important. You know, when that when you're in an unfavorable position, you know, you're under pressure. Got it. Can you get that ball down into the kitchen and then you know take yourself out of that pressure situation? That's you know, a tough one. I think as you improve, you it starts taking you less shots or less attempts to get that ball low and keep yourself in the point or take yourself out of those situations.

SPEAKER_03 15:56

With with resets drops and like the soft game, I think a lot of it's it relates to being calm on court. And with calmness, I tell people all the time it like relates to being comfortable, being you know confident. So that calmness comes with building confidence and that comfort where the more you practice these things, the more comfortable and calm you'll become. You know, grit pressure being so important with so many shots, right? Yep. So if you're not calm, you're tense, you're tight, are you gonna hit that shot you know appropriately? Probably not. Cool.

SPEAKER_04 16:24

It's all about calmness. Yeah. Next question. This is going great, gentlemen. We're enjoying this. The funniest thing that has ever happened to you, Mr. Ritter, during a lesson, if you can think. If there's anything funny that you can recall. Anything that was just pretty much hysterical, yeah. You gotta stop yourself from laughing.

SPEAKER_03 16:40

You've given a lot of lessons, both of you. I don't want to embarrass anybody, so I gotta be careful. No names. No names, no names, no names.

SPEAKER_04 16:48

No names. He's got to dig deep on the funniest? Yeah. During a lesson. Somebody forget their paddle.

SPEAKER_03 16:55

Rough time. Funniest. Well, most unique thing that's happened during a lesson where you just I've been doing a lesson with somebody their shorts actually have fallen down during the lesson. There we go.

SPEAKER_02 17:07

That's what I'm talking about. That's what that we got.

SPEAKER_03 17:10

That's a pretty that's a Did they know it? Oh yeah. I I mean they realized it pretty quickly, but yeah. So I mean, I I can tell you I can do good tips when we get started. It's okay. This is how you grip a paddle, and make sure your pants are fast and your shoes are tied. Um That's pretty funny.

SPEAKER_04 17:31

That's a good thing. Can you remember anything? I don't know if there's anything that can be that one.

SPEAKER_02 17:38

That's a pretty good one. So what else you got right now? So what's one thing people would be surprised to learn about?

SPEAKER_03 17:51

Is there anything surprised? I mean, like sometimes when I share that I've never come from a racket sport, that surprises some people, but usually the people who come from like a tennis or like like a strong racket sport background can usually tell that I'm I don't come from a racket sport background, so yeah. Um That surprised me.

SPEAKER_04 18:16

Uh I thought you were maybe involved in like tennis or other racket sports based on the skill level what I've seen.

SPEAKER_03 18:22

But I have like an unorthodox, more of like a like a kind of flairy way of playing where it's like some people come from like that structured racket sport, big strokes kind of can tell that I have like a a different type of background, I guess you would say. Got it.

SPEAKER_00 18:38

That's a good one. I I think people know when I play that I came from a racket sport. Yeah, even hits that ball hard. Um I mean maybe about me, like I mean at this point I've been playing for, you know, seven years, and I remember when I first started playing. I mean, obviously not as long as Andrew, but I think when I tell people now, it's like crazy to say that I've been playing like seriously for like seven years. I remember thinking, you know, when I first started, I would always say, like, yeah, I've been playing for six months, and people be like, oh and then I would be like, Yeah, I've been playing for like eight months, and then I'd be like, Yeah, I've been playing for a year. And then now it's like, you know, I get to the point where when I say like it's it's like shocking to even like say that to people that I've been playing, you know, for seven years. I just think about how like crazy that is. Wow, it is um maybe not like surprising, but okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:30

So tell us about pickle and par. Why should people come to pickle and par?

SPEAKER_03 19:35

Well, let's not forget the last word that you're missing there pickle and park club. Club, club, pickle and park club. And that's part of like the vibe we're we're pushing for is like to make it really feel like a club, feel at home. And you know, it started with the construction of the facilities, really making it feel homey and that good warm environment when you walk in. Um, you know, a place where you want to hang out, where you want to hang out on the couches or in the lounge area and you know, right, you know, be a part of and hang with the people. Um, another big big thing is we you know we spent a lot of time really, really picking great staff and you know, like really focusing on um, you know, them emulating the vision and picture of Pickle and Par, which is you know a place where you know you when you walk in, we we know who you are, you know who we are. Yes. Um it's another family, so to speak. Yeah, heck yeah. And you know what? It works both ways because when you know when we have great members and uh you know we want to be at work and you guys want to be with us, so it's like it doesn't feel like work for us, and for you know, we hope it's a place you guys want to come and and be and play, and uh that's what we try to emulate is a place that feels like like a club, you know, a home. Place it. I agree with that. I totally agree. That's why I love coming there. Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 20:41

Yeah, you know, so you have a question. You've been asking me about this, but now they're here. Here we are, here we are. Now you've been asking me how nervous is a lot of questions.

SPEAKER_04 20:51

Oh, the duper, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:52

Ask them about duper.

SPEAKER_04 20:53

Ask them what you ask away. Tell just tell us really all about duper, how it started, the history of it, and uh, you know, what it's really about. What does it really um mean, so to speak? Because a lot of people have no idea. They just hear duper, duper, super duper. What is duper exactly?

SPEAKER_03 21:10

Well, it's it's the official rating system where I'm gonna use these quotations because it's still like like I think needs to become broader. What does it stand for?

SPEAKER_00 21:18

Um dynamic universal pickleball rating. There you go.

SPEAKER_03 21:22

There we go. We got it. So secrets out. So if you you could download the app, right? You can review people's dupers in your area, you can review clubs, you know, different club standings. Um and duper is really based on algorithms, wins and losses, point per the sp the you know, difference of points in within games. So you're playing with a partner at a certain level, it takes that into consideration depending who you're playing against. Um so duper is like it really puts the ball in your court as a player, but now you are playing to win, right? Essentially. So I talked about like when you're playing recreationally, like you know, you don't want to ice out that better player, but like duper is More like tournament play. You're playing for that medal, so to speak. I think some people treat their dupers even more high more high than like a gold medal or you know any championship because this is like well actually it's funny you say that.

SPEAKER_02 22:12

So do you believe I mean are you like I mean, are you a real believer in duper?

SPEAKER_03 22:18

Yeah, yes and no. Like I think it still has like some some like bugs to be worked out.

SPEAKER_00 22:22

Um I think the more matches you have in it and the the more opponents you have, the more accurate you know it'll become.

SPEAKER_04 22:28

Here we go. Rapid fire, guys. For who? Either one or you, then you.

SPEAKER_03 22:35

I'm a big fan of the YOLA paddles right now. In particular, I'm actually playing with the Simone Perseus, which is a thinner handle. I don't have like giant hands, so like it just it works well for the grip that I like. So it's the uh it's the uh thinner handle Perseus Pro 5.

SPEAKER_04 22:53

Very nice. Now I know what you want for your next birthday.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

Yeah, uh for me the Franklin Annalie Waters paddle is what I've been using the last few months.

SPEAKER_04 23:01

Very nice.

SPEAKER_00 23:01

A smaller paddle, big sweet spot though.

SPEAKER_03 23:04

Great guys, exciting. Early bird or a night owl? I'm an early bird, big time hunting. Early bird gets the worms. Usually up around like 5, 5, 30. Um, and my wife's usually kicking me to stay awake to watch movies at night. So wow, okay. So you're getting up early. Eric?

SPEAKER_00 23:19

Um used to be a night owl, and lately I've been more of an early bird.

SPEAKER_04 23:23

Yeah, making a transition. Great. You could be both if you if you want. Yeah, yeah. This is a great one. Uh I'm interested to know this. Your favorite post-game meal. You played hard, you put it all out there. What do you like to eat when you get home?

SPEAKER_03 23:36

A slice of pizza? Honestly, I I actually love to cook personally, and uh like like if I were to pick like a fast food or something, it would be something like chipotle, but I prefer to make it at home just to like to cut back on like the salts and everything. Like, like it's simple to make. Like I'll grill some chicken up, have make like a stay-at-home rice ball, so to speak, with like some good salsa and nice. I like spice, yeah. Spices spice and protein. Yeah, and and like healthy-ish carbs. So, like, right, I'll try to like steer towards smart carbs, right? Good for you. Try it for it.

SPEAKER_00 24:06

Chick-fil-a. Nothing like Chick-fil-A, just can't get it on Sunday. That's it.

SPEAKER_04 24:10

Yeah, Chick-fil-A is great.

SPEAKER_03 24:11

My guilty pleasure, too.

SPEAKER_04 24:13

Yeah, all right. We're moving around here. Uh Dream Celebrity Student. If you had to pick somebody. Who would you teach?

SPEAKER_03 24:20

One of the dream celebrity student. Well, actually, I bumped into Jimmy Fallon once at my Ace Hardware store. And I tried like poaching him for pickleball. I think him and his family still play a little bit of tennis, but I asked him, I was like, I was like, any he introduced me to his wife and everything. It's like, have you guys tried pickleball yet? And he was like, No, but you know, I've I've I've been planning to try it. So I was like, all right, well. And then like I I I posted a picture of him and like tagged him on Instagram, hoping he would see it, but I don't know. Eric.

SPEAKER_00 24:49

Uh, the king of New York, Jalen Brunson. Yeah, I like that.

SPEAKER_02 24:53

I like that. I like that. That's a good one.

SPEAKER_04 24:55

Awesome. All right, next one word. It's a dream celebrity pickleball partner. You're in a you're in a tournament. Billy Waters.

SPEAKER_03 25:01

Easy. She's she's a phenomenal player, flawless. Okay. Um, I actually I had like the pleasure of of meeting her at this point. Where's she from? Where is she from originally of Florida? But um, she's an exceptional player, but she's I think 19 years old, and I I've never I've never been like starstruck by somebody I or I thought I'd be starstruck by somebody. I had a a rookie card I brought to her to be signed.

SPEAKER_05 25:24

Really?

SPEAKER_03 25:25

I brought it with me. I bought this rookie card like a couple years ago. I bought two of them. I think I paid like 20 bucks a pop for the cards and brought them to this MLP event, and I was like, I was like stuttering. I was I was like a mess. And I couldn't I couldn't even get it out of the sleeve. So I'm trying to get the card out of the sleeve. Her mom and dad are standing behind her. I'm like looking like a fool here. I'm trying to pull it out with my teeth now, like trying to just get this card out. Yeah, nervous. I'm like, can you please just pull this card out and sign it for her? So it was pretty funny. She signed it. So if I if I could choose like a pickleball partner, I I she would be exceptional. All right. Yeah, that would be she's 19 years old, right? She's the top players in the world, right? That's why I invested in her rookie card. I figure if she's still kicking for the next 20, 30 years in the game a lot, you know?

SPEAKER_04 26:08

Sure, sure. So that's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 26:10

How old are you guys? I'm 39 38, I'm sorry. Um, it's not Rush a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

Uh about to be 29.

SPEAKER_04 26:17

Very good, very good. So your dream celebrity pickleball partner, I'll say the same thing.

SPEAKER_00 26:22

I think uh Roger Federer.

SPEAKER_04 26:24

Roger Federer comes from the tennis world, right? Is he playing pickleball now like Agassi, or is he I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 26:30

I think he's you know, I've I've seen him like hit around like at you know, a lot of these like pro tennis tournaments, you'll they do like pickleball pop-ups, which I find interesting. Like and they bring in like the you know tennis pros and they'll do like you know, like a pop-up event where they are playing pickleball. It's like you know, like a branding thing. But um I don't know. Not sure if he's played, but I'd imagine it would be uh he'd be very good. Definitely, definitely.

SPEAKER_04 26:56

Last question of the rapid fire. Ritter, if you could play one person, living or dead, who would it be? Who who would you compete against?

SPEAKER_03 27:03

I I think I would actually like to to bring my grandfather back to play pickleball. Really? Yeah, he's passed away for some years now, but it's really cool. Like like I thought I always thought about him when I started playing pickleball, how much he would enjoy it, because he was like an athlete up to his last days. He would swim and box, and he grew up playing like handball, stick ball, queen's guy, you know. So it's like I could picture him actually really enjoying pickleball, but like he wasn't wasn't around for like the the big boom of it, so to speak. So um I'm I see yeah, I think that would be if you're giving me the option to bring back the dead, I think I would choose him. Okay, I think that's fabulous.

SPEAKER_00 27:37

That's great. About you, Eric. Eric. Um not sure if he I think he's alive, but um and I'm not I don't know his first name, but be like the creator of Pickleball. It's the Pritchard family. Do you know his first name?

SPEAKER_04 27:51

I don't know. If we Google it, we can find it. But I think the sport was started in 1966, 1960. And it was named after a dog whose name was Pickle, from what I understand. It's a lot of different things. Ah, well, what do you guys know about that? This could be the last rapid fire question.

SPEAKER_03 28:06

What do you know about so so the name is often mistaken for being the name of the dog, and the dog it's been proven that the dog was got was pr was was they got the dog after the creation of the game. The actual real and this was like vet it was very available to find like on even online when I first started playing, but since then it's been buried by this dog concept. Okay. So the the family, the Pritchards, they were politicians from Bainbridge Island, Washington State area, and they were big in the crew, the rowing sport. Sure. And there's a a boat apparently that follows behind like the racing boat called a pickle boat.

SPEAKER_02 28:43

Pickle boat.

SPEAKER_03 28:44

And the the the type of boat is like a hybrid of two different types of racing boats or something like that. So they I think like the name was generated in a sense of like, oh well, these games are a mix of these different sports, badminton, tennis, ping pong. Let's you know, pickle boat, pickleball. And then actually, for the longest time, like when I first started playing, there was also like a brand of clothing that was called pickle boat sports or pickleboat pickleball interesting for a period of time. So, but that like I um I would put my career on it. That's the nit the way it was created. And if you dig deep enough, you can find it. Okay. Um the dog answer is uh the dog is so much easier and cooler and cuter to tell you.

SPEAKER_00 29:21

Like in gym in gym class when you you know when they give you like a test at the end of the unit. I think even like the answer to that question on the test was you know, the dog answer. He is like Mr.

SPEAKER_02 29:31

Pickleball, this guy.

unknown 29:33

Unbelievable.

SPEAKER_04 29:34

They're the pickle pair.

SPEAKER_02 29:37

Yeah, one of yeah, once we're getting personal now. Does your family play? Does your wife play? Does your daughter play?

SPEAKER_03 29:43

So, so my wife plays a little bit. You know, she my wife is a very competitive person. She won't admit it though, but like when she was younger, she played a lot of basketball, and I think she didn't like how competitive she was playing basketball. So she sees like the level of pickleball that I'll play, and it's like, oh, I can't, I can't do that. Or she feels she has to compete at that level. But I I always tell her, and I convince people, like, I can play down to any level, you know, like like you guys don't have to play up to that level, so whatever it is. But um the daughter question, she's like, I think it's kind of like, oh, if that's what dad does, I don't want to do it, kind of thing. Sounds like my kids like my kids. She's 15. Okay. But now all of her friends are starting to kind of get into it, and she's like, I have a nice pickleball paddle, don't I? Like, if you'll play her, you'll have any pickleball paddle you want. Like, play. Right. Um, but she she's actually naturally pretty good at it. Um, so like I actually I have a brother who's a big player, and this is actually like a fun fact I like to share. Because my brother Ryan, he grew up with cerebral palsy. Okay. And couldn't play like football and baseball with me and my older brother growing up.

SPEAKER_01 30:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 30:52

And um, he actually jumped in. At first, he was like, both of my brothers were shaming me because I was playing pickleball early on. All my friends making fun of me, right? Oh, what are you doing? You're beating up on all the grannies and grandpas. I go, you guys have to try it, it's so much fun. There's a big stereotype with all that. We know it's so untrue. So, but my brother Ryan finally started playing it, and so like he has like minimal use of his left hand and a little bit of a like a limp when he plays, so but he was able to actually play this sport at a at a like a high level. Like he'll compete in three, five, four-o tournaments. He ended up moving down to Florida, he plays down there, he has a whole community of people. Um, he had a couple sponsors last you know, I checked in where like a lock lace company where you need one hand just to tie your laces. So it's like it's pretty cool what this sport has been able to do for him. And I use that story actually a lot too when I like teach people pickleball who like are hard on themselves, or I can't do this. It's like you know, I I use my brother's story as like an inspirational. I love you mentioned your grandfather, your brother. Your brother, what's his name? Ryan. They call him Ride Dog. Ryan Rider, double.

SPEAKER_04 31:56

That guy's a champion. I look up to him just meeting him through you. That's that's really great. Really great. Your family?

SPEAKER_00 32:02

Um, my f my family's tried it, but they don't like play like avidly. I gave my parents like a lesson one time. Oh, okay. Um they didn't like stick with it, but um they were pretty good. And then my uh sisters have tried it. My sisters both played tennis too, so um, they played it like a few times. Okay. Um yeah. New High Park opening up in September.

SPEAKER_03 32:25

So September, we're planning on opening September 14th. Um, everything's falling in line to be true to that date. We plan on having a big grand opening party the end of September. Um, we'll keep everybody posted on that, but it's gonna be like the most amazing facility we've built yet. Um, you know, Melville being the first indoor facility on the island, um, it's gonna kind of capture that whole vibe. But what's really unique and cool, it's really the first and only completely underground facility. That is cool, which is really awesome. That is really cool. That's exciting.

SPEAKER_04 32:57

You know, um we'll be there for the grand opening.

SPEAKER_03 33:00

Oh, definitely. Um, it's uh you know, I've been popping in sporadically through the build-down. This has been an exciting thing to see, and uh so excited to introduce you know all of our current members and future members to that facility, but it's gonna be like no other, and we're super excited to, and it's gonna be 14 indoor courts. We'll still have the golf simulation, too. It's gonna be something real special to uh introduce to the community for sure. All right, last question, and then we're done.

SPEAKER_02 33:27

Tell us one thing you've never admitted on a pickleball court.

SPEAKER_03 33:36

Never admitted on it.

SPEAKER_02 33:37

Never admitted whether you screwed up on something. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 33:42

I mean, there's not I you know anything. I mean sometimes admitting maybe a point loss is my fault is difficult in moments. Okay, yeah. That's usually a commonly you know, a common thing to see is like people don't always understand where the mistake gets made, but like you know, if you leave a ball a little high or you know, maybe dink a little high to someone's forehand, it's like yeah, it's you know, it might have been my fault. But yeah, yeah. I feel pretty good and confident when I'm on court and like in my element, so I don't have much to Okay, fine. Yeah, right, cool.

SPEAKER_02 34:15

Well, listen, we are so happy that you were able to to come to my house. Thanks for having us, yeah, man. Very so much. Yes, and thank you for coming. Yeah, be natural, exactly.

unknown 34:34

Okay, ready?

SPEAKER_02 34:35

Yes. All right. I am psyched.