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The Incredible Journey of Tournament Pickleball Pro Lindsey Newman

Pickleball Pros: Lindsey and Riley Newman

Last updated on October 7th, 2023 at 04:54 pm

Simply Pickleball Podcast with Lindsey Newman

Professional pickleball player and mom Lindsey Newman has made a name for herself in the pickleball tournament scene. She typically plays and dominates professional pickleball tournaments with her bother, Riley Newman.

Where did the Newman’s come from and how did they rise up the pickleball tournament ranks so quickly? In 2017 they decided to play in their first professional pickleball tournament. Their pregame routine was a bit unorthodox. Most elite pickleball players get to the venue early to practice and prepare. The Newman’s chose a different path. They went to a Taylor Swift concert the night before and slept in a casino parking lot.

Turns out that their pregame routine worked! They won their first professional pickleball tournament! Following their victory, they accepted a sponsorship opportunity and have since continued to outperform their opponents. Lindsey, a mother of young children, competes among the few female players on the professional pickleball tour and even played in a tournament when she was six months pregnant. Learn more about her journey, her partnership with her equally skilled brother, and how she balances motherhood with her professional sports career.

Simply Pickleball Podcast on Spotify

Pickleball Podcast with Lindsey Newman on YouTube

Lindsey Newman Podcast Transcript

Intro

0:00

welcome to Simply pickleball the podcast

0:02

where we discuss all things pickleball

0:05

the fastest growing sport in America and

0:07

around the world we’re interviewing the

0:09

founders industry leaders athletes

0:12

lovers of the sport that are driving the

0:14

spectacular growth if you love

0:16

pickleball as much as we do listen in

0:19

hi I’m Crystal Brown your host and I had

0:22

the chance to catch up with busy mom and

0:24

professional pickleball star Lindsey

0:26

Newman we got to dig into her National

0:28

PPA win with her teammate and brother

0:30

Riley Newman how she got into the sport

0:33

after a long career in tennis and how

0:35

she manages to balance motherhood and

0:37

family life with her successful career

0:39

and out of the show alright well Lindsay

0:41

thank you so much for joining me today

0:43

really excited to speak with you about

0:45

everything pickleball really wanted to

0:48

just start with kind of earlier on in

0:50

your life where you could you know share

0:52

a little bit about what it was like to

0:54

grow up in a household with a ton of

0:56

kids I know you are one of seven is that

0:58

right yeah yeah that’s right yeah it was

Lindsey Newman Early Days

1:01

It was kind of as you can imagine super

1:03

crazy uh loud chaotic you know everyone

1:06

was coming in and out of the door doing

1:10

and going different places yeah it was

1:12

wild and to add on to all of that all of

1:15

us were super super competitive and

1:18

we’re actively playing multiple those

1:20

words typically at a time you know so

1:22

many times you know I would be shipped

1:24

off to a basketball practice and then

1:25

another sister would be going to a

1:27

soccer practice and then a brother would

1:29

be going to a baseball practice I mean

1:31

looking back now that I have you know

1:33

two kids of my own I don’t even I can’t

1:35

even comprehend like how my mom and dad

1:38

did it you know for so many years and

1:40

for so long so yeah I mean it was it was

1:43

crazy and wild I actually kind of refer

1:45

to it as like Survivor uh where

1:48

everyone’s you know you’re kind of on a

1:50

team but you’re honestly kind of like

1:51

just kind of just trying to survive

1:54

yourself you know there are multiple

1:56

times where you know dinner was made and

1:58

and sometimes if you didn’t eat fast

2:00

enough there wasn’t enough you know

2:02

enough for seconds and uh yeah so yeah

2:05

definitely kind of a Survivor household

2:07

there were times when you know we’d be

2:10

fighting over who had to go to bed first

2:12

and you know instead of just one of us

2:14

kind of Manning up and going we would

2:16

you know play ping pong or we had a

2:19

little basketball well hoop in our

2:20

living room and we would shoot free

2:22

throws and the loser had to go first and

2:24

do that sort of thing so like I said

2:27

really really competitive but also very

2:29

very loving uh you know we had the

2:32

absolute best parents uh in the whole

2:35

world yeah it was fun it’s I’ve heard

2:37

stories about that you know I have a

2:39

friend who who has five siblings all

2:41

boys and it would be definitely a fight

2:44

for who got to have seconds for dinner

2:46

and then they do they eat fast to this

2:48

day they still kind of yeah yeah it’s

2:51

crazy I mean I can I can finish a meal

2:53

you know when we have our sponsors or

2:55

like different people take us out you

2:58

know I have to make a really really

2:59

conscious effort to to eat slow and put

3:01

a napkin on my laps honestly like none

3:04

of that comes natural we were you know

3:06

dinner was made it was a race to the

3:09

kitchen you know you you got what you

3:11

got and then you just shoveled it in and

3:14

half the time you didn’t chew it you

3:15

just swallowed it yeah so like you said

3:17

I totally totally relate to that and

3:19

yeah to kind of be more aware that now

3:22

as an adult so and so were you guys all

3:25

sporty was everyone in your family

3:27

pretty athletic and did you kind of know

3:29

you you all had a knack for that or even

3:32

you specifically just kind of knew that

3:34

you were maybe better than the average

A Family of Athletes

3:35

athlete yeah I mean our parents ever

3:38

since you know I can remember we grew up

3:40

in in sports and it was in a gym it was

3:44

on a field you know it was in the car

3:46

going to the the gyms or the fields and

3:49

yeah at an early age our parents kind of

3:51

bedded in us that we were gonna play

3:53

sports and that uh you know doing that

3:56

would build a lot of character and uh

3:59

respect and and teamwork and all that

4:01

good stuff so yeah growing up you know

4:03

ever since I could walk I was I was

4:05

playing something so yeah I mean it was

4:08

it was a lot of fun to you know have

4:10

parents who were so supportive it was

4:12

also really fun to have you know always

4:14

someone to play with or against you know

4:17

for me it was a lot of times Riley we

Lindsey and Riley Newman Rivalry

4:19

were always kind of I would say probably

4:22

the most competitive most athletic ones

4:25

of the family you know so many times we

4:27

would go to the tennis court and we’d

4:30

duke it out in singles and and for you

4:33

know early on I would do a lot of the

4:34

winning and he would get so mad that he

4:36

would actually pick up a tennis ball and

4:38

hit the ball I mean it’s as hard as you

4:40

could and uh you know we gotten a lot of

4:43

a lot of fights growing up about you

4:46

know who won who lost that was a bad

4:48

line call you’re a cheater you don’t

4:50

know the score things like that right

4:52

now you know we get along a lot better

4:54

obviously yeah that sort of stuff isn’t

4:56

as big of an issue but

4:58

um where do you guys fall in in terms

5:00

are you guys

5:01

yeah so actually Riley is just dead

5:04

heat in the middle and actually I’m one

5:06

above him so okay so you guys we kind of

5:08

fall in the middle yeah it totally makes

5:11

sense so yeah I mean it was just it was

5:13

like I said everything in our house was

5:15

a competition uh we always had

5:17

basketball or ping pong or or baseball

5:21

or whatever it was it was just never

5:23

anything that we did was to win to beat

5:26

out everyone else and that really hasn’t

5:29

changed even you know in our 30s I was a

5:32

swimmer growing up and you’re it’s it’s

5:33

more individual right you you you think

5:36

like hard work is part of it but also

5:39

that spirit that you want to win right

5:41

because you can you know you can you can

5:43

play but you to want to win is a little

5:45

bit different so um when so you you were

From Tennis to Pickleball

5:48

a tennis player though prior to

5:50

pickleball did you feel like that was

5:52

going to be your sport could you imagine

5:53

winning Wimbledon or you know what

5:55

tennis yeah I mean I don’t think I was I

5:59

was that silly you know I grew up like

6:01

you said on a small island none of us

6:03

ever had like private coaching lessons

6:05

money was was pretty tight growing up I

6:08

used to sit in front of the TV for hours

6:10

and hours and and watch the tennis

6:12

tournaments and just tried to try to do

6:15

what you know Lindsay Davenport or Maria

6:18

Sharapova and like all those girls were

6:20

doing and tried to just do it to the

6:22

best of my abilities because yeah we

6:24

just never could afford private lessons

6:26

so tennis was definitely kind of my

6:29

favorite sport I think I also did

6:31

volleyball and basketball those were

6:33

kind of my big three sports that I

6:34

played and honestly I really really love

6:36

volleyball too so no I never I never

6:38

thought I would make it in the big

6:40

leagues or the pro but my goal growing

6:42

up for sure was to get a division one

6:44

scholarship and I did that because I

6:46

worked really really hard and always

6:49

always wanted it in my opinion more than

6:51

you know the person on the other side of

6:53

the net I ended up do you know getting a

6:55

division one scholarship and then uh

6:58

actually when I found pickleball I was a

7:01

reffing basketball because yeah

7:04

I’m curious about that for a really long

7:07

time I wanted to uh ref in like the WNBA

7:11

and NBA and that’s really really what I

7:13

wanted to do I was I was refereeing I

7:15

got to division two uh so one away from

7:18

division one and uh my boss at the time

7:20

found out I played division one called

7:22

tennis and he’s like you should play

7:24

Pickleball it’s a lot of fun and

7:26

you know I was pretty fresh out of

7:27

college and I was like no no like

7:29

pickleballs for old people I’m a D1

7:31

athlete like I’m too good for that he

7:34

was like but that’s good that’s so

7:35

that’s what you thought growing up

7:36

because I mean not even around the

7:38

country not a lot of people had heard

7:39

about it but you’d heard of pickleball

7:41

earlier on ah

7:43

yeah I mean I I think I played it once

7:45

or twice you know in PE you know in

7:48

middle school or high school never

7:49

touched it after that and then yeah my

7:51

boss when I was roughing college

7:53

basketball actually kind of informed me

7:55

about it because I didn’t think it was

7:57

anything past a PE sport so and so he so

8:01

he thought maybe you’d have a knack for

8:02

it and yeah so he found out we you know

8:05

both Riley and I played Division One

8:06

tennis brought us out to pickleball

8:08

Central in kind of the Seattle area and

8:12

Riley and I played for like four or five

8:13

hours that first time and just

First Time Playing Pickleball

8:16

absolutely like everyone else got hooked

8:18

on it and our our boss’s name is Mark

8:21

cook at the time was like well there’s a

8:23

tournament in Oregon you guys should

8:24

come and play

8:25

and of course Riley and I being ultra

8:27

competitive we’re like yeah let’s do it

8:29

so I actually went to a Taylor Swift

8:31

concert the night before ended up taking

8:34

our parents car driving all through the

8:37

night we slept in a casino parking lot

8:40

the night before the tournament showed

First Professional Pickleball Tournament

8:43

up to the tournament and ended up

8:44

entering in like the 5-0 Pro mixed

8:46

doubles bracket and showed up to the

8:49

tournament we didn’t have our own

8:51

paddles we didn’t know how to keep score

8:53

we were all over the place we were

8:54

borrowing people’s paddles we just had

8:56

no clue what we were doing but for God’s

8:59

reason we ended up winning uh the

9:01

tournaments we got first place uh that

9:03

first tournament and actually there was

9:05

a rep from paddle Tech that was there

9:07

who offered us our first endorsement

9:08

deal

9:10

after that wow

9:13

that same tournament we signed with

9:16

paddle Tech and uh we won like 330 bucks

9:19

and thought we were the richest people

9:20

on on the planet and the way home both

9:23

Riley and I kind of looked at each other

9:24

and we were like well you know what

9:25

should we do should we kind of do this

9:28

and yeah on the on the very long car

9:30

ride home we were like yeah let’s do it

9:32

so that’s kind of how it all got started

9:34

isn’t that amazing how just like one

9:36

twist can sort of change change the

9:39

direction of your life we think about it

9:41

all the time too well especially now

9:43

that Taylor Swift is her concert tickets

9:45

are going to like I know that would do

9:47

to go to a Taylor Swift concert

9:54

exactly that’s a good idea actually I

9:57

bet she does so you so you’re in

9:59

Washington and how did you make so after

10:01

college how did you make your way

10:03

um you you ended up living in Arizona

10:04

for a while is that right I ended up

10:06

marrying my high school sweetheart so

10:08

we’ve been together oh my gosh like 15

10:11

17 years now and he was working for

10:13

Boeing at the time and he got an

10:16

opportunity to uh take kind of a job

10:18

promotion in Arizona and we thought yeah

10:20

why not what the heck at that point we

10:22

had no kids we were just dating so we

10:25

were pretty flexible and yeah that’s it

10:28

had nothing to do with pickleball or

10:29

anything else it was simply because he

10:31

had a a better job opportunity so we

10:34

moved from kind of the Seattle area to

10:37

Arizona technically Queen Creek kind of

10:39

by Mesa and uh lived there for a few

10:42

years and then golly like a month or two

10:44

ago bought a house in the in the Denton

10:47

Texas area so that’s where we reside

10:50

right now and or but was there a lot of

Pickleball in Arizona

10:52

pickleball in Arizona as well when you

10:54

were there yeah there was a ton it was

10:56

it’s almost like seeing a Starbucks

10:58

coffee place like no matter where you

11:00

look there’s always

11:02

there’s always one right there

11:04

um and that’s how it’s like in Arizona

11:05

you uh you know I had a couple pretty

11:09

bad but technically a couple courts in

11:11

my own community and then there were

11:12

complexes getting put up all over the

11:14

place I was actually eight minutes from

11:17

Legacy in Mesa that that new complex and

11:20

uh so yeah always lots of play a lot of

11:23

people have private courts that’s pretty

11:25

popular in Arizona so even if you know

11:28

the public courts were were too busy you

11:31

always almost could could get yourself

11:33

onto a private Court fairly fairly

11:35

easily and is that the same now that

11:37

you’ve moved to Texas are you finding

11:39

there’s a big pickleball Community for

11:40

you there yeah I actually we bought our

11:43

house pretty much sight unseen so we uh

11:46

I actually haven’t really I’ve been to

11:48

the house twice now for about an hour

11:51

and that’s it so I actually don’t know

11:53

what the pickleball Community is like we

11:55

actually did not move for pickleball it

11:58

was uh more family family stuff but from

12:01

what I’ve heard you know know you know

12:03

the PPA is now kind of residing in the

12:06

Dallas area so I don’t think it’s quite

12:09

uh the Arizona level yet but I think

12:12

it’s getting there and and hopefully I

12:14

can help bring it a little bit more to

12:16

Denton yeah that’s awesome so okay so

12:19

after this you guys sent me a got your

12:21

300 and you were selling your cash on

12:23

the way home yeah what happened what

12:25

happens next how do you sort of Make

12:27

That official decision that you you

12:29

mentioned you were like okay let’s do

12:30

this but what was this did you know

12:32

there was going to be the pro tour that

12:35

you know what it was like yeah I don’t

12:37

think we did I

12:39

like you said we were so excited about

12:41

about counting our 20 bills on the way

12:43

home you know because like I said at the

12:45

time we were roughing college basketball

12:46

so we both we both still kept reffing I

12:50

think we both just thought there was no

12:51

way you know Pro pick what we could do

12:53

pro pickleball it was it was still I

12:56

think fairly I don’t want to say

12:57

non-existent but still pretty on like

12:59

the back burner at the time so yeah I

13:01

mean we were just we were kind of like

13:02

well you know pickleball’s fine we we

13:04

know that now you know we’re getting

13:06

free paddles that’s pretty cool so you

13:09

know let’s practice a little more let’s

13:10

play a little more if there’s a

13:11

tournament that comes up that’s

13:13

convenient and close by let’s do it but

13:15

yeah it was really nothing super serious

13:17

until I would say probably 2019 is when

13:21

we started kind of taking it you know

13:23

much more seriously and yeah yeah so you

13:26

guys have coaches the whole time after

13:29

that where you guys you know get serious

13:31

about having you know Pro coaches and no

No Pickleball Coaches

13:34

no we’ve actually we’re probably uh we

13:36

might be you know one of the few Pro

13:38

players that really has never had a

13:40

coach never had you know whether it’s a

13:44

pickleball coach or a strength training

13:46

coach or a you know a mental coach or

13:49

whatever we’ve never really had any of

13:51

those you know growing up in a big

13:52

family you get to a point where you can

13:54

become fairly stubborn and like this

13:57

this attitude of you know I don’t need

13:59

anyone’s help I can do it on my own we

14:01

both could probably use a good coach

14:04

not only invisible but in other areas of

14:07

our life but you know I think we’re just

14:09

honestly too stubborn to to kind of

14:11

accept the help at this point so nope we

14:14

never had a coach never had pickleball

14:16

lessons never never went to a clinic or

14:19

camp or anything like that wow so yeah

14:22

well you know some of it is The Rock

14:25

talent and

14:26

um you know it it that you have and also

14:29

being being able to watch and pick up

14:31

things from tennis and from Sports in

14:33

general but probably someone listening

14:35

is going to be knocking on your door

14:37

but I do think that that grit

14:40

um you know that drive and like you were

14:43

saying you were watching tennis on TV so

14:45

in some ways it’s like I think a lot of

14:47

people now are watching videos

14:48

constantly to get better at pickleball

14:51

everyone who plays wants to get better

14:53

no matter what level you’re at yeah you

14:55

know you mentioned that you know you

14:56

have two girls when we connected through

14:58

the I was doing some research on playing

15:01

when you’re pregnant not for myself

15:02

because my kids but I’m curious curious

15:05

about the subject how has that changed

15:07

your kind of outlook on the sport or

15:09

your time

Balancing Pickleball and Motherhood

15:11

um you know how do you balance it all to

15:13

be honest I I really don’t think I am

15:14

balancing it uh you know I spend way

15:18

more time not complaining but I spend

15:20

way more time with my with my girls than

15:22

than pickleball and I mean not even

15:25

close to 50 50 to be honest it’s

15:27

probably like

15:28

80 20 you know and even that’s being

15:31

probably pretty pretty generous I think

15:33

they’re so cute and they’re so fun and

15:35

and I don’t want to be a parent that has

15:37

kids and then you know has someone else

15:40

raise them I was a babysitter and nanny

15:42

for a really big chunk of of growing up

15:45

from 13 years old to

15:48

24 ish and uh I’m not knacky you know

15:53

I’m not dissing the parents that do that

15:55

I get sometimes it’s it’s a necessity

15:57

and you have to do that and I totally

15:59

get that but for me I’m you know way too

16:02

blessed and and lucky that I don’t

16:05

really need to you know to work and to

16:08

have someone else raise my kids so you

16:10

know if I’m able to to be around them as

16:12

much as I can and and not miss their

16:14

first steps and not miss when they learn

16:17

how to ride a bike with no training

16:18

wheels then then I’m gonna do that

16:20

without even blinking twice and and

16:23

that’s kind of just me as a person I I

16:25

value family over anything else and

16:28

pickleball is great and and I love

16:30

winning and it stinks that you know I’m

16:32

not maybe winning as much as I’d like

16:34

because I’m not really putting in the

16:37

time that other Pros are putting in and

16:40

that’s my choice that’s what I want to

16:42

do and I have to live with that but so

16:44

far uh no regrets I know I I practice

16:47

maybe maybe once or twice a week if I’m

16:51

lucky and if I don’t practice more than

16:53

two hours that’s kind of me and Riley’s

16:55

uh rule more than two hours on the court

16:58

and you know if there’s a tournament

17:00

coming up you know of course I’ll play

17:02

as much as I can try to push it to maybe

17:04

three or four times a week but if

17:06

there’s no tournaments going on and I

17:08

have a break I prioritize family and I’m

17:10

only on the court you know maybe once or

Pickleball Training

17:12

twice a week

17:13

so what do you do outside of you know

17:15

for training maybe even before you had

17:17

kids what would you do to make sure that

17:19

you could make sure your body stayed

17:21

healthy make sure that you could you

17:23

know hand-eye coordination or the things

17:25

that you were trying to make sure you

17:26

did off the court

17:28

um you know I have a weighted jump rope

17:29

I really really like a weighted jump

17:31

rope I’ve always really I’ve enjoyed

17:33

that for some reason I really don’t like

17:36

running but I do it because I know it’s

17:38

really good for me

17:39

um I love weightlifting I’ve always

17:41

loved getting weights so I’m actually a

17:44

big like kickboxing person I absolutely

17:47

love kickboxing really don’t do it

17:49

anymore uh but I used to do it quite a

17:52

bit and loved loved the absolute grind

17:54

of of kickboxing and and that sort of

17:57

stuff so now with kids it’s more of like

18:00

jumping on the trampoline it’s trying to

18:03

incorporate what I can do with them but

18:05

some you know kind of get a workout too

18:06

it’s bike riding literally chasing them

18:09

around at a park I mean I have my one

18:12

daughter who is one years old who’s a

18:14

little clingy right now we’re at the

18:16

clingy stage meetings which is pretty

18:19

needy but I’m holding her in my arms for

18:22

several hours a day so that’s a good arm

18:24

workout yeah

18:25

um yeah yeah it’s trying to kind of I

18:27

guess in this sense balance you know the

18:30

working out and staying healthy part

18:31

with also spending time with my girls so

18:34

trying to find ways to stay with them

18:36

and keep them happy and productive but

18:38

also kind of trying to benefit myself so

18:41

you and Riley have been doubles partners

18:43

and you won

18:45

um gold in 2021 right it was just so

18:48

awesome

18:49

um but how so now that you have

18:51

different priorities and maybe you know

18:53

he’s playing with different partners um

18:56

I don’t know if he’s has he played with

18:57

other mixed doubles Partners besides you

18:59

oh yeah oh yeah for sure yep and you’re

New Doubles Partner for Riley Newman?

19:03

and you you realize his career is going

19:05

to go in One Direction and your you guys

19:07

feel I mean you’re mature now you’re

19:09

probably you’re not 14 years old

19:10

competing but

19:12

but still I mean you were his first

19:14

Devil’s partner makes Devil’s partner

19:16

and you know

19:17

um yeah I’m sure you guys had to talk

19:18

about like what’s next for his career

19:20

versus yours yeah I mean it’s it’s a

19:22

tough conversation for me because you

19:26

know more than anything I always told

19:27

myself that pickleball was fun but it

19:30

was also a way for me to spend time time

19:32

with him because like I said earlier you

19:34

know we’re you know of all the siblings

19:36

that you know we’re fairly close

19:39

um and yeah pickleball was a chance for

19:42

me to just get to hang out with him more

19:44

and and compete with him which I never

19:46

thought I would be able to really do in

19:48

adulthood I also know that like you said

19:51

my priorities have drastically changed

19:53

and pickleball really doesn’t do what it

19:57

did for me earlier on now that I have

19:59

you know kids and a husband

20:01

um so yeah I mean I told Riley you know

20:03

a year or two ago I said look like I

20:07

love more than anything competing with

20:09

you and uh even with the eye rolls and

20:12

the snarky comments I enjoy it and and

20:16

all that good stuff but he was my

20:18

brother before he was my devil’s partner

20:21

and I want him to win and I want him to

20:24

get on you know the gold medal Podium

20:27

and I want him to get more you know

20:28

sponsorship opportunities and

20:30

endorsement deals and I know you get

20:32

those by women so I told him I said you

20:35

need to find someone else I don’t want

20:36

to hold you down I don’t want to be dead

20:38

wait you deserve someone better you

20:40

deserve you know a girl who’s going to

20:42

be training four five six seven days a

20:44

week and it’s gonna be really further in

20:46

the time because there’s no way in heck

20:49

I’m going to do that because I don’t

20:51

want to yeah I mean it honestly took him

20:54

longer than I thought it would I

20:55

actually thought he would kind of find

20:57

someone immediately but uh no he he kind

21:00

of took his time and you know I told him

21:03

if if there’s ever a tournament that you

21:05

know you can’t find a partner for which

21:08

is crazy but I can’t find a partner for

21:10

or whatever the reason is I’m happy to

21:13

play with you I just I want you to win

21:16

and I don’t think you’re winning enough

21:19

with me next to you so play with someone

21:22

else I’ll be as always his biggest

21:24

cheerleader on the court and off the

21:26

court yeah so right now we’re playing

21:28

the Seattle open this weekend and then

21:32

the takea Showcase and as of right now

21:34

those are the only two uh tournaments

21:37

scheduled for this year as of right now

21:39

so was that hard from his perspective

21:40

did he did he sort of push back a little

21:42

bit like come on sis I want you to keep

21:44

playing with me

21:47

stuff I think we both you know there are

21:50

so many advantages playing with The

21:51

Sibling of course there’s a lot of

21:53

disadvantages too but I think for us

21:55

there were more positives and negatives

21:57

yeah I mean I think he pushed back a

22:00

little bit in that like

22:02

we were so comfortable playing next to

22:04

each other you know it might be kind of

22:06

hard to find that same jive with another

22:09

another partner but I also think he was

22:12

kind of excited to to get the green

22:14

light to to really pursue someone else

22:17

and you know

22:19

Riley is one of the most competitive uh

22:23

driven uh hard-working people I know and

22:27

he will do anything it takes to win and

22:30

I have no doubt that he’s gonna try to

22:33

find a girl who is going to give him

22:35

that best shot to do that that’s awesome

22:37

so he has not yet picked anyone

22:39

permanently yeah not permanently I think

22:42

he’s I think he’s playing with Jesse

22:44

Irvin in an upcoming tournament I think

22:46

he’s playing with possibly Andrea coop

22:48

in another tournament

22:50

um he’s definitely mixing around and

22:52

then uh probably in the next month or

22:54

two he’ll kind of hopefully lock down a

22:56

solid more consistent partner well you

22:59

are it’s very it’s it shows maturity and

23:02

um that you and also just where you’re

23:04

where you are in your life that you are

23:06

happy for him to continue on and that

23:08

you want to continue to play but you

23:10

also want to spend quality time with

23:11

your girls so have have you taught your

23:14

your maybe your older daughter how to

23:16

play Pickleball yet

23:17

well I mean a little bit so I have a

Pickleball Mom

23:20

one-year-old and like a two and a half

23:21

year old and uh the two and a half year

23:23

old you know she’ll if if you know Riley

23:26

and I are drilling or playing you know

23:28

she’ll want to come and and watch for a

23:30

little bit and then you know after five

23:32

or ten minutes she’ll kind of wander out

23:33

onto the court and want to play you know

23:36

mechanically she’s not quite there yet

23:38

we have to work on some broke mechanics

23:40

stuff but for a two and a half year old

23:42

uh you know that’s eager and happy to

23:44

play uh yeah she’s she’s got it you know

23:47

uh hopefully awesome you know she’ll

23:50

pick another another sport that that

23:52

pays a little better I would love for

23:54

her to be a a tennis player but yeah I

23:57

mean she likes playing and uh the more

23:59

we can get her out onto the court

24:01

um you know onto a field anything

24:03

athletic wise I would be very happy with

24:06

that well it’s interesting because I I

24:08

just did an interview with um and and

24:10

sort of the subject matter of Collegiate

24:12

pickleball and sort of what would what’s

24:14

the future and I I feel like there’s

24:16

going to be some rapid increases in

24:18

interest and and already you can see

24:22

um you know young people young players

24:24

and I guess in maybe in Washington

24:25

that’s always been the case that maybe

24:28

it was in PE and being taught but I

24:30

think around the country it’s taken its

24:32

time and now it’s just exploding and

24:35

um so I do think there’ll be some

24:37

opportunities for college scholarships

24:38

down the road for sure what do you think

Pickleball Popularity

24:41

why do you think like right now

24:42

pickleball is having its moment you know

24:44

what do you think kind of changed for

24:46

the sport because even 2019 it was

24:48

starting to explode but it’s like that

24:51

was just at the Tipping Point where I

24:53

feel like the country’s finally caught

24:55

up

24:55

yeah I mean honestly I think it’s one of

24:58

those things that you know there’s no

25:00

age restriction there’s no gender

25:03

restriction there’s no honestly income

25:06

restriction it’s something that you

25:07

could literally go to a park and play

25:10

for free it’s cheap entertainment

25:12

because it’s most of the time it doesn’t

25:15

cost anything to play

25:17

um everyone’s super welcoming and

25:19

friendly I think tennis kind of got a

25:21

bad uh kind of got a bad rep because it

25:24

can be a little clicky and you know from

25:28

what I see you know at least pickleball

25:30

really isn’t it’s everyone’s more than

25:33

willing to to help you learn how to play

25:35

and to play with you and against you

25:38

um and it’s and it’s fun like you know

25:41

you meet so many people you you TR I

25:45

mean for me at least you know I got to

25:47

travel to places you know I never ever

25:49

probably would have gone to uh unless I

25:52

had a reason to and pickleball was that

25:55

reason for me so it’s just the

25:58

opportunities to play meet new people

26:01

have fun uh not break the bank by you

26:05

know going to a Taylor Swift concert and

26:07

spending hundreds or thousands of

26:08

dollars I know so all of those reasons

26:11

what so what’s next for you you you know

What’s Next?

26:15

you I totally understand wanting to

26:17

spend time with your kids and their only

26:19

little ones so I definitely encourage

26:21

that um but just for you personally what

26:23

are the things you’re focusing on you

26:25

know outside of mom Hood yeah outside of

26:29

it honestly not not much but uh yeah I

26:33

mean I would love to continue to play

26:34

Pickleball you know I’ve I’ve had a lot

26:37

of fun doing it I want to keep doing it

26:40

um so I would like to continue to play

26:43

for as long as I can be competitive for

26:46

um as soon as I start doing tournaments

26:48

and I’m going on too

26:51

um or getting wiped off the you know the

26:53

court going you know getting beat 211

26:56

um is probably when I’ll start thinking

26:58

about really retirement uh but as of

27:02

right now I feel like I’m still pretty

27:03

competitive even only playing once or

27:05

twice a week

27:07

um so I’m gonna play for as long as I

27:08

can I’m gonna ride ride the wave and

27:11

then

27:12

um after that we’ll see and you know I

27:14

really I still want to have more kids uh

27:17

I love real estate so possibly doing

27:19

something in real estate down the line

27:21

uh obviously everyone wants to travel

27:24

more so that’s my list and uh we’ll see

27:28

what happens either you know yeah making

27:31

plans is always tough because you know

27:33

life life changes so we’ll see what’s

27:37

exciting and you’re in a really exciting

27:39

space and like I said I think it’s

27:40

really inspiring for a lot of players in

27:43

general female players mom players

27:46

um you know and I know a lot of the

27:47

players now are young you know I I just

27:50

went to the exhibition and uh in San

27:52

Francisco and saw Anna Lee there and and

27:55

Paris and some of these younger players

27:57

um but for them to also have some sort

28:00

of sense that you can keep playing even

28:02

as you decide to have a family and

28:05

change priorities it’s it is really

Conclusion

28:07

inspirational so I appreciate you

28:08

sharing your story with us and you know

28:11

cheering you on and excited for the

28:14

sport I mean you really have you and

28:15

your brother both are making a name for

28:18

the sport and for a lot of people it you

28:20

know they they really make that

28:22

connection by getting to know the

28:24

players and and feel excited and I think

28:27

the pickleball scene is really On The

28:30

Rise so it’s exciting you you were a

28:32

groundbreaking for in the Forefront I

28:35

don’t know about that but yeah I mean I

28:37

want to thank everyone for for not only

28:40

you know watching and supporting me but

28:42

Riley as well you know we’re really

28:43

really grateful I mean I think sometimes

28:46

people take that sort of support for

28:48

granted but but we really don’t uh it

28:51

really means a lot to us and uh you know

28:54

feel free if you’re at a tournament

28:56

anyone to come up and say hi we’re we’re

28:59

both very very friendly as long as

29:00

you’re not on the the opposite side of

29:02

the net from us yeah that’s right yeah

29:05

we’re friendly come say hi you know if

29:08

we’re not doing a whole lot of teaching

29:10

or doing that sort of stuff a lot

29:11

anymore but if we are uh you know come

29:13

out we’d love to meet you and and thanks

29:15

again for uh for having me awesome well

29:18

thank you again all right enjoy the rest

29:20

of your day with your girls and

29:22

hopefully we’ll catch up with you soon

29:24

absolutely thank you so much okay bye

29:28

hey guys thanks for listening to Simply

29:31

pickleball we’ll be back very soon with

29:33

great interviews discussions and more

29:35

all about pickleball don’t forget to

29:37

subscribe to our channels on YouTube

29:39

Twitter Instagram or any of your

29:41

favorite podcasting Outlet until next

29:43

time happy dinking

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