The JYLP EP079 W/ Guest Lynn Cherry of Pickleball Fire - "Here, Use My Paddle!"

[00:00:00] Lynn: It's cool to have you know a different amount of diversity and not really have It's not just this you've got to be really good at it you've got to be really athletic you get to enjoy it you know the whole along the Way regardless of your athletic ability Yeah and it's it is not like a sport Like tennis where you need to have like really good technique in order to get the ball over the net it's very easy to get the ball over the net and pickleball so you don't have to Worry about taking all these lessons and stuff you don't need that the first time you go play pickleball you will have fun Knowledge is power

[00:00:53] Jacob: Ladies and gentlemen welcome hope you're having a fantastic day i am here with Lynn Cherry of Pickleball Fire hello

[00:01:00] Lynn: Good morning how are you today i'm doing great i'm so happy to be here

[00:01:05] Jacob: Yeah so we're going to talk about pickleball today um so i think we should Start out right off the bat just You know we can kind of assume there might be a couple people who don't even know what pickleball is um i was telling one of my co-workers last night uh about This podcast and he didn't even he hadn't even heard of pickleball before so it was kind of fun to describe it to him and also as i was describing it to him i realized i don't even know that much about it either so i'm glad i have you here today lin um will you give me kind of a How about just what is pickleball

[00:01:34] Lynn: That's the perfect place to start you know it's a really interesting sport that's very easy to play but it's kind of a combination of tennis and ping pong and badminton And interestingly enough it's played with a ball that's really similar to a wiffle ball which is one of the things that makes it easy to play and you don't Use a racket that has been strung like a Tennis racket or a racquetball racket or even a badminton racket it's actually a paddle And it's uh roughly 15 8 inches by 8 Inches so it's lightweight probably weighs about 8 ounces it's really small Easy to maneuver and that's actually a Big reason why it's so fun to play the Game is you know anybody can play it Regardless of their age or what um you know whether they've played A sport or not right and so it's the same thing as we have a net

[00:02:23] Jacob: We have how many people are typically um on a team is it two verse two or

[00:02:23] Lynn: Yeah interestingly enough pickleball um the the game has really played most people probably 90 95 percent of people who play actually do play doubles so you've got a partner there on the court and the Court itself it's uh the size of a badminton court so it's a lot smaller than a tennis court badminton court is about 20 by 44 feet which actually has similar Size to a racquetball court which is 20 by 40. uh so you know it's uh it is played um You can play singles but most people play doubles i think a lot of it is just Because it's such a social sport and playing doubles it's a little bit more Like playing chess so there's actually a Lot of strategy involved you know more so than singles is a little bit more like tennis where it's about hitting the ball hard but when you play doubles it's really a lot more about placing the ball in the right spot on the court right okay well so how do you Fit into this because you have a PhD in

[00:03:31] Jacob: Sports psychology and your master's in Physical education correct right so where do you fit into This how did you stumble into this

[00:03:38] Lynn: You know i did i literally stumbled into this i was uh lived in texas for 25 Years before moving to Connecticut in 2018 so just three years ago And i was looking for something to do During the winter and you know since i had always been very athletic

[00:03:57] Lynn: I just looked to see what was going on at the local recreation center and there was something called pickleball which i Like many people have never had never at The time heard of the sport so i you know look at it on youtube and i'm like Oh yeah i think especially given my racquetball background that i would probably really like it so i uh shortly after i moved here you know Just a week or two after i got here it was still a little cold outside so i went to the local recreation center and Just kind of peeked my head in the gym to see you know what it looked like in in person and as soon as i came to the door and this is this is literally what happens almost everywhere where you go play pickleball as soon as i poke my head in the door they're like oh you gotta come in and play and i'm like i don't have a paddle and they're like oh here you can use mine you know try it out you know it's just that's the amazing thing about the sport

[00:04:46] Lynn: It's just you know people are so welcoming and i was so i was really Happy to be able to participate In pickleball because a few years before that i had torn my acl and i did not Get it surgically repaired so i was had Really stayed away from playing court sports because of my knee problems but It's on a small enough court that the Game actually can be really fast but it Doesn't quite require as much movement As if you're on a bigger court like In in tennis um so yeah i mean as soon as i started Playing i actually started the Pickleball Fire website because i was just so into the sport and you know that's what you'll hear from so many people is that you know you almost immediately Become addicted to it it's amazing I mean that friendly community that very welcoming vibe of yeah come on in Try it out like here's my racket that's awesome i mean that's how you that's how you have a community grow right there just uh authentically just By being friendly and welcoming to newcomers and stuff um

[00:05:49] Jacob: Is there a reason why you didn't um get your get your knee Your acl surgery or is that You know what does it affect you now or

[00:05:49] Lynn: No not really you know the reason i Didn't get the surgery was it's um it's a difficult surgery because i completely tore it so i had you know some people when they tear their acl That anterior cruciate ligament is still Attaching you know to the to the right places it just kind of torn mine was completely gone so it's a very major Surgery and it's a very long recovery so I actually uh specifically investigated Uh orthopedics options in terms of the Doctors and i wanted to find somebody who didn't Just want to go in and cut i mean that's you know orthopedic surgeons that's what they do and so i found somebody after doing a lot of research who might give a little Other opinion and and he said you know You don't have to get it repaired and um

[00:06:55] Lynn: You know you can just go through physical therapy the the recovery um You know was probably almost the same length of time you know compared to the surgery because there's a lot of pt and A lot of rehabilitation and i think the last time i went to see him i basically said well you know i've Always been really athletic can i play Court sports because it's that side to side movement if you've done something to your knee that tends to be really hard on it and he says look if the muscles surrounding your knee are strong enough Sure and he says i have a friend who Plays indoor soccer and he never had his Repair either and he plays indoor soccer which is you know one of the toughest things to do you know if you've got a knee problem so yeah that's kind of my story i Once i started playing pickleball it was um you know actually my right knee has been bothering me which is not the one that i injured severely but i've kind of Done my pt on that too and uh yeah i'm

[00:07:56] Lynn: Pretty good to go now yeah right

[00:07:58] Jacob: On so do you have a do you have a pretty um thorough like pre-warm-up stretching Um sort of sort of exercise like how do you make sure your body um is is ready For each pickleball Event you know i've actually gotten much Better at that the good thing is that Most people when they first come to the Pickleball court and they're warming up

[00:08:21] Lynn: They're hitting the ball really softly and we call it dinking and it's Basically where you're hitting the ball over the net and it's landing in what we call the kitchen and the kitchen is seven feet From the net on both sides of the court

[00:08:36] Jacob: So the just the way most people warm up

[00:08:39] Lynn: It's perfect to really kind of you know It's almost like dynamic stretching even though technically it isn't because it's just your body's in motion you're hitting really soft shots you know and most people are pretty darn good about you know warming up for A good 10 minutes which is at least what You need so i've gotten much better in terms Of what i do after i play you know a lot more Stretching more typical you know static Type stretching afterwards and really Working on knee exercises and hamstring Exercises and that's largely been Because my right knee has been bothering me uh you know even though the left one is the one that was really severely hurt

[00:09:25] Jacob: Yeah that's the thing you got to be listening to your body like what's going on right now what you know not only what are my past injuries what do i need to make sure i'm you know uh building up those muscles around them to support that injury but also what's going on now Right we always got to kind of check in what am i feeling what do i need today what do i need this week or this month you know getting in tune with kind of a how our body is continuously fluidly Always moving and changing and giving us different feelings and and uh you know Sparking different emotions with us so just to to um kind of tune into your Your sports psychology um uh brain a Little bit the i really like how you were talking about um support your or you you and Your physical therapist were talking about supporting the muscles around the Injury um I think that that's something that we miss often i think they're

[00:10:15] Jacob: I mean obviously there's not a blanket statement you can give for everybody's injuries you know and where all of our bodies are different and different areas of our bodies are different nonetheless uh but what does it mean to you to kind of strengthen the muscles around an injury because it seems like we're often kind of told or we think it's just don't move It completely let it heal on its own But i kind of like once we're able to i Feel like i i would rather try to Strengthen the muscles around it try to build up support of the area that's injured um kind of retrain it so because You were able to i'd be curious to see what the x-rays or whatever would look like for your acl um when it was torn and versus Now like are the muscles around it just supporting it really well has it kind of healed itself um So basically my question is What do you what do you think about this building the muscles around the injury Rather than just staying off it don't

[00:11:10] Jacob: Touch it don't move it stay bedrest sort of thing do you see a Big difference in that

[00:11:10] Lynn: You know what i find is that I was with my knee as soon as i was able to i just went to A physical therapist i mean because the Physical therapist that i went to was Great because he believed in Building up your core so kind of starting from The from the ground up and you know the exercises actually then Were much more than just doing it for The knee you know it was you know doing it for the for the hip and the and the Ankle you know just kind of strengthening that and even actually even up into you know strengthening the stomach muscles and whatnot so he had a very Holistic approach and granted my injury Was very serious now more recently i've Gone to physical therapy for my right knee which is was not technically torn But i could feel my acl and it was it Was really sore and so his approach was a little bit Different where it was much more about Strengthening you know the knee muscles

[00:12:20] Jacob: And you know making i'd like really Tight hamstrings so i i visited a couple times and then Once i was comfortable with the exercises i pretty much do them if not Every night every other night And now that i've been doing them my Both my knee pain and my really tight hamstrings Have kind of kind of gone away so

[00:12:44] Lynn: That's the thing is like you were saying before being in tune with your body is so important because i went through a Period where my hamstring was so tight I didn't want to tear it and i i took a couple days off from Playing pickleball you know i just i Just walked and it was even you know sore walking so i know if i'm sore Walking that i really do not want to be On the pickleball court you know straining that much and you know creating a bigger issue so yeah you're Absolutely right just listening to your Body so important yeah like there's certainly times to to like i was saying push past it and you know maybe strengthen those muscles around it when you can muster it but there's also a time to listen your body and rest you know give it that time to heal on it on its own i uh i do uh i'm Running is a big thing for me i do a lot of running um and i feel that the way That i continuously stay able to run you Know four or five times a week

[00:13:42] Lynn: By not being sore is stretching like stretching is so big to me you'll really never find me these days just heading

[00:13:48] Jacob: Right out the door and going for a run without at least having 10 15 minutes of Stretching i do some sort of some sort of you know Kind of slow movement yoga some sort of Like primitive exercises to wake my body up and it's not just that i'm stretching my legs right you know i'm stretching my whole body um i'm yeah activating my core i'm Trying to get my arms in the right spot so my shoulders aren't kind of sitting weird during my run so yeah i'm Always i'm always just trying to uh pinpoint the the um the area around stretching before Any athletic activity because years and years ago i was kind of like a bro power Lifter guy and i didn't really stretch and i thought it was dorky and i would just go in there and i luckily i didn't Have any major injuries but i'm sure

[00:14:33] Jacob: Like the weird sorenesses that i had or any um i think i could have been a lot better athlete if i would have added in the stretching aspect of things um so the the community behind pickleball so you know looking through your website it's you kind of realize that it's Almost a lot bigger than i thought you know it's there's like a pro level um There's a lot of different people you've had ton of people on on your podcast on Pickleball Fire um so what is this what is this whole community like do you do you

[00:15:07] Lynn: Because like i mentioned at the beginning not a lot of people know about pickleball or in in my world anyway a

[00:15:12] Jacob: Couple people that i've talked to this is anecdotal of course a couple people that i've talked to don't know a ton about pickleball um so is it's this big This big thing it has its own community um there's pros like tell me about the the pro level do you watch um is is it like streamed online Is there events for the pro level What's the community like for it

[00:15:34] Lynn: It's really interesting the Pickleball never had a pro tour Until 2020 of course right during the Pandemic there were two pro tours that Launched at that time so needless to say they didn't have a Big schedule in 2020 but with the launch Of the pro tour you definitely have you Know streaming on on youtube And then this year there's getting to be more regular coverage on espn And the cbs network now prior to The pro tour launching in 2020 there's um kind of the us open and then the nationals for pickleball and those were events where There was some prize money but it wasn't A lot of prize money but there was some Coverage on tv like they would take you Know from the whole tournament they'd taken like put a hour on i think cbs Network so really in 2021 here now It's really exploded in terms of the Professionals and i i went to watch my first professional event i happened to be in l.a visiting My brother in burbank and there was an event down in san clemente california

[00:16:51] Jacob: So that was put on by the professional Pickleball association and it was at a Lifetime fitness and it was a they had like a beautiful stadium court So that's where the featured pro matches works it's like a stadium court for tennis and they put three pickleball Courts on it and so the the venue was beautiful And you know just being there in person i mean the pros are Amazingly athletic

[00:17:19] Lynn: It's really interesting that's probably been one of the biggest changes Over the years i was talking with um Kyle Yates who's only in his mid-20s but He started playing 10 years ago and i Think he said in 2016 Was when he realized that you know he could probably make a living playing pickleball now it's not a Living based upon prize money fully at This point it would definitely be yes i Can i can win some prize money but i can Also teach pickleball and travel around The country and he does his own clinics and whatnot so he was One of the first people to come into the Sport who was really young and really Athletic he was like a top 30 tennis Player in Florida and uh he it actually advocate that was In high school um and so yeah he's was like one of the first young athletic guys or people to Really come into the sport and you know he just he just dominated 2016 17 and 18 and then now we've got Some more young ones and kyle i

[00:18:25] Lynn: Think he said he's like you know the the skill level of the people has kind of You know at the top level and the pros has really kind of gone above and beyond the game itself Because there there's a lot of people There's 4.2 million people who actually Play pickleball um that is not a small number of people And it you know if you're in Florida You've definitely heard about pickleball you couldn't miss it and in the northeast it's a lot more popular here i Think because you have so many snowbirds so they you know over the years i've gone down to Florida you go back and forth so i just talked to somebody in dallas Because i've been away from dallas area for now for three years and i'm like i Had never heard of pickleball when i was there and he says he says lin it's Getting really big in austin But dallas it's growing more slowly but It's finally starting to grow he said Like in all of the dallas fort worth Area which is you know two or three million people at least there's probably four pickleball courts

[00:19:28] Lynn: Now they are playing pickleball there they play you know at tennis clubs but like dedicated courts because Where i live in Connecticut i can drive 15 minutes and there's you know six dedicated courts i drive 20 minutes and There's eight dedicated course you know purely for pickleball so it's um it's really amazing the Growth yeah it's certainly growing i mean i imagine if we didn't have of course the the pandemic and the lockdowns it could have just started to kind of skyrocket right there too you know actually that really helped pickleball yeah the new york times called pickleball the perfect pandemic sport Because it's outdoor you've got a small number of people on the court

[00:20:08] Jacob: So pickleball grew 20 during the pandemic oh that's cool yeah Really amazing yeah so i'm actually coming to you um from austin and two Days ago i was a uh i was driving up

[00:20:22] Lynn: Kind of by the zilker park area if you're familiar with that and uh i had to to go around some people playing pickleball right in front of their house in in the street so it was pretty cool To see because i knew that we had this podcast coming and i recognized their uh Their paddles and so yeah there's people Playing in the streets of austin yeah and and that's what a lot of people did during the pandemic because the pickleball court's fairly small you can set up in the street you can set up in your driveway you know then that's you know 20 feet across um that's another reason why they said it was a great sport um because It's easy it's small enough and it's great for you know the whole Family you know anybody can play it you Know grandma who's 85 years old can play It and you know the youngsters who are you know four and five can play yeah that's so great it would be really cool to start seeing pickleball at you know uh holiday events just be a normal

[00:21:13] Jacob: Thing in america i would like to see that um so the uh let's talk equipment a Little bit so i came from a skateboarding background growing up i was um manager and assistant manager at skate shops and whatnot and to me The the difference between say like a Walmart skateboard and what we would sell at the at the skate shop was just Night and day it was you know if anybody's interested in skateboarding i'm like hey spend the extra whatever it is don't get that stuff like the the walmart skateboard is not what you want you know they don't even have real bearings it's made of all this different material um this is it's just not the same Thing it's differently it's pressed differently different plies all these things is is there any sort of that correlation In pickleball is there some stuff to maybe stay away from is there worth spending 10 more bucks to get a nicer racket what's the equipment like in that world yeah it's really all about the paddle

[00:22:06] Lynn: And in terms of paddles The thing i would not recommend is to Buy a wooden paddle For maybe ten dollars more you can get a Graphite paddle and that's just like your skateboarding Analogy so somebody in your family once you buy those paddles is gonna enjoy the game Go ahead and spend another ten dollars to get a paddle that's not wood anything Other than wood is you're good to go okay yeah because i would have honestly thought would i thought i figured they were probably wood paddles You can still buy wood pickleball paddles but i i don't recommend them at All you know even for kids i really don't recommend them right okay and you do it i think you do have information um on what Equipment you recommend on your website am i correct with that i do i do i've got a number of reviews Of of different gear and you know just to give people an idea to get into the sport of pickleball um If you're you know to buy four paddles and a couple balls you know you can spend fifty sixty dollars and you know

[00:23:14] Lynn: Nets are a little bit more expensive but hopefully you know there's courts nearby But you can at least get kind of a small 10 or 12 foot net for maybe 40 50 so Just to get started you can spend 100 and for four people and you know that Pretty much will get you started

[00:23:31] Jacob: Right and that's i mean that's probably something that is very helpful to do and something obviously i want to try to push people towards with just this podcast episode is just getting started with it i think you know if it sparks your interest if it's something that sounds interesting to you um you know what why not give it a shot it's a fairly inexpensive sport all things considered comparatively to all these other sports um so getting started i mean again on Your website you have i think the basics on instructions and rules and whatnot i Believe on your website so if someone wants they

[00:24:03] Lynn: They get you know they spend their hundred bucks and their family gets their uh their paddles and their balls And their net and they set it up like it's pretty easy to to do right i mean it's um yeah absolutely yeah i mean the rules of The game are really easy and um you Know in terms of actually just you know Hitting the ball and whatnot because as i mentioned a lot of the game Can be up near the net but about seven Feet from the net so there's actually a Lot of soft shots and you know if somebody has never played a sport it's a great sport to get into in Fact when you've got sometimes when you're teaching beginners and they're they haven't really didn't have a sporting background a lot of the Instructors will just take a ball And have the people throw the ball You know so not hitting it with the paddle but just you know throw the ball to each other underhanded because that Mimics like a dink which is a soft shot in Pickleball so just is if you can throw

[00:25:04] Lynn: The ball underhanded over a net you can Play pickleball that's actually how easy it is right i like that yeah and remember It's played with the wiffle ball so it wells it's like a wolf ball so the Ball is the ball's pretty light and so it's you know it's not hard On your elbows or your wrists there's been a lot of people who actually there's been a number of pros who i've talked to women who had wrist injuries and whatnot and they could no longer play tennis but they could play pickleball just because everything is is lighter

[00:25:36] Jacob: Right yeah it's a lot less intense Too you know um is the so the pickleball

[00:25:41] Lynn: Itself they're the wiffle ball rather Would you call it the pickleball is that would that be proper yeah people don't call it a wiffle ball they call it a pickleball okay yeah that would probably make sense um what is the is is there a Specific you know because a golf ball for example would have a specific dynamic or a dimensions rather than it Needs to be what's the dimensions for uh Yeah it's a little bit bigger than A tennis ball or a baseball but a little bit smaller than a softball so it's kind of in between okay i'm visualizing that yeah i can see that um hey so on you on Your podcast you've had quite the journey on your podcast i mean you're almost at 80 episodes from what i saw on the site what has this been teaching you i mean this is probably this is a whole nother side that you've probably got to experience you know not just your love and enjoyment um for The for the sport in the community around you for the people you're interacting with um but now you get to

[00:26:34] Jacob: Reach out to all these other different people who you probably wouldn't have met without the podcast on the website what is the podcast journey been Like for you oh that's actually a great question you know the path podcast was actually Something that came out of the pandemic

[00:26:49] Lynn: You know i started it in october 2020 You know kind of moving into the cold months in Connecticut and you know we're Not going out and doing anything i was really conservative during the pandemic so yeah that that's how it got started and i did have Uh journalism background so i was Comfortable interviewing people i had done a lot of Sports reporting when i was in high school and college and so i was you know comfortable interviewing people i had to learn about Some of the you know technical pieces of Actually doing a podcast But i i early on i made that really Efficient because at the time i was uh Still working full-time at my job And i was just doing the podcast on the side but that's what's so great about Pickleball too is that i i really didn't know anybody in the Industry in pickleball when i started the podcast i didn't know any professional players and i started off i think interviewing My very first interview was with what They call a pickleball ambassador Now i had never heard of

[00:27:58] Lynn: An ambassador in the sport before and i've played just about every sport imaginable But there are actually people who are Associated with the USA Pickleball Association and they have to sign up And answer a bunch of questions and you know basically you know they're become official Pickleball ambassador and their role Is to introduce people to the sport And they can uh you know teach beginners And help them out actually they can't i think officially they can't charge any money for doing that but um you know they're basically there To help people get started in the sport Help grow the sport they promote The sport you know they'll put together you know drop and play You know just where you can come anytime and kind of arrange that and you know Like i said they often do clinics and whatnot yeah and that was your first ep the first guest episode yeah that was your cat yeah that was with kyle snake he was a USA Pickleball ambassador and he's Actually somebody who oh man the pictures he had some great Pictures of the clothing that he wears

[00:29:12] Lynn: He like wears these outfits on the court and we're not Talking about you know you know like Halloween outfits or anything like that just very colorful clothing that matches From head to toe and he's like you know pretty tall guy you know he's a big guy And uh you know from he's got you know matching shoes with His socks and shorts and shirt even his Headband yeah great pictures so he's got Like this whole character that goes with his with his pickleball ambassador-ness Yeah and and the reason he does it Is in part of the reason he does it is because people will come up to him on the court you know people feel like they can approach somebody who's dressed like that and you know wherever he plays or if he Goes to a tournament people will say hey I saw your pictures on facebook i just wanted to meet you and you know it's Just very you know he very welcoming personality and and

[00:30:15] Lynn: Person and that's how a lot of the ambassadors are but although they don't all wear the the matching clothing like that very colorful yeah oh how fun though i mean that that's really cool that's uh you know That is a good point that you mentioned is it does kind of open this door it has this openness to it of when you're wearing something like that you're willing to be approached like to kind of just talk about it so that is cool that he's kind of the face of what he's doing yeah he doesn't uh hesitate to Stand out and and one of the pros who doesn't hesitate to stand out his uh his Name is gizmo and he also has Some very colorful outfits and he told Me specifically yeah i i do this to stand out i want people to approach me i want to talk to them you know get to know them you know welcome them you know help them out teach them so that that's

[00:31:05] Lynn: You know that's pickleball that's just how it is uh it's so fun it sounds like such a great community honestly um i i do a little bit similar of something so um The last 10 years i've been a dj actually and i always i've always liked Fashion anyway i've kind of dressed a bit more obtusely in a lot of ways sometimes really colorful sometimes just all the same color whatever but i kind of have that where i'll wear A certain outfit or i'll dress a certain way and it's kind of the way of me stepping into my character so it's i'm wearing this thing i've got a you know it almost is like a costume in in a strange way but it does kind of help me step into this okay i'm now Entertaining these people they're coming to have a good night they're coming um you know they paid money or they're here out on their night out so what can i do to step into that entertainer role um and so that's kind of how i add

[00:31:52] Lynn: In in outfits and whatnot but it does kind of help you um you know sink into what you are sink into what you're doing you know to

[00:32:00] Jacob: Wear the outfit of it um so what Other guests have you had on the podcast like have you had any um you know hopefully they're not listening but have you had any favorites or or Episodes that were wonderful or new things you learned from it or oh

[00:32:14] Lynn: Yeah you know from the perspective of pickleball i i feel I feel just so amazed because if i have A pickleball question and need some advice on how to do something I'm talking to all these pros at this point well they're not all pros believe me but um i i can ask those questions And get those answers so sometimes you Know in a podcast i what i find really Interesting is either to Delve really deeply into a specific Aspect of the game You know it could be how to hit overhead you know how to hit a dink how to hit a drop shot you know those are technical things if you haven't played you know once you play they're easy to learn so don't worry about that but then also there's been some really Interesting stories of people actually i Think tomorrow night i'm interviewing somebody who lost a hundred pounds playing pickleball what That's awesome yeah and uh i interviewed actually one Of the pros dropped 60 pounds playing Pickleball that i interviewed and had an article on her in the Pickleball Fire magazine and yeah there was also a recent podcast um

[00:33:25] Lynn: Where one of the the guys who plays um Not quite at the pro level but he's actually the one of the teaching pros in the dallas area and uh i guess he said yeah the first Couple years playing pickleball i dropped 25 pounds and then i kind of

[00:33:41] Jacob: Talked to some of the pros and they're like well you know what do i need to do to kind of take the next step in my career in terms

[00:33:48] Lynn: Of pickleball and they're like well you're not fast enough so i think he dropped another 50 60 70 Pounds i mean it's because the game is

[00:33:57] Jacob: So fun you know it's people spend a lot of time

[00:34:01] Lynn: On the court i mean people will go and i've got people who when it's hot here in Connecticut they'll show up at 6 30 A.m and but you know they'll show up you know they'll show up at 6 30 or 7 and They'll stay until like 10 30. i mean literally they're spending three hours on the court and it's almost all non-stop playing so You know sometimes it's busy and you've got a few people you know not there But uh you know just three hours it's like wow so yeah you could definitely drop some weight if you're playing for three hours yeah i mean i think there's really something to be said about mixing Fitness with fun you know because a lot of times we think of okay i've got to lose weight so i've got to go you know run on the treadmill or do the stair stepper for an hour and i hate doing cardio and blah and i think that it's probably actually more difficult for our bodies like that mind-body connection to really um

[00:34:56] Lynn: I don't know work properly if we're kind of internalized our internal thoughts and our internal um uh conversation with Ourself is kind of like more negative maybe it puts us more in the fear response and so maybe our bodies don't Break down calories and such as well i'm not entirely sure what i'm talking about but um i i do like the prospect of You know laughing and smiling and having fun while you're doing your physical Activity while you're losing weight i Think that's really something that's really something cool about pickleball It is and you know as i was saying you know people play Three hours a day i know people who play twice a day and i Also know people who play seven days a week twice a day and we're not talk we're not talking about people who are pros or anything these are just Recreational people who want to get out there and have some fun and i totally Agree with you one of the things that i You said you're a runner one of the things i do not like to do is to run

[00:35:54] Jacob: And so there's just nothing that you can do as much as i love sports there's nothing that you can get me to do to make me jog i mean it's just never Going to happen and so you know it it's

[00:36:08] Lynn: You know if i was you know really heavy and needed to lose weight that would definitely be the last thing that i would do but the first thing i would do would be go play pickleball so have you you've got to go try that you're in austin yeah i'm definitely going to have to now i mean i've been excited about it since we decided to do this podcast so i'm definitely going to be excited about it even more now so i'm definitely going to i'm going to i'm going to look it up and find out and find a little community i know i have the uh there's an app in the website as well meetup.com they Have an app and you can kind of just put your interest in there and i guarantee if i go through there's pickleball on there and i bet you there's communities who are waiting for new friends to come in and join and have some fun that's true and actually in the austin area they're building a couple big Pickleball complexes like very large you Know 40 50 courts

[00:36:58] Lynn: And i i believe there's already there's already one there i'm not sure where it is i i wasn't in texas then so i'm not

[00:37:04] Jacob: Sure where it is oh i will definitely have to get my google on and find out about that yeah that's really cool okay so where do you see where do you see the sport going like the maybe the next five years 10 years and then also where do you see i mean because you're doing quite a bit of these podcast episodes it seems like you're really up to date on your website it's a lot of a lot of your life so also along with that where's pickleball going and where do you see yourself going with it like are you are You going to keep riding the wave and see where it takes you or Yeah this for me was definitely an

[00:37:34] Lynn: Unexpected wave Uh but yeah in terms of the sport itself The the goal is to everybody wants the Sport to continue to grow

[00:37:46] Jacob: Right now even though there is some Um people or it is actually on on television and it's Certainly live streamed there isn't as Many spectators as people would like to See in the sport now one thing to remember about pickleball is that it it really became popular For people over 50 but what's changing Now is that we've got a lot more young people coming in and i i have to say this and i'm definitely included in that over 50 group is that i'm used to watching things on tv so if you put it on espn i'm going to be there watching on tv it's a little harder for me to get into you know get On and remember oh yeah it's going to be on on youtube and it's going to be at this time and blah so i people Really want to see the viewership grow People want to see better prize money For the pros you know have more sponsors Come in because there's tons of sponsors

[00:38:44] Jacob: That are pickleball related but they're really looking for uh people sponsors really outside of the game you know whether it's a credit card company or a you know a bank or what have you just some of the sponsors that aren't necessarily related to pickleball And then of course the ultimate goal and so many people i talk To um actually these are kind of two related things is they want to get pickleball in Every school in the us

[00:39:12] Lynn: You know have that become a part of the physical education curriculum and it really does make sense because It's easy to play so even if you've got The kids who have to take pe and they're not that athletic they will still enjoy it so there are Juniors leagues now starting i've got a Friend who i interviewed on the podcast Adam who's got league running down in Florida and he's working with other people throughout the country to get juniors leagues going And then of course the ultimate goal is to get pickleball into The Olympics but getting a sport into The Olympics is uh it's a long process And they're really Pretty much at just at the starting point of doing that so right they have

[00:39:59] Jacob: Quite a ways to go do you see it potentially happening what do you think Eventually yes yeah i mean it might not Be for 20 years I it definitely won't be in paris And it won't be in la i mean you know there Might be a presence but not officially Connected because i believe that the Exhibition sports demonstration sports for la have already been agreed upon as To what they are so maybe i'm not sure what's after la but Maybe uh maybe after la maybe an Exhibition sport but um yeah that's definitely what people want to see and Given the growth of the game

[00:40:45] Lynn: It's uh you know it's gonna happen There was um racquetball's a sport that i played you know when i was young and it was an exhibition sport in the Olympics a couple times but they never were able to take that next step and make it a official sport And you know i think racquetball is a sport that was always Really male dominated Because it's you've got this This it's a rubber ball but it's Hard especially if it hits you and then You're like in this enclosed space Whereas it's almost you know normally when you go to the pickleball courts it's about 50 in terms of men and women playing oh cool

[00:41:27] Jacob: Yeah so i mean yeah that's cool to have you know a different amount of diversity and not really have it's not just this you've got to be really good at it you've got to be really athletic you get to enjoy it you know the whole along the Way regardless of your athletic ability Yeah and it's it is not like a sport Like tennis where you need to have like really good technique in order to get the ball over the net it's very easy to get the ball over the net and pickleball so you don't have to worry about taking All these lessons and stuff you don't need that the first time you go play pickleball you will have fun Yeah i love that i love that so okay so Someone um it looks like for me i'm in Austin so i could probably get a google search and find um the facility we're Talking about and in some community so

[00:42:16] Jacob: How about other listeners across the u.s if they're if they're interested they want to go do that would you just send them to your website first and foremost you think um yes on the Pickleball Fire website if You go to Pickleballfire.com quartz you will be able to find places to play Near you there's also some information On places that have clinics you know if you you don't necessarily need to go to a clinic to get started but i know some people might feel more comfortable doing that honestly you can just look for where they have courts and show up especially like at this time Of the year when it's warm out you will You will find pickleball in the morning Usually at most places kind of seven Seven days a week although that does vary a bit uh but um yeah just come to the Website and you look up courts and you Should be able to find something nearby the courts are courts are now everywhere Even in texas Yeah that's awesome i you know i

[00:43:15] Lynn: Hope we can encourage more people to uh to try out the sport you know maybe if they've never heard of it if they want to try it for the first time or if they have played it maybe they played it back in high school or whatever and they kind of forgot about it i would i would uh i Would hope that this conversation could kind of poke and prod people towards checking it out again because that's definitely something we need right now you know is some form of community obviously some athletic some athleticism Some movement you know that's a good way to to keep our immune systems and our health up to date too you know it's is working out and finding a fun way to do it so um as far as far as Your website lynn what else can we find there i think we're kind of around in the corner towards the end here i just want to make sure everybody has all the info on you where to find you um how To listen to your podcast what else they

[00:44:01] Lynn: Might be able to get from your website and everything great question yeah definitely come to pickleballfire.com You can find a link to the podcast there Where you can learn more about the game I also have a digital magazine and you Can find that right in the main menu on The website just says magazine it's um Free so you can get a little bit more Idea of what the sport is about and you Know learn about maybe some of the pros and who they are just to get familiar with the game again you can come there and get information on tournaments clinics Courts you can also get information on Instructors so if you are somebody who Wants to take a lesson to get started You can just put in your zip code and you can find somebody who is near you I've got a pretty good list of folks who Instruct throughout the us and then Again if you just want to figure out how to play the game you know i have information there on Rules and i have a kind of a beginner

[00:45:06] Lynn: Series that you can go through in terms of different articles learning about the Game kind of takes you step by step kind Of one lesson at a week And then uh you know like you said at the beginning of the podcast i also do Have um information on on different products Whether it's paddles balls nets Shoes it's all it's all there so Pickleballfire.com is pretty much a One-stop shop for anything related to Pickleball yeah wow i love it that's so great uh Lynn i really appreciate your time i mean um thank you for coming on Here and kind of giving us the lowdown and answering my rambling questions i appreciate it um i do have one more Question i do like to ask many of the guests towards the end um if you're Willing and and down for this question

[00:45:56] Jacob: What does the world need more of right Now

[00:46:03] Lynn: You know what the world needs more of is just People who can get along and Enjoy themselves and have fun and You know i think that's that that's another thing like with pickleball is you don't see a lot of conflict on on the court you know people Are gracious and and and nice and try and Make the right line calls so um yeah just you know treat each other like you want to be treated 100 i love that answer it's great it's Amazing um again thank you so much for your time lynn everybody go check out Pickleball Fire

[00:46:39] Outro: Love yourselves drink some water stretch Take care of yourselves go explore the community check it out have a have a smile on your face while you're doing that fitness thing how about that all right folks have a good rest of your day lynn thanks one more time you have Good rest your day as well if you need anything from me we'll be in touch via email thank you okay take care to the junkyard Love podcast At what age do we learn how to have Better conversations At what age do we learn to have better conversations with ourselves No Knowledge is power You