My Two Year Anniversary With Pickleball!

Aug 17, 2023

Hey!

Before we keep going, welcome back to another edition of the blog. If you’re new to the blog and want to go back and check out past editions, go here!

Today’s edition has two parts: 

1. A Helpful Tip (Video) – The 5-Minute Warmup You Need to Play Better!

2. My Journey Playing Pro – A Very Special “Date.”

A Helpful Tip (Video):

Picture this:

You get to the park to play and it’s packed. When it’s your turn to get on court, you want to hit a few balls to warm up but don’t want to hog the court and make people mad. So, what should your warm up look like?

Or you just won your first round match at a tournament. 20 minutes later, you get a text message that tells you what court you're on next. You arrive at the court and the ref says you have five minutes to warm up. What do you do with those five minutes?

Now, both scenarios are not ideal, but you can still get a good warmup in that time, if you know what to do.

In this week’s video, you’ll learn just that.

Enjoy!👇

My Journey Playing Pro Pickleball: 

To go after it, or not go after it. That my friends — is the question.

Two years ago today, I played pickleball for the first time at Herberger Park in Scottsdale, Arizona. How do I remember the exact date? Well, because it was a date. Like a date-date, ya know?  HA! And before you start wondering… No, we are not together anymore.

All because my, "3rd shot drops weren't good enough." Whatever 🙄. Haha jk.

Who knew that August 17, 2021 would be the day my life changed forever?

On November 21, 2021 I played my first 4.0 tournament with my friend Zach. And golly did we have a blast!

 

 

On December 11, 2021, I decided I wanted to become a pro player and document the process along the way. 

 

 

And this was the day I started to take training and pickleball content creation (aka this newsletter) more seriously! 

Early posts included:

  1. Trying to become a pro is tough. Having self-doubt and thinking about quitting is, too. Here’s why I didn’t quit when it got tough.

  2. How to be a doubles partner others actually want to play with.

  3. 3 reasons pros are pros and amateurs aren’t.

After making that instagram post, I started to train, and work my way up the ranks. I medaled at 4.0. Then I moved up and after a few tournaments, medaled at 4.5. Then after a few more tournaments, I won multiple 5.0 tournaments before moving up to the pro ranks.

Seeing the growth was addicting! I couldn’t get enough. The truth is, I still can’t! I love it. 

Many who get this newsletter found me on instagram, or youtube, but many don’t know my ultimate goal is to become one of the games best. 

I feel like the luckiest guy in the world. I get to play pickleball every day and make content about pickleball?

What’s going on here!? I have to pinch myself. This has become my job.

For those who have been following along since the beginning, (my family) haha. Thank you!!

And for those who have joined recently, it’s my hope that all the writing and videos…

  • make you laugh, 
  • teach you a little more about the game, and 
  • inspire you to go after what you want in life, even when it gets hard!

I may be two years in, but this is just the beginning! 

Until next week, 

Kyle 

PS: If you enjoyed this blog and you want to subscribe to the newsletter, you can do that by clicking here!

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