IN THEIR WORDS FROM X, Y & Z: Pickleball's Multi-generational Appeal
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to pick a wall from him we were at the
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gym right and they got he had heard
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about it and then told me to come with
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to go get some paddles
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I didn't want to play because I thought
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it was the dumbest thing ever and then I
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went and played and I was like well I'm
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gonna play this for the rest of my life
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so
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really I got in the pickleball in the
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Washington DC area I was with my uncle
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so we're trying to play tennis during
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the pandemic and all of our tennis
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Sports were just closed and locked up so
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he just called me up he's like hey uh I
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got a few I got a six pack and I got a
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big driveway I taped up this thing we're
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gonna play some pickleball and I've seen
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her play Pickleball before but I didn't
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really take it seriously I went over and
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we're just eating food playing in his
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driveway and uh that's kind of how I got
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started and eventually like I drove
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around town saw some like dedicated
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courts saw some serious players hopped
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in and never looked back I got into
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pickleball one of my friends was just
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like hey dude you should come play
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Pickleball I know I used to play tennis
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and he was like you'd probably like this
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I got there and I was like oh this is
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just the easy tennis I'm like this will
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be super easy my friend had no racket
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support background and he just waxed me
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it was like 111 211 probably 0 11 like I
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just got destroyed and I'm super
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competitive so after that I went
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straight to Dick's and just bought a
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bunch of paddles and then like now I've
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been playing pretty much every day for
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two years so yeah I've been doing
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pickleball YouTube for probably like two
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years now I do all the paddle reviews or
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a lot of the paddle reviews in
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pickleball so that's it's been great I
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also have a YouTube channel as well and
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I do pick ball related content I do a
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lot of me just challenging the pros like
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playing against the one-on-one we also
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have a podcast together called the
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pickleball Studio podcast and we just
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talked to the ball uh and I work for a
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vending company for like grocery stores
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and stuff yeah so I'm not quite in the
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pickleball industry yeah
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perfect well thank you so I found out
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about the US Open just I've been playing
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for like two years and you know everyone
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talks about it online it's probably I'd
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say it's probably the biggest amateur
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tournament you could go to so I kept
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hearing about it and now my job is
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pickleball so I figured if I'm gonna
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work in the industry I should probably
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go there and have an opinion on the
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event so I came to compete and then also
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just did some video work while we were
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here for the channel and whatnot it's
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Unique sense that like uh the PPA we had
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in February we were watching a lot of
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pros play
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um and not so much the amateurs so it's
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a little more fun than most tournaments
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I would say I'm an amateur events it can
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be a little more Scrappy and kind of
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wild you know like maybe maybe a little
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less refined I think the draw is it's
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really for any age like I don't think it
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it matters too much specifically I think
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you know for the older demographic it's
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been that it's more accessible it's
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easier than tennis on the body but I
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think what's great is that you can play
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with literally anybody it doesn't matter
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who it is like age well it matters much
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less than other sports like I could play
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with my grandparents or my parents and
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like there are people you know probably
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30 years older than I am that'll smoke
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me and in most other sports that
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wouldn't be the case if I played soccer
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with someone 30 years older than me
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there's probably a good chance I'm just
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better because I'm younger with
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pickleball you still have to be athletic
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it's still important but the age Gap
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does not matter nearly as much so I
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think everyone I think it's appealing
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because of the community aspect of
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pickleball it's my second time back it's
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a good party you play all day there's
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unique events for everybody you've got
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skill you've got age you've got skill
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age mixed age pros and it goes all week
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so a lot of people just come down for
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the whole week play a bunch drink a
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bunch have a good time that's why we
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come back I think there's no stop and
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pickleball I think it's one of the rare
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things in life where something comes
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along that takes the World by storm it
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started in the United States and now
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it's spreading worldwide so I don't see
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it stopping I just see the rest of the
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world picking up and it's becoming very
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competitive and maybe sport one day I
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think the difference between tennis and
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pickleball tennis is a lonely sport I
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was the singles competitive player
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pickleballs mostly played with doubles
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it's a smaller court so you have a lot
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of camaraderie between the opponents and
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also with your partner and you start to
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bond and the points are a little bit
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quicker a little bit faster and it's
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just a faster paced game and it's very
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social you make a lot of friends you get
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to you get to travel different places so
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I definitely prefer pickleball for
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tennis pickleball is a very difficult
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name and at first everybody thinks it's
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a joke I'm gonna play a sport with a
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pickle in front of it but over time it
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grows on you and then you start to love
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the name and you start wearing
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pickleball memorabilia you wear
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pickleball shirts and pickle so this
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name's here to stay they're not changing
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this name
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[Music]
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From ages 13-80+, players were competing at all levels at the 2023 U.S. Open Pickleball Champion hosted last month in Naples, Florida. TUNDRA caught-up with a few of the competitors who shared their perspectives on what it is about the sport that's driving the masses to such extent scoring a pickleball court in your local neighborhood is akin to getting front row seats at a Beyonce concert. If there's anything these players have in common, its an unconditional love of the sport. Check-out why in this 4.5-minute short.
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