IN THEIR WORDS FROM X, Y & Z: Pickleball's Multi-generational...

0:00 to pick a wall from him we were at the 0:02 gym right and they got he had heard 0:04 about it and then told me to come with 0:06 to go get some paddles 0:08 I didn't want to play because I thought 0:09 it was the dumbest thing ever and then I 0:11 went and played and I was like well I'm 0:12 gonna play this for the rest of my life 0:14 so 0:19 really I got in the pickleball in the 0:21 Washington DC area I was with my uncle 0:23 so we're trying to play tennis during 0:25 the pandemic and all of our tennis 0:26 Sports were just closed and locked up so 0:28 he just called me up he's like hey uh I 0:30 got a few I got a six pack and I got a 0:32 big driveway I taped up this thing we're 0:34 gonna play some pickleball and I've seen 0:36 her play Pickleball before but I didn't 0:37 really take it seriously I went over and 0:39 we're just eating food playing in his 0:41 driveway and uh that's kind of how I got 0:43 started and eventually like I drove 0:45 around town saw some like dedicated 0:47 courts saw some serious players hopped 0:49 in and never looked back I got into 0:51 pickleball one of my friends was just 0:53 like hey dude you should come play 0:54 Pickleball I know I used to play tennis 0:55 and he was like you'd probably like this 0:58 I got there and I was like oh this is 1:00 just the easy tennis I'm like this will 1:01 be super easy my friend had no racket 1:03 support background and he just waxed me 1:05 it was like 111 211 probably 0 11 like I 1:09 just got destroyed and I'm super 1:10 competitive so after that I went 1:12 straight to Dick's and just bought a 1:14 bunch of paddles and then like now I've 1:17 been playing pretty much every day for 1:19 two years so yeah I've been doing 1:21 pickleball YouTube for probably like two 1:23 years now I do all the paddle reviews or 1:26 a lot of the paddle reviews in 1:27 pickleball so that's it's been great I 1:30 also have a YouTube channel as well and 1:33 I do pick ball related content I do a 1:34 lot of me just challenging the pros like 1:37 playing against the one-on-one we also 1:39 have a podcast together called the 1:40 pickleball Studio podcast and we just 1:42 talked to the ball uh and I work for a 1:44 vending company for like grocery stores 1:46 and stuff yeah so I'm not quite in the 1:48 pickleball industry yeah 1:51 perfect well thank you so I found out 1:53 about the US Open just I've been playing 1:55 for like two years and you know everyone 1:57 talks about it online it's probably I'd 2:00 say it's probably the biggest amateur 2:01 tournament you could go to so I kept 2:04 hearing about it and now my job is 2:05 pickleball so I figured if I'm gonna 2:07 work in the industry I should probably 2:08 go there and have an opinion on the 2:10 event so I came to compete and then also 2:12 just did some video work while we were 2:13 here for the channel and whatnot it's 2:16 Unique sense that like uh the PPA we had 2:19 in February we were watching a lot of 2:21 pros play 2:23 um and not so much the amateurs so it's 2:27 a little more fun than most tournaments 2:29 I would say I'm an amateur events it can 2:31 be a little more Scrappy and kind of 2:33 wild you know like maybe maybe a little 2:35 less refined I think the draw is it's 2:39 really for any age like I don't think it 2:41 it matters too much specifically I think 2:43 you know for the older demographic it's 2:45 been that it's more accessible it's 2:46 easier than tennis on the body but I 2:49 think what's great is that you can play 2:50 with literally anybody it doesn't matter 2:52 who it is like age well it matters much 2:56 less than other sports like I could play 2:57 with my grandparents or my parents and 3:00 like there are people you know probably 3:01 30 years older than I am that'll smoke 3:03 me and in most other sports that 3:04 wouldn't be the case if I played soccer 3:07 with someone 30 years older than me 3:09 there's probably a good chance I'm just 3:10 better because I'm younger with 3:11 pickleball you still have to be athletic 3:13 it's still important but the age Gap 3:15 does not matter nearly as much so I 3:17 think everyone I think it's appealing 3:18 because of the community aspect of 3:20 pickleball it's my second time back it's 3:23 a good party you play all day there's 3:25 unique events for everybody you've got 3:27 skill you've got age you've got skill 3:29 age mixed age pros and it goes all week 3:32 so a lot of people just come down for 3:33 the whole week play a bunch drink a 3:35 bunch have a good time that's why we 3:37 come back I think there's no stop and 3:40 pickleball I think it's one of the rare 3:42 things in life where something comes 3:44 along that takes the World by storm it 3:46 started in the United States and now 3:47 it's spreading worldwide so I don't see 3:49 it stopping I just see the rest of the 3:50 world picking up and it's becoming very 3:52 competitive and maybe sport one day I 3:55 think the difference between tennis and 3:56 pickleball tennis is a lonely sport I 3:58 was the singles competitive player 3:59 pickleballs mostly played with doubles 4:01 it's a smaller court so you have a lot 4:03 of camaraderie between the opponents and 4:05 also with your partner and you start to 4:07 bond and the points are a little bit 4:09 quicker a little bit faster and it's 4:11 just a faster paced game and it's very 4:13 social you make a lot of friends you get 4:16 to you get to travel different places so 4:18 I definitely prefer pickleball for 4:19 tennis pickleball is a very difficult 4:21 name and at first everybody thinks it's 4:23 a joke I'm gonna play a sport with a 4:25 pickle in front of it but over time it 4:28 grows on you and then you start to love 4:29 the name and you start wearing 4:30 pickleball memorabilia you wear 4:32 pickleball shirts and pickle so this 4:35 name's here to stay they're not changing 4:36 this name 4:37 [Music]

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.