Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: Sleeve's senior Pickleball report is brought to you by TNC Network. Get ready for an exciting episode of People of Pickleball with Mike Sliva. We're about to dive deep into conversations with influential figures from the world of Pickleball.
So let's get it going.
[00:00:24] Speaker B: Today we're talking with Taylor Taylor of the Austin Ignite from the National Pickleball League. And she is a player who is doing great things outside of just playing Pickleball. She is part of an organization called Pickle Mania, and we'll get to that in the interview. But before we do consider subscribing to this channel, check out our newsletter. All the links in the description for paddles from just paddles, Pickle, PCKL, and also fitbill shoes. And again, check out that newsletter. Consider subscribing to us. Hit that like button. Give us a comment as well. Tell us how we're doing. All right, folks, on to that conversation with Taylor. Taylor. But right before we do, hey, check out ThrivePb.com. They are putting out a paddle that is going to revolutionize how swing weight is used in paddle. So go to ThrivePB.com and sign up for their updates. All right, let's get to that conversation with Taylor.
Hey, Taylor. Taylor from the Austin Ignites from the newly formed National Pickleball League and a big part of Pickle Mania, which we will talk about in a little bit. Welcome to the senior Pickleball Report, Taylor.
[00:01:43] Speaker C: Thank you. Thanks for having me, Mike. This is great. I'm excited.
[00:01:48] Speaker B: Yeah, really cool. I got a chance to meet you in Kansas City. I was driving through and I got to see my first in person National Pickleball League event. And we chatted a little bit and we finally got you on the show. Yes.
[00:02:02] Speaker C: Crazy.
[00:02:03] Speaker B: So let's talk about your journey, because obviously you're on a team now that is in first place, and you've got some other things that are going in your life, Pickle mania being one of them. But how did you get involved in pickleball? I know you have a tennis background, so how did Pickleball come into your world?
[00:02:23] Speaker C: You hear so many life changing stories about people in pickleball, and I feel like I definitely am one of those. So I was a tennis player growing up. From age ten on, I played at the University of Virginia. And then when I came back to Memphis, which is where I live, and that's home, I started graduate school to get a master's in clinical social work. And while I was going to school, one of my friends at a local private club here in Memphis asked me if I wanted to come help out with their junior tennis program in the afternoons after I finished with school. And so I woke up 20 years later and I was still a tennis pro, and I loved it. I had a great experience as a pro. I felt like I did a lot of counseling on the tennis court, so I was using my degree on some level and just.
Tennis. Tennis. I was on a USTA team that won a national championship at Indian Wells in 2015.
[00:03:25] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:03:26] Speaker C: Then on a mixed team that won a national championship in 2015. I was like, okay, I'm going to retire now, but I had a couple of knee surgeries in 2016 and one in 2018, and I was told, never play tennis again. And so I was, wow, out, right? I mean, I'd every day of my life from age ten, and it opened so many doors for me, and it was my social outlet, it was my therapeutic outlet, everything. So I kind of was a little bit like, what is my life going to look like? And literally, probably a week after I was told this, a guy came by my office at the club where I was working, and I was sort of transitioning into working on the business side of the club, but I was still teaching and playing some, and he said, I got to teach you how to play this game called pickleball. And I looked at him like, you are crazy. I am not. I don't even know what that is. I don't know what that means. I'm a great tennis player. I'm not playing something called pickleball.
And I've certainly run into a lot of those long of the short. He drugged me down to the tennis court. He cinched up the net, he handed me a paddle and a ball, and I was hooked.
And it didn't hurt my knee.
[00:04:45] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a big thing. No pain.
[00:04:47] Speaker C: I didn't have any pain. So because I'd already begun to kind of think about how I wanted, if I was going to have to reinvent myself, what it was going to look like, I decided that I wanted to know if pickleball was for real. So in April of the next year, I just marched myself down to Naples to play in the US Open. Like, I know what I'm doing. I don't know anything, but I'm like, I need to know if this is for real.
[00:05:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:05:14] Speaker C: Got down there and I played tennis at the East Naples Community Park.
It was almost all pickleball courts. And I was like, okay, this is interesting. So I came home saying, okay, this is for real, and I really want to be a part of this.
A full mindset change from not wanting to even learn how to play to wanting to be all in. So nobody really in my community knew much about Pickleball, so I started a program for the club where I was working, and then that grew into starting a pickleball club that was a virtual thing, and we paid rent to the tennis club for use of the.
That we worked really hard to get. We started off with tape lines. I feel like I've been through every stage of the process, so if anybody has any questions about going from tape to paint, I'm your girl. But we did that, and we put in the time, and anyway, we started a club, and then I loved it so much, but I felt like I wanted to do more. So that was the onset of the conversation that led to the start of Pickle mania.
[00:06:25] Speaker B: Okay, right on. So, obviously, transitioning. For some people, whether it's another sport or tennis, there are obstacles to overcome.
It's not tennis on many levels, especially if you're playing doubles. I guess, real quick, what was your biggest obstacle or habit you had to break, or whatever it was to learn from becoming a top tier tennis player to now becoming a pickleball professional as well? What was the biggest leap for you.
[00:06:53] Speaker C: To take to change such a great question? So, fortunately, early on, I was encouraged to and obviously wanted to become a certified instructor.
I'd been teaching tennis forever, right. But I knew on some level that it really wasn't tennis on a small court, but I know how to articulate that. So I became PPR certified, and then soon after that, I came on board with them as a clinician to teach people how to teach pickleball. And so some of the biggest AhA moments happened for me when I was going through that process. And I still to this day, when I teach workshops and teach people how to teach, I see those light bulbs going off just like they did.
When you have to buy in, you have to be willing to know that this is not tennis. So one of the biggest things for me was return to serve. Like, I wanted to stand on in my ready position, and I wanted to step back with my millennial forehand swing, and I wanted to hit this gorgeous shot. And then I was like, okay, now how do I get up there? Right?
[00:08:00] Speaker B: Yeah, I just ripped it back.
[00:08:02] Speaker C: I was going the wrong direction.
It was impacting how successful I was in pickleball in a big way. So I figured I learned those things, really, through becoming an instructor and it changed my game and then teaching it and reinforcing it and then recognizing the big differences. So I had to go to all the people that I had taught tennis to and say, I'm sorry, but now you're going to have to undo all those things I taught you. Like, you can't just attack a ball in the middle of the court necessarily, or you don't step and punch on your volleys.
And they all laughed. And fortunately were good sports about double dipping now and paying me to teach them how to play this other really fun game.
And the biggest thing I missed about tennis, one of the biggest things was I missed my friends. Sure, making all these new pickleball friends. And then now all my tennis friends are also playing pickleball. So that's pretty fun. Now we're all over 50.
Undoing the tennis is a challenge.
It was such a good, fun, inspirational challenge to play this game of chess. I became very much more patient. I feel like more disciplined. My tennis got better. People that tell me that it hurts their tennis, I kind of have to, I don't know, it helped my tennis and now I don't play tennis at all anymore, but because there just isn't time.
But Pickleball has taught me some really valuable life lessons, even as a 47, eight year old at the time, that translated really well into my real life and into my career.
[00:09:56] Speaker B: Right. And that's the great transition, because obviously life lessons seems to be what Pickle mania is about.
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[00:10:44] Speaker B: So talk to us about how that developed in your world. Obviously, you become a coach, you start playing, you're eventually professional. Tell us about what Pickle mania is and the impact that you would like it to have on the world.
[00:10:58] Speaker C: So Pickle mania grew. Originally out of my thesis, I mentioned that I went to graduate school, a degree in clinical social work, and my thesis was called the Ground Strokes of Life. And it was for tennis. I'd written this sort of, and so I started thinking about how easy it is to learn pickleball definitely challenging to Master Pickleball, right? But easy to learn. It doesn't take up very much. It doesn't require a lot of space, isn't super expensive, but isn't necessarily available to everyone.
And I was fortunate enough to have had this guardian angel come to me and teach me how to play. And I really wanted to figure out a way to share that joy and the interaction and the socialization and the communing that takes place around Pickleball was really fascinating to me, along with the intergenerational piece. Like, I knew I wasn't playing tennis with people that were my mom's age, but I was playing pickleball with people that were my mom's age, and they were kicking my butt. Right. Yeah, that was very Interesting to me. So I decided to Rework the Concept a Little bit and Created a curriculum that is A SoCIal EMotional learning curriculum that we based off of adverse childhood ExperieNces research. So there's a lot of Information out there about ACEs.
It was important to me that We Sort of Normalize that Everybody has adverse ChIldhood ExperieNces, no Matter who you are. But There's a way to Sort of Universalize that and help With Some of the Shame and some of the Defeatedness that maybe Goes Hand in hand with that. So I wrote the Curriculum, and Basically, Every letter of the word Pickleball represents A Life LesSon or A CharActer Trait that thought might be meaningful.
[00:13:07] Speaker B: Right?
[00:13:08] Speaker C: So, An Example is C in the first semester. So we have four SemEsters of curriculum that We've Written, and the First C is Communication. And So what does that Mean? Well, serve and Return Communication is A thing in a TheraPeutic setting. And so we took that, and we made it applicable to Pickleball. Right. So I serve you the Ball. You return it to me. I serve you a Question. How are you, Mike? You don't turn around and Walk away. You return an Answer, and Then we have a Conversation, and NoW We're COnnecting, and We're Bonding, and We're becoming Friends and Learning about Each Other, and We're getting Outside of our Own Stuff. Well, that's what we do on the Pickleball Court. We serve it to you, and you return it to me. And the Next thing I know, I've been doing that for 3 Hours, and I haven't had a Chance to think about what is going on with my Family. And so there was this Dual Purpose. One was to Expose People that might not otherwise be Exposed to Pickleball, but Also Help Them, Whether They're Adults Or Children or Both. My Favorite is adult Child Classes, Because they can do it together. Right. That's what we Pickleball. So I had to Convince a lot of People that there were some LookiNg at me, I had three heads, because nobody knew even what Pickleball was. Much thought I was going to go make a difference in my community with this thing that didn't at the time exist to the point that it does today, obviously.
But we, in my part of the country and a lot of other parts in the middle of the country at least, didn't know a lot about it.
[00:14:57] Speaker B: Yeah. It wasn't in our consciousness yet. You're right.
[00:15:00] Speaker C: It took some convincing, for sure. And I was lucky enough to receive a grant to get it started.
So we started the organization officially in 2019, and we teach this curriculum anywhere and everywhere we can. But we do some work in charter schools, we do some work with adults that are in job training. We would love to do work eventually with veterans or. Yeah, we've had some substance abuse groups reach out to us about doing some work with the people that are in transitional housing.
[00:15:43] Speaker B: Right.
[00:15:48] Speaker C: This can impact in a positive way, I think, anyone, and that's how I feel about the whole conversation, is that hopefully something we say resonates with someone. So we can do a six week class, which is pickle with purpose, or we can do a ten week class, which is pickle ball with purpose. And each one of those letters represents something valuable. Maybe it's impulse control for I or kind A, and it's just been remarkable. And I cannot tell you how lucky and grateful I am to have been given the opportunity to even have the vision, but to been put in the position to work in a field, in a job that I love so much, but then also when I go and compete, it's a great way for me to generate awareness. I mean, ultimately, we would like for there to be chapters of Pickle mania all over the country.
[00:16:49] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:50] Speaker C: We have a train the trainer program. We can go into a community, we can teach people how to teach our program, and then whatever resources we can contribute, whether it's equipment or financial support, we would take whatever we get from that program and put it back into their community.
[00:17:09] Speaker B: Right.
[00:17:11] Speaker C: We would like to build ports in the neighborhoods that we teach in. We go into neighborhoods, we teach these people how to play, and then we kind of leave and it's like.
[00:17:19] Speaker B: Right.
[00:17:20] Speaker C: So that's a big mission right now, is following up now that we actually have programming out there to follow up with those programs and then drive some of the fundraising toward providing a real location for them to continue to play and teach others in the community.
They could teach others just how to play. They can teach others those life lessons.
It's simple and it's logical and it's fun to learn a lesson and a skill.
[00:17:52] Speaker B: Right? What a great tool.
This game is exploding worldwide at this point because people always talk. Can pickleball save the world type thing? I've seen these articles and stuff like that.
And it is remarkable that when we do play pickleball, we come from different backgrounds, different experiences, different ideologies, and it doesn't seem to matter when we're on the court. And then to take something like that and be able to mold it and put it into people's lives in a way that's just beyond the game itself. And using it as a modeling, so to speak, for life lessons and movement and getting out of a desk if you're in a classroom. And for us visual learners, a huge advancement of having a game, teach us some life lessons, just how to communicate like you mentioned earlier.
Really cool. I mean, you should be super proud, and I love that you're going out there because I think that's the biggest thing is I was a high school teacher and then we would do some work that was extracurricular where we try to break down barriers between social groups and classrooms and things like that. But then that's the thing is, what's the follow up to it? And you touched upon this. Yes, we want to train people to do this, but we also want to leave them some spaces and opportunities to continue to do it because, yeah, it's great we brought you here. We could play pickleball, but now where are you going to play? And I think that's the biggest thing is getting the infrastructure to catch up to the demand.
[00:19:28] Speaker C: That's right. And that's this challenge for a lot of people. That's why during COVID we painted 30 courts in people's driveways. And that was a sustainability vertical for us. We charged a little bit of money to do that so we can put that back in. And then we sold nets and paddles and balls as a kit during COVID But the thing that you say that I think is really interesting and that I think why this has worked so well with the game of Pickleball is the give back aspect of Pickleball. If you teach one person, just like my friend who drugged me down to the court, that one person is going to drag three people out to teach them how to play so they have somebody to play with. And then those people are going to drag their own five more people out there to learn. So the fact that anybody can come in and kind of be an expert and teach someone else how to do it, that's hard to find in a physical activity that has so many aspects of health. The physical health, the emotional health, the mental health, the social health, all of that is in pickleball. And so to me it's just like this miracle game that I agree.
[00:20:50] Speaker B: It's like a lightning bolt all of a sudden. I mean, it's been around, but all of a sudden it just showed up in our consciousness during really arguably the worst thing that happened globally in the last hundred years.
[00:21:00] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:21:01] Speaker E: Are you a pickleball enthusiast over the age of 50?
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[00:21:31] Speaker A: Hey there.
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[00:22:07] Speaker C: During COVID it was know we couldn't teach in the schools and we couldn't go to the community centers to do our programming. But we got super creative about the way we could. So if somebody who can afford to take a lesson from us, or take a clinic from us, or buy a paddle from us and buy a COVID kit is what we called a net and four paddles and three balls, they could afford to do that. Then that money all goes back into Picklemania. So they're getting something out of it, right? They're also contributing to somebody else getting something out of it, who's been contributing to somebody else getting something out of it. And the trickle down is really real.
Like I said, it's been very interesting. I have learned so much.
There have been so many people that have come my way that I know that I'm like, I was meant to be here for that conversation. Chris Cargis, when you interviewed her, she's on my NPL team. And then she got to you, and then I stopped you in the crowd of people at the tournament.
So it's just the people in pickleball that really love the sport. They value that life changing joy that it can bring. And so the goal will be for us to just really continue to grow this organization. I mean, we really, the nonprofit, it's challenging. There's no doubt in funding. But we know now I don't get looked at like I have three heads, people from schools, and say, we want pickleball in our school. Will you come help? That didn't happen three years ago. It was me calling. I got this weird thing for you, but you're going to like it, I promise.
[00:23:55] Speaker B: Okay, so, fantastic. And again, we'll have links in the description for Pickle mania, and there's a get involved page on there as well.
[00:24:04] Speaker C: Yeah, please reach out to us. And we also, we're going to Greenville, Mississippi on Saturday to teach some beginner clinics and whatever those people paid us to learn how to play pickleball will go back to Pickle Mania. And then one day we'll continue to go back there and try to give back. So if you're starting a program and you want to bring somebody in, if you have an interest, PPR has been a great partner, too, as far as getting people learning how to teach the game. I appreciate anybody and everybody who tries because it's not easy, but there's a way to engage with us on a lot of different levels. So if you have an interest, please reach out. We'd love to help you however we can.
[00:24:51] Speaker B: Hope you enjoyed our conversation with Taylor. Check out the links in the description. Check out Pickle mania, folks. Great organization. Get involved outside of just playing pickleball. All right. And hey, let's pickle. Hey, if you're looking for very, very comfortable court shoes, in fact, the most comfortable court shoes I've ever worn, and I've worn a lot of them over the years playing different sports. Try Fitville. We have a link in the description that gets you $20 off your purchase.
