
Life Lessons from Pickleball™
Meet Shelley and Sher, the dynamic duo, who found more than just a sport on the Pickleball court - they discovered how Pickleball was weaving its magic, creating connections, boosting confidence, and sprinkling their lives with amazing joy. Inspired by their own personal transformation and the contagious enthusiasm of their fellow players, they knew this was more than a game. Join them on their weekly podcast as they serve up engaging conversations with people from all walks of life, and all around the world reaching across the net to uncover the valuable Life Lessons from Pickleball™.
Life Lessons from Pickleball™
E6: Will & Lilly Terry: Finding Joy and Growth on the Pickleball Court
What hidden life lessons await on the pickleball court? Join us as we unravel the captivating journey of Will, a talented children's book author and illustrator, and Lilly, a dedicated preschool teacher, who found unexpected joy and growth in their transition from tennis to pickleball. Living in a vibrant retirement community in Arizona, their story is a compelling testament to how a shared passion can strengthen bonds and shape personal development. From creative practice drills to maintaining harmony on the court, Will and Lilly's experiences promise to inspire and entertain.
https://pickleball-paul.com
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Hi, I'm Shelley Maurer. And I'm Cher Emmerich. Welcome to Life Lessons from Pickleball, where we engage with pickleball players from around the world about life on and off the court. Thanks for joining us. Will and Lily Terry, we are so happy to have you join us today. Shelley is going to talk about the books that that you have written and illustrated, Will, that we love, by the way. But to give our viewers and listeners a little bit of background, Will, you've been a freelance illustrator for 30 years and you've illustrated... Thank you so much. to talk with us. We actually got you off the court.
SPEAKER_01:It's funny because pickleball time is sacred, isn't
SPEAKER_00:it?
SPEAKER_01:Sometimes when people ask us to dinner, we're like, can we
SPEAKER_00:do it at four? Because you're in Arizona, so you need to play late in the evening or something. Early in the morning. Either way. So cool. Tell us how you guys started playing pickleball.
SPEAKER_01:Go ahead. Do you want
SPEAKER_00:to? Oh, sure. How we started playing pickleball. Well, we came here to Arizona. And, you know, just by it, we live in a retirement community. And so there's so much to do. There's so much to do. And so we my uncle played tennis at the time. And so we jumped in playing tennis. And that was that was pretty amazing for a while. And then as the season, you know, as the snowbirds were, you know, heading out, then the numbers got leaner and leaner. And so there was, you know, a driving pickleball. group that still were keeping it together there in the summers. It was getting hotter and hotter and people were leaving. And so we had a couple of friends actually who introduced us and we started off just playing just the four of us with them. And then we decided we should do some drilling and stuff like that, kind of figure out how to play. And so we went to the courts when everybody else was playing and And oh, no, they were not going to let us drill. They were like, get in here. We need the numbers. Put your paddle up. You're in here. It's go time. So,
SPEAKER_01:yeah, we were going to try to figure it out, like because we played with these other these other couple. And they didn't really know what they were doing.
SPEAKER_00:They
SPEAKER_01:were new as well. put your paddle up and jump in. And we were like, no, really, it's okay. We're really that bad. Like, and they're like, no, get in there. And, and so we ended up playing with them and then they realized how bad we were. They were like, go drill, you know, go figure it out. And then, and then come back. But because I had hit a lot, I had my hand or eye coordination. Lily hadn't played really much of a hitting game. So that's what we spent our time doing with those balls was I would, I would picture all kinds of different balls, high, low, medium dinks, you know, drives, whatever.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And her job was just to get comfortable.
SPEAKER_00:And Will has a wicked spin. So, you know, what's really amazing about that is because I drilled with him and learned with him, I now, the spins just don't scare me as well. It's
SPEAKER_01:like she's Teflon.
SPEAKER_00:I was trying to imagine what it looked like with you on the car with all those balls and your shovel.
SPEAKER_01:Oh,
SPEAKER_00:yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
UNKNOWN:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Did we tell you about
SPEAKER_00:that? No, I forgot about it.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Great big dustpan in the
SPEAKER_01:room. We saw the ball picker upper thing that was like$100 and I was like, There's got to be a better way, a cheaper way. And so I looked on YouTube. And so we said, yeah, just get the dustpan that's on the pole and a broom. And they would make fun of us. We'd be walking there. They're like, go clean up your balls now. Clean up the court. That's right. But that experience, that was the first year. And we both learned a lot that year. And then the addiction kicks in pretty quick. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:How is it as a couple playing together? You know, there's ups and downs. No, we never have
SPEAKER_01:any problems.
SPEAKER_00:Wow. Yeah, it's just complete bliss. You
SPEAKER_01:know, he tries to explain all the shots that I'm supposed to hit all the time, and that's annoying. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:It's
SPEAKER_01:actually the other way around. So Lily said, just let me play for a while, and I don't need to be coached.
SPEAKER_00:Good for you.
SPEAKER_01:And she actually
SPEAKER_00:needed a coach. Well, in the beginning, I really appreciated the coaching. I really, really did. I mean, there's a lot to learn. And there's a lot of things that in the beginning you think you know, and you don't. So...
SPEAKER_01:We have rules, just as far as playing as a couple. We have rules that we don't, that, you know, like, you wouldn't, in open play, you wouldn't coach someone else.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So we don't really coach each other. We just kind of play like we're someone else.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, that's good. It's true.
SPEAKER_01:That's what we strive for, right? True.
SPEAKER_00:But we can, like, roll our eyes and mutter under our breath,
SPEAKER_01:though.
SPEAKER_00:That's so loud.
SPEAKER_01:At least I never take your forehand, right?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah. Like you see in some videos, those annoying guys that are running all over the court, taking all the balls. Yeah, I don't do that. What was that? Oh, yes.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. In the middle, but not all
SPEAKER_00:the way over on her side. That's true. That's true. Do you guys do tournaments?
SPEAKER_01:We have individually, but not, not, not together. Mixed.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And
SPEAKER_00:that's been a good experience. That's been a good experience.
SPEAKER_01:We're still, I mean, we're three years in to pickleball, which it seems longer than that, but, um, I've played two sanctioned tournament tournaments and we both played a couple of, um, um, in-house tournaments where we have like a we play against another retirement community and stuff and
SPEAKER_00:the apple league yeah and
SPEAKER_01:then the apple league we played in that
SPEAKER_00:yeah
SPEAKER_01:so yeah
SPEAKER_00:it's a different experience yeah
SPEAKER_01:we might we might do mix we don't know
SPEAKER_00:yeah
SPEAKER_01:yeah
SPEAKER_00:we shall speak how do you deal with pressure when you're on the court and playing together how do you deal with the pressure of it um The pressure of, you know, one thing, you know, the pressure of knowing that people are watching you because we play at night. We have a really good night group. And so there's often like people that are off on the sidelines and, you know, like playing in tournaments and stuff like that. One of the things that helped me was to go, you know what? Wait a minute. Somebody is always watching me. So, so I just kind of like changed my focus where it's like, well, how is this different? There's more. Yes. And you know, there's pressure of, of needing to do well, but I feel like I've always done that. Like I've always wanted to, you know, to do well. So I'm like, well, how is this any different? So personally, that's what's helped me a lot for like, like the pressure. I
SPEAKER_01:think we're both realistic about like, we, we know everybody in our community that plays. And so when we walk in, it's either we're going to get, we're probably going to get beat or we should beat the other two. And so sometimes I'll, you know, I'll say on paper, we should win this, you know, which adds a little level of pressure. But at the same time, it's like, if we just play our
SPEAKER_00:game,
SPEAKER_01:yeah, if we play our game, watch the ball, you know, hit good, the right shots at the right time for the, for the situation we should win. And, but it's not everything, you know, it's not, we don't put everything on, on winning.
UNKNOWN:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I really just want to play good. I don't want to miss shots that I know I can hit. I think you're the same. And Lily's actually like, I think because of my racket experience in racquetball, I started higher in pickleball, but she's like coming right up there. And so everybody's making comments. They don't make comments to me like, wow, well, you're playing good. They do with her. They're like, she is a different person from year to year. And just like last night, Chris and Susie saw, saw her playing. They told me it's like, she's a different, completely different player now. So, so we, in the beginning, we couldn't play that well together because it was really lopsided. If there were two, even people with me that they would pick on her, which, you know, I mean, that's what they do now. But now I think they hit shots to us equally a lot of times now. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:They hit them to you now. Yeah. Congratulations, Lily. Thank you. Have you taken that confidence that you've got on the pickleball court into life? Oh, my goodness. Yes. Yes. Oh, my goodness. Yes. Actually. You know, because I never had a sport really very much before pickleball, played a little bit of softball, you know, and did well, but wasn't really competitive. But I'm telling you, pickleball has really given me an experience to realize just how I love to say how strong I am and how capable I am physically. And I never knew that. I never knew that before. So having something that, that gives you a chance to channel that is huge. And then it just, it just goes out into everything else where it's like, if I, if my abilities are belong, you know, beyond my, my set, you know, in my mind limitations, um, Now, how you know, how much more does this, you know, go into my life? And I found that that is definitely true. Definitely true. It's it's mind blowing and life altering. So it's been really good for me in that way. Definitely.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, we want to feel like we fit in. Right. We don't want to be at the bottom of anything. And we want our peer group to feel like we want to feel like they want us there. Right. Yeah. I mean, like that's really and that's happened.
UNKNOWN:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And, you know, and in our...
SPEAKER_00:That piece too, where it's like, you know, feeling like you belong with other people too, but feeling like you belong, you know, yourself and having that confidence in yourself is huge. And then, of course, that goes into what you're talking about, where you feel that value with other people too. And
SPEAKER_01:we see the new people coming in, you know, in where we were, you know, like they're unsure, like, are we allowed to play here? Oh, no, no, no. I'm just, I... play at the lower chords usually. And I'm just here watching right now. And it's kind of interesting just to see in three short years how we're right in the middle of our group and welcome to play. And
SPEAKER_00:yeah. Yeah. It kind of sounds like we're talking about a children's book I read recently. I'm glad to see where the story is coming from. Right. But truly, truly, I really identify with I really identify with Pickleball Paul. I know. Before we start talking about Pickleball Paul, because I love these books, I'd like to talk about one thing that I just love that I read before we talk about your art degree is you had a quote that really resonated with me because you struggled in school. And you said, you know, I was bad at math and English and science. And then you realized it wasn't you, it was the school. And I love this quote. And your quote is, it's criminal that our antiquated public school system sifts children for auditory learners while discarding kinesthetic and visual learners. And that really resonated with me because I started a school 25 years ago. And the purpose of that was to really get to know each child and to know their learning styles and help them identify their learning styles so they'd be successful in life. And when I read that, you know, I just really got chills and I just see that's so important. So talk to a little bit about that before we get into all the incredible things you've done with your art.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. You know, um, came out of high school broken, but didn't know I was broken. You know, sometimes we don't, you don't really know you're broken. Um, and I, but I always felt like I didn't belong and I, um, I mean, in a nutshell, I went to school to become an artist, and I did great in a college setting in art and got really good grades, and that helped me get through that college experience. And in becoming an illustrator, I mean, I thought that I was destined for– And I don't want to say this the wrong way, but blue-collar jobs. But I didn't want to do blue-collar jobs. There's nothing wrong
SPEAKER_00:with that. You didn't want to do what, Will?
SPEAKER_01:I didn't want to do a blue-collar job. Blue-collar. Yeah, I didn't want to do... I had done drywall and I had done framing. And there's nothing wrong with that. I saw people that were in the trades that enjoyed it. I didn't. But that's what I thought. That was the only thing I was going to be able to do. And... When I started my freelance illustration career and started getting work, I realized like, oh, I'm valuable, but not in all the ways that school rewards value. I mean, like they have art class in school, you know, in high school.
SPEAKER_00:If you're lucky. But
SPEAKER_01:your parents don't, when you come home from school, they don't go, well, what's going on with that art grade? It's English, math, science, and history. And so I realized like, oh, these companies that are hiring me, are seeing value in me. And that's that kind of validation you can't buy. And it made me really think. And then I found certain people who were talking about this very thing, about different learning styles, like Sir Ken Robinson. I don't know if you've ever heard him give a talk before, but he's a guy from the United Kingdom who really kind of thrust this about 20, 25 years ago onto the to the public consciousness of the fact that there are different learning styles. I mean, we've known that for a while before that, but he really popularized that idea. And I'm like, yeah, you know, like, you know, I've had parents that were both highly college educated dad who almost finished his PhD, but didn't, and mom with a master's degree. And they were looking at me like, what, you know, like what's wrong with you? And they were also at the same time, really good about helping me, but wondering like, cause my sisters were doing good in their classes and I just wasn't. But I was, I remember thinking like, I'm the guy who helps you guys figure out where we're going sometimes just on, I've been there and I'm like, no, we turn here and that no one else could remember where a place was, you know? And I'm like, it's just right over there. We've been there before, you know? So I had this like spatial visual vocabulary that, that they weren't speaking. but that wasn't rewarded by the system. And then I realized, oh, okay, it's not me. It's that they tried to stick a round peg in a square hole. And so, yeah. But then that led to my career and I teach. I taught at the same colleges I went to, taught at another college, and then started an online school for illustrators. And so that's a big part of what I do. It's this school, but I also illustrate children's books. And that's what the boxes are. We have this horrible backdrop right here because I got my Pickleball Paul books back there.
SPEAKER_00:Well, and I've got my Pickleball Paul books right here.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah,
SPEAKER_00:I got that one. I'm waiting for the lobbying one to come out.
SPEAKER_01:There
SPEAKER_00:you go. Do
SPEAKER_01:you guys want to hear the genesis of where the books came
SPEAKER_00:from? Yes, that's what I was going to say next. That's why we were so excited to have you guys on the podcast, because when I saw these books and then I ordered them, and I have twin four-and-a-half-year-old grandsons, and when I read them, Pickleball Paul, they were riveted. How do you say his friend's name? Georgia. Okay. With the spelling, I wasn't sure. I mean, when he first went down to play pickleball and the kids were mean to him, they were just riveted. Their eyes were big and they just couldn't believe it. We all identify with that. Right. And they were so into the story. They just loved it. So it's great. So yeah, please tell us about that. Yeah. Can I throw it? Yes. Really quick thing with the names, what Will did, and he got the idea from... paul who will come out in the in the genesis story but it's it's names of the up-and-coming pickleball stars of you know so it's
SPEAKER_01:yeah so georgia i cannot remember her last name to save my life right now but
SPEAKER_00:she's actually a pickleball
SPEAKER_01:okay
SPEAKER_00:yeah oh
SPEAKER_01:yeah the the youth that are that were up and coming okay we put their apes in there Tell her about the hot tub time machine story.
SPEAKER_00:So we're, we're, you know, we, like I said, we live in a retirement community and one of the amazing amenities that we have are, you know, awesome hot tubs. And so we were down there in the hot tub and, uh, Paul, uh,
SPEAKER_01:Paul
SPEAKER_00:Olson was there. He's a Selkirk representative. And we got to talking about, you know, comparing, you know, what do you do and what do you do? And I'm an author illustrator and I'm, you know, I'm a Selkirk guy. And we knew that because we knew him from Pickleball. But when he learned what Will does, he said, you know, what we really need is a children's book about Pickleball to introduce the younger people to Pickleball because this is the new great. I mean, we know it, but other people need to know it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So really attract the younger players to, to, to know about it and to, to embrace it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So, so we'll like came home and it was like within the next week or two that you had the, the skeleton of the story and maybe it even started on some of the, you know, possible sketches and stuff like that. And so, yeah, he just really,
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, just leaned into it. And then I'd throw ideas to Lily and say, what do you think about this? And what if this happens? And, you know, the first book really is the hero's journey. You know, if in writing, you know, you have the... It's like, you know, the classic hero story that we all are familiar with is the J.R. Tolkien, you know, the Lord of the Rings, where, you know, you have the hero, which is usually reluctant, usually has some... some strikes against them. And in the case of pickleball, Paul, he's young and small, you know, so they have, they have some challenges that they have to overcome. And then when, when tested, instead of running away, they rise to the occasion, they win, right. They, they conquer, they do whatever. And then at, you know, at the end, they, they kind of review, we don't in a children's book, you don't have time to go through the whole, But
SPEAKER_00:it's that hard work and that practice and that dedication that'll bring out, you know, the results.
SPEAKER_01:That's a good point. It's not that they just have the ability. They have to do something heroic to work on getting the ability. And then they fight the monster at the end. In this case, it was the big
SPEAKER_00:kids, right? The mean big kids.
SPEAKER_01:And it's so funny because we, even though we're in a 55 plus and we're the younger ones in this group, nothing has really changed since when we were in junior high or high school. Like there's still the pecking order. There's still the people that feel like they're, they're, they're not good enough. There's still, you know, the people that wish they could get a little better so they could play the people that are, you know, being in our group, you, you know, you have to kind of apply to move to the next group. And, and I've had people come to me and go, Hey, I'm hoping you can put in a good word for me, you know. to get me into this higher group. I'll try really hard. If you don't think that I belong there, feel free to say that I don't, but I'm really, you know, hoping to get in that group. And I'm like, this is no different than high school. We just have more money and more aches and pains. And
SPEAKER_00:then you just need to give them a pickleball Paul book and they can read that. They just need to go drill, drill, drill. It's true. I mean, it's great. It's so good for kids, but I mean, like when we were talking before, it applies to the adults too, right? In our pickleball journey. Definitely. It's
SPEAKER_01:true. We've had a lot of people come up to us and go, I'm pickleball. That's true.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. That is a great story. I love that. Both of them. And the illustrations are beautiful. Oh, man. They are adorable. They're so great. Adorable. It's kind of funny that the genesis of the idea came from a guy named Paul. And when Will was first considering what name, do you remember what the name was that you first were going to do? It was Pickleball Pete. Oh, okay. And what came to my mind, Pickleball Pete, is I remember the firework called... What about pickleball, Paul? And the fact that, you know, with Paul that had the idea, that was just like, that was a
SPEAKER_01:fun coincidence. And there aren't any names that rhyme with ball.
SPEAKER_00:Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Well, or have the, the alliteration too. Cause I think that's
SPEAKER_01:what we're
SPEAKER_00:looking for was the alliteration.
SPEAKER_01:Yep. So it had to be Paul.
SPEAKER_00:Had you written, had you written any other books before this, these two?
SPEAKER_01:I wrote a couple story apps and I did write a couple of eBooks. And so this is kind of, and, and I almost had a book sold to Scholastic, but then they backed out the last minute. So, Oh, so I've been there, you know, and, but, uh, illustrated for Scholastic many times and also, um, Penguin Random House and HarperCollins.
SPEAKER_00:These are really beautifully written. The stories are terrific and the artwork is extraordinary. So yeah, congratulations. They would be great books for school libraries. Yeah,
SPEAKER_01:in fact, we've been doing school visits here in the Phoenix area. We put out feelers and got quite a good response and actually have a school visit next week um where i go in and do an assembly at the school and talk to the kids about what it's like to be an illustrator and we talk about stories and reading and what it's like to create a children's book like that i kind of go through in my presentation the whole thing and then we do drawing lessons and stuff like that and you know and then they buy books and so it's a it's kind of a win-win
SPEAKER_00:yeah
SPEAKER_01:yeah
SPEAKER_00:I wish I'd had you as my teacher. I freeze at the idea of drawing anything. And I even noticed on your website, on this, it's your school website, right? the name of your school, just a second.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, the SVS Lawrence.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, School of Visual Storytelling. And I mean, the curriculum looks extraordinary. And now is this also with Jake and Lee? Are they a part of the school? Okay. And one of the illustrations that you teach about is when you start using math. And that's when it totally freaks me out when you're measuring the angles and all this. I'm like, boy, no way could I even do that. But that online school looks really terrific.
SPEAKER_01:You know, it's fun. All three of us used to teach at university art programs, and it's kind of a wave of the future. Instead of having to live in the location of the school that you're going to go to and get up at a certain time Um, on a certain day you can do it whenever you want. I mean, you can do it in your pajamas and it's a fraction of the price and you can do it anywhere in the world. So it's a subscription. And so we have students all over the world and then we do, we do other premium classes and stuff for them too. But I, my, my business partners, Jake and Lee, we get together every now and then. And when we do, we have a feats of strength kind of a competition. So it's, it's part meetings, you know, meetings all day, but then we'll do like, you get to choose two sports that you're good at. And, and so you, if you win, you get, you get three points. If you seven second, you get two. And if you lose, you get zero. So, and then we add up all the points, you know, so I picked pickleball as one of my favorites. And racquetball. And racquetball. And it was fun watching them because they're very athletic. But if you don't play pickleball, you know. And so it was so fun to do to them what was done to me when I was rocking the court.
SPEAKER_00:Corner shots up the middle. Third
SPEAKER_01:shots to their backhand. They see that ball coming over so soft and mellow, and then they reach in and hit it, and they're in the kitchen like, I'm sorry you can't do that.
SPEAKER_00:Right in the net. I saw some of your podcasts, too, that you three do together, and I loved the friendship that you two show on your show and how casual you are. Shelly and I are just starting this. whole series of life lessons from pickleball and so we were kind of careful about oh you don't want to look away from the camera and you want to have everything and i love that you guys are yeah well i'm looking over here i'm looking here and it's engaging it's totally engaging and then after you answer questions that people send in about illustration and then you guys just kind of chat and you talk about what's going on your lives and the accidents you've had on bikes and
SPEAKER_01:if funny because we've done it for like we've we've run we've had this school for now for a little over 10 years and we've been doing it so long that we're so comfortable together and that's actually one of the reasons why people follow us is they say well it's not a stuffy podcast it's like it's like i'm hanging out with you guys so we kind of leaned into that and every now and then we'll get someone going in on the youtube they'll say The meat of it actually starts at like 11 minutes. You know, other
SPEAKER_00:than that,
SPEAKER_01:if you want to skip to this, they're just screwing around, you know. And other people are like, yeah, we like it. And we send out surveys every now and then. And people are like, no, no, no. I look forward to the whole time because I'm just drawing and hanging out with you guys.
SPEAKER_00:That's how I felt too. It was really fun. Yeah, yeah. Really fun. So before we wrap it up, I just have to hear. 44 prepositions in 20 seconds
SPEAKER_01:i made that claim i
SPEAKER_00:have to you made the claim
SPEAKER_01:so this was this was my the genesis of this was my dad said he really wanted to test to see if i could memorize something you know because again he they thought there was something like
SPEAKER_00:this visual guy that's
SPEAKER_01:wrong yeah so he's like you just memorized you know we were supposed to memorize the prepositions i
SPEAKER_00:remember that yeah
SPEAKER_01:you remember
SPEAKER_00:that
SPEAKER_01:and and so he's like i think you can do this and what you do is you start with five words and you just keep saying them over and over and then you're gonna add five more And I didn't think I could do it, you know, but he's like, it was like a month away. And so every day he's drilling me. He's like, what are the first five words? And I had, I'd get those and I'd get 10. Eventually it locked in there and then it became a stupid human trick, right? This is embarrassing. Are you ready? Okay. A word about above, across, after, against, along, among, around, at, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, beyond, by, during, except for, from, and into, like, above, on, over, past, since, through, throughout, to, towards, under, underneath, until, up, upon, with, within, without. It's like, it is. There's a channel in my brain that's just tattooed with that.
SPEAKER_00:Are you a happy dad? Yeah. Oh, that's super impressive.
SPEAKER_01:It actually worked against me because once I did that, he was like, well, you can apply yourself and you can get A's in everything. And I'm like, oh,
SPEAKER_00:no. Once is enough. Yeah. Oh, wow. This has really been so much fun to talk with you two. We were thrilled that you were able to take time out of your pickleball games to come and chat with us. And we love the work that you do. Your writing is, they're just terrific. And we love that the two of you are so happy together and that you play on the court and play off the court. But before we really close up, are there some life lessons either that you've learned in life that you've taken onto the court or lessons that you learned on the court that you've taken into life? We touched a little bit on some of those.
SPEAKER_01:I have one. Do you want me to go first while you're thinking? Yes. I know you. So everyone, everyone wants to win. Everyone wants to be validated and everybody wants to do well. And, and not in every game there was winner and loser. Right. And that's what, you know, we're, you know, part of our faith in Christ is the charity and the being charitable. And, and so, um, I try to go down with that attitude. It doesn't always happen. There's certain people that get under your skin where you really want to beat them. I try to keep that in mind that I'm not just going down there for myself. I'm going down there to be a part of a group. The group feelings matter a lot. I don't want people to speak negatively of me behind my back. I don't want to be one of those guys that is known for being a poor sport. I really try to emulate a lot of the guys and gals that i've come to know down there and really try to let things roll off even though you want to win and you're so close and you're at 10 to 6 and now you're 10 to 7 and you can't get that last point now it's 10 to 8 and you feel like you're going to lose the game and it's 10 to 9 and sometimes you do lose and you can't get that last point um that um you don't you don't make people feel bad
SPEAKER_00:Nice.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_00:Giving grace to yourself and encouraging yourself and encouraging others, too. It's so, so valuable. And just putting this in there, this is my favorite self-coach, is watch the ball and trust your body. It's huge. It's huge. Because if you drill and if you work, then your body knows what to do. Trust yourself. Watch the ball. Trust your body. Don't overthink it. Just let it flow. I love that. I love that because I had the worst time today. I played with someone that was really good and I was so excited. Maybe they'll get to play at their level. Maybe they'll want to play with me again if I do really good today, right? Like you were talking about when people come and you'd say, do you think we can play with that group? And I got so in my head. I played so bad. It was embarrassing. And it's like you said, because I was just so in my head. And if I would have been saying what you just said, trust my body. Just trust my body. Cause I know this, I got this. Yeah. I love that. Thank you. I'm glad to share.
SPEAKER_01:I have to, I have to throw Lily a compliment that she's probably one of the, the most positive people on the court. So like, even if she's messing up, she coaches herself to get right back in it. And she's just, she doesn't get down and It doesn't let... That's, I think, what you're saying. Give grace to yourself. Give yourself a pass to mess up and then the next point starts fresh again. She's really good at doing that.
SPEAKER_00:This is where the short memory is really good. The last play, all we have is right now. Right now, this moment, this play, this serve, this return. But you do have to remember the score. Let somebody else remember that. Being
SPEAKER_01:in a retirement community, that is a challenge.
SPEAKER_00:A
SPEAKER_01:lot of people can not remember the score yeah there's fights about it sometimes
SPEAKER_00:we had a bracelet one time where it showed you know like whose serve it is and what the score is now i gotta get me one of those yeah when we started our lessons though they were having us do that and then we i forgot all about that bracelet idea but actually that would come in handy because we even can forget who served Was that my serve that we just, or was that, it's hilarious. And then we
SPEAKER_01:just, oh, well, it ends with, I don't
SPEAKER_00:care. Oh gosh. Well, you two are just adorable. And we are so glad that you were able to be a part of this show. Thank you. Thank you for the work you're doing to make this world a better place and for being great ambassadors of pickleball and And we thank you so much.
SPEAKER_01:You're welcome. Thanks for having us on.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you. Thank you. Bye. Bye to everybody who's listening and watching. Thank you so much. And we look forward to our conversation next week. Bye-bye. If you love what we're doing, please follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and wherever you get your podcasts. And we'd love a five-star rating. Thanks so much.