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™
E20: Niko and Christie Fronimos: Transforming Lives and Communities in Greece Through Pickleball
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How can pickleball help two people completely transform their lives, leave behind destructive habits, rediscover faith, and start chasing a dream as senior professional players and future Olympic hopefuls?
In this episode, Niko and Christie Fronimos share one of the most powerful transformation stories in the pickleball world. Senior professional pickleball players, coaches, International Pickleball Federation ambassadors to Greece, and leaders of Ultimate Pickleball Greece Vacations, Niko and Christie open up about the dramatic shift that happened when pickleball entered their lives. After years of overwork, unhealthy habits, burnout, grief, and feeling disconnected from true joy, they found themselves at a crossroads. What began as a visit to The Villages in Florida and a simple introduction to pickleball soon became the catalyst for a complete life reset.
Niko shares with remarkable honesty about the pain, addiction, loss, and spiritual emptiness he carried for years, and how pickleball unexpectedly helped him begin healing in ways nothing else had. Christie reflects on the shared decision they made to change their lives, get healthy, create daily discipline, and support each other in building a stronger future. Together, they talk about losing weight, quitting destructive behaviors, embracing faith, and committing to a “day one” mindset that helped them rebuild physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Along the way, they explain how pickleball became more than a sport. It became the doorway to purpose, connection, gratitude, and a new vision for the future.
They also share their passion for bringing pickleball to Greece, where they are helping grow the sport through clinics, events, and pickleball vacations, all while pursuing their own goal of competing as Olympic pickleball athletes in 2032. This is a moving and inspiring conversation about pickleball, senior pro pickleball, The Villages, addiction recovery, faith, gratitude, healing, Greece pickleball, pickleball vacations, discipline, partnership, and the life lessons that remind us it is never too late to start over, become a better teammate, and build a life rooted in joy and purpose.
📘 Our book Life Lessons from Pickleball™ is now available on Amazon
Order the book here: https://a.co/d/0bHPFYve
A collection of short, true stories from players around the world about community, resilience, and joy through the game of pickleball.
A portion of proceeds supports Operation PaddleLift, through the Global Pickleball Federation, distributing paddles, balls and nets to underserved communities around the world.
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Life Transformations Through Pickleball
Speaker 1Hi , I'm Shelly Maurer and I'm Cher Emrick . Welcome to Life .
Speaker 2Lessons from Pickleball where we engage with pickleball players from around the world about life on and off the court .
Speaker 1Thanks for joining us . Welcome everyone to Life . Lessons from Pickleball . We are so happy to have with us today Nico and Christy . Fronimos and Nico and Christy , you are senior professional pickleball players , your coaches and aspiring Olympic athletes .
Speaker 2Yes , and you are also International Pickleball Federation Ambassadors to Greece and presidents of the Ultimate Pickleball Greece Vacations , yes , wow , yes .
Speaker 1You two have had amazing life journeys and pickleball , we know , has had a huge impact . So what was going on in your lives when you were first introduced to pickleball ?
Speaker 3Lots of work , lots of you just lose yourself when you're getting your 30s and then in your 40s and then , um , people around you start getting sick or , uh , dying of cancer bad things that happened in my life or around me which is life , by the way uh . Then , all of a sudden , uh , the spotlight starts turning on you , uh , and in the future . And what happened with us was my best friend passed away of a heart attack next to me at work , which really opened my eyes to maybe I'm living the wrong lifestyle , cause he always laugh and joke with me . Oh hey , nico , you party too much and I was excessive on what I was doing . I was working 70 hours a week because I loved the idea of money and the idea that if I worked hard , that that would buy me happiness , and that happiness never came with each hour that I spent away from the people I wanted to be happy with which is insanity .
Speaker 3And then I started realizing I was living in insanity and I started coping with cigarettes , alcohol when you go out and you drink or drugs , uppers , stuff to stay going , red Bull All these things that were terrible for your body . No exercise , no faith , no gratitude to a higher purpose , to a higher being . It was more selfishness and following my own selfish path . And how I could be happy . I think my motto at the time was FOMO , fear of missing out before .
Speaker 3I found pickleball and so , like I said , what happened was my friend passed away of a heart attack suddenly and it was wow , he's only two years older than me and he was right next to me at work . My mother-in-law said come to the villages , I will get you the lifestyle package . What's that mean ? He was right next to me at work . My mother-in-law said come to the Villages , I will get you the lifestyle package .
Speaker 1What's that mean ? The Villages ?
Speaker 3The Villages , florida , is a retirement community nestled in between Ocala and Orlando . It's landlocked and it's the number one . This is a true story the number one fastest growing master plan community in the world . Wow , much less country . So what they're doing is they've grown . 50,000 people have moved here in the last four years .
Speaker 3More than any other city in the United States , so the suburb that we're in right now , where we're living at , four years ago , when we came to florida , was literally swampland , like farm swamp right where I'm standing at . Wow , it's amazing and never in a million years . If you would have told me 10 years ago where I was living in chicago , illinois , downtown chicago , driving my sports car , my dream car , my maserati , and living a life that I thought would make me happy , which wasn't making me happy .
Speaker 3And then I started doing extracurricular stuff . Again , nothing was paying , let's say , paying the bills . Nothing was paying . My , my heart wasn't satisfied . And then I found Pickleball . And how I found Pickleball was I came here for the lifestyle preview which my mother-in-law is like oh I'm going to bring you here . And I didn't really want to come here . The last place on earth I wanted to come on hangout was with old people . That's what my brain was going . I didn't consider myself old . You never do . And then what defines age ? Anyways ? Because when I came out here , I was enlightened that people aren't just . This could be .
Speaker 4Well , you couldn't tell that people were old ?
Speaker 1Like you'd see , bicyclists , it's a golf cart community .
Speaker 3It's what you want it to be .
Speaker 4You'd see all these bicyclists and you'd think they look in great shape . And then you get up and you're like , oh my God , that person's 80 years old .
Speaker 2Like right . So it's all old people .
Speaker 3But they're living their best lives by being healthy . Yeah , and not giving up , and so that intrigued me right off the bat when I got here .
Speaker 1Now you're saying I Nico , are you two together ? At that time we're together , we . Now you're saying I Nico , are you two together ?
Speaker 4at that time we're together .
Speaker 1And so Christine you also moved right next to me when I say I , it's her and I that's another thing too .
Speaker 3I should state the purpose of when my friend had a heart attack . Our friend , he was our best friend . Ok , and we would do . We were heavily in the social media in Chicago . He was an underground DJ he was . He had a lot of clout . He was internationally known . We would do a lot of partying , a lot of excessive overnight partying after hours like a Mick Jagger , living your life like a rock and roll star .
Speaker 3But then on Mondays you got to go to work , pay the price like a rock and roll star , but then on Mondays you got to go to work .
Speaker 1It didn't quite make sense .
Speaker 3But , like I said , I found pickleball because I was looking for something . I didn't even know what I was looking for and then what it really was is the joy that it brought . It's like it transformed me . It's like , wow , it's a small enough court . What it appeals to people , it's a fast enough pace game . Where it's fun , it's fast pace . You could slow it up if you want , but you want to hit the ball hard . There's no , um , horizontally or vertically . There's vertically . You don't have to be vertically challenged , you don't have to jump a lot . Uh . Horizontally , you can move two feet and get to the ball if you're playing doubles .
Speaker 3So it had all the check marks of uh , aging someone that wants to bring back their youth . It's almost like god's , like , this is perfect for you . I got like god's , like , I got something for you that's going to make you crazy . I'm going to , you're going to , you're going to love this . It's like , no , I won't . And then I played it . I'm like , wow , this is the greatest game ever . And , may I add , I lost every single game in five days to people that were in their 60s , 70s and 80s , like I was losing bad where I was just wanting to score a point just to make me happy , you're just trying not to get picked up .
Speaker 2Well , that happens so many times .
Speaker 3So the funny thing is talking about with your preview visit .
Speaker 2Yeah , like , so you're still here for your preview visit and you , okay , so for five days ? Yeah , we found it .
Speaker 3Well , my father-in-law is a national champion pickleball player . He's been talking about pickleball for years , for 10 years . So when Christy and I started dating in 2010 , she played tennis in high school and she brought that up when she kind of came over to talk to me at the bar and I said , oh , we got to play tennis together . I never played tennis but I always wanted to . So that was our standing we never . Our first night , our first date , lasted till now oh nice , we never , we never first night , our first date , lasted till now , oh nice .
Speaker 3We never stopped seeing each other from the first date .
Speaker 1Oh , that's so sweet .
Speaker 3It was weird , but we were both married , divorced and we kind of knew what we wanted .
Speaker 3Oh nice when you see it and you're like I don't want anything that's out here . So figureball at the time was perfect for us because we were going down the wrong path . We were partying too much . Our kids have , you know we're we're divorcees , so we didn't get the privilege of raising our kids or being there because that life . So pick what I'm saying , because pickleball really brought a joy to us that was missing and we could do it together .
Speaker 3Yeah , yeah that's the big thing , a lot of people don't play pickleball with their spouses when we
Journey to Florida Through Pickleball
Speaker 3we do .
Speaker 4When we left the lifestyle preview we both had really looked at and we're like , oh , we love pickleball , we want to make a change , yeah . And so we kind of said what can we , how can we change our lives and what can we do ? That we can do something together because , we weren't spending that quality time together , and so we didn't think we would be able to move to Florida for at least five years . It wasn't in like a financial thing .
Speaker 3Financially , it wasn't a smart move .
Speaker 4Chifaria hit yeah , which was the freezing cold in Chicago and we both been , you know , 49 , 50 years and we both said it was the middle of January .
Speaker 3This was 2018 . 2018 , 2018 , 2018 . We we came back from the lifestyle preview , which is like in november , yeah , and then we should add that my best friend my other best friend , who was , uh , from grammar school greek I'm greek orthodox , he's greek orthodox . We were very tight , we both stayed , stood up each other's weddings .
Speaker 3He called me and said he had stage four cancer oh my , these are big things that have happened in my life where I just got finished losing a friend , I'm playing pickleball . I'm super happy . Then I get this news . So I was devastated and I think we were both of us .
Speaker 3We were not religious , we were not into a higher power or spiritual . Even I'm not going to say I wasn't spiritual . I always believed in something , but I've had abuse in my life and just wasn't going down that path . And then for one minute I guess the divine intervention of our life Christy and I were on our couch and I looked at her and I said let's sell our house , play pickleball for Greece , win an Olympic gold medal and move to the village of Florida . And I started laughing because I never played a racket sport in my life . I never played racket sports . I didn't know how to hit a four , I didn't know what a forehand was , I didn't know what a backhand was , all the things that you see , people play pickleball , they play tennis , they get that real fast and then they can move on to stage two , three , four and five . I couldn't even get to that stage yet .
Speaker 4So when I , needless to say , it's a miracle that we're here , so let me ask this , christyy , when you heard him say that said , hey , let's make this huge change in our lives . What did you say ? I said can I get my greek citizenship ? That was like I said , because how ?
Speaker 3can we do it like ? How do we do is ?
Speaker 4that possible yeah , yeah and at that time this is right when they were giving uh , tom hanks , uh honorary g Citizenship , and so that just popped , and they never Done that before .
Speaker 3No , Right . To get a Greek Citizenship to Greek Is almost impossible . But they started Getting lax , yeah , and they're starting To open up To the second Generation in America .
Speaker 4We both went For this .
Speaker 3Crazy thing we did , and it's .
Speaker 4It's interesting Because , well , but things have been falling into place because we're actually working on our citizenship right now , like god put us in touch with the right person who can do all the paperwork .
Speaker 3You know where we need to add kind of difficult what's really changed our life is the fact that we found god . That's the most important thing and when you don't have a relationship . Regardless of what your faith is I don't know if you were brought up Jewish or Catholic or Muslim or Buddhist it doesn't really matter . If you don't have a relationship , does it matter what your parents were ?
Speaker 1That's wonderful my parents were Greek Orthodox .
Speaker 3Wonderful , yeah , I , my parents were Greek Orthodox . What was I ? Someone who went with them to church , found every opportunity to get out , never paid attention , never had any kind of understanding of what was being said , what's going on . And then life you're scared of what might be , so you go and you do your thing , and then what happens is you live your life and you do your , your mistakes . Which life is filled with mistakes ?
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 3And either you're going to step up to the plate and say I made these mistakes and I'm going to do something better , or you're going to continue making those mistakes , and that's I think . I was continuing making these mistakes because money and all the things that were appealing which was , I know now is the devil , I can put it mildly . But pickleball brought Christy and I to a place of happiness . If it was just for a moment to find some clarity and ask the question what should we do with our lives ? Is it too late ? Are we too old ? Has life passed us by ? Am I going to die ? When am I going to die ?
Speaker 3Everybody around me is dying , so surely I'm next . And then the kicker happens . We follow that sign , we laugh about it , we put our house up for sale . It sells in 24 hours . Oh my gosh , wow yeah . So now we come to Florida .
Speaker 4Yeah , Six weeks later we're in Florida . Six weeks to the day later . You know we're in Florida , where we've never really been before .
Speaker 3And then the miracles keep coming because we don't play pickleball , because we have this little extra cash . We sold the house . We have this money now which we're not working , but we're having these . What should we do now ? We don't think about pickleball . We think about maybe we do real estate , maybe we take a year off and we live life . I don't know , take a sabbatical . We're throwing out these ideas and then we moved to Orlando . We didn't play pickleball at all for a year and then we we had , we had a crisis , uh , march 3rd 2020 , where we , we were going to go left or right , or up or down , but COVID happened . Yeah , god said no , no , you're gonna , you're stuck in the villages during COVID and then my father-in-law says , hey , let's play pickleball , which was allowed , which was great because we haven't stopped . So COVID for us was like it gave us the opportunity where you know you had
Speaker 1to COVID was the catalyst . Wait , wait , wait wait .
Speaker 4Christy , christy what were you saying ? Sorry , I was saying that when COVID hit that was what started our whole pickleball journey at that time .
Speaker 1Interesting .
Speaker 4We had the dream Because all of a sudden we had to be in the house . We had no way of making that dream a reality .
Speaker 3We don't have money to take courses to learn . We're both in our . I just turned 50 . I was smoking two packs of cigarettes a day . I was a reformed drug user . I overdosed on cocaine and other drugs in my previous in my 30s late 30s because I was trying to deal with a divorce and losing my son in a divorce and I had sexual abuse from the church Believe it or not .
Speaker 1So I had all these things in my 20s and 30s . Wait , wait , wait , wait , wait , wait wait , I'm a loaded gun . That is huge . It is huge , it's tragic . It's happened way too much in this world and the fact that you have become this full human being and you are finding your healing and you found the love of your life . I mean , this is a real inspiration for many who have experienced your experience .
Speaker 3I can't state enough how pickleball brought me happiness to understand . Look at all these wonderful things you have yeah because , if I've never abused , when 14 , and 15 , I was abused by someone that was part of the church , the Greek Orthodox Church .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 3And I was very well trusted by my parents .
Speaker 1Oh God .
Speaker 3So what happened was ? He passed away in my early 20s . I never said anything . And then , come late mid thirties , you have these crises when I had a child . And then all these things are , these demons are not going away , right Secrets that you're harboring , these thoughts , these feelings are . Am I these sexual feelings ? What's going on ? Are you correct ? Am I going to hell ? Am I good person ? Am I a bad person ? And then you feel like if there is a God , he's clearly doesn't like me or he's a joke and he doesn't care about me . So I just left , went into a whole world of underground , of night clubbing and drinking and then making money uh , what I thought would bring me happiness . And sure enough it didn't . But again , then I realized , by the abuse that I got , I I ended up getting divorced . But if I don't get divorced , I never meet Christy . If I don't meet Christy , I never meet pickleball . If I don't find pickleball .
Speaker 3I never go to Greece . I never read pickleball to help people in Greece . So the worst thing that's ever happened to me doesn't define me .
Speaker 1It refined me .
Speaker 3It refines me , it used to define me . So I do drugs and alcohol and say , oh , you don't understand how hard it is I was abused . And then people are like , man , how hard it is I was abused . And then people are like , okay , no one cares . At the end of the day , they got their own lives to worry about and they've had really bad things . Everybody's had something bad .
Speaker 2That's the interesting thing that you find . Since I started telling my testimony , he tells everybody you get to know Nico in five minutes .
Speaker 4He's honest , he's in your face , he'll tell you . But I'm amazed at how many people are attracted to that and then , feel comfortable opening up . I always think the broken people find him , but Pickleball is perfect for that .
Speaker 3Pickleball attracts broken . We do these trips to Greece Wait wait , wait . Let's actually dive into
Journey of Forgiveness and Gratitude
Speaker 3that about .
Speaker 1So , first of all , thank you very much for sharing I mean that's so meaningful and I know you've already touched a lot of hearts just now I appreciate that yeah , no , we appreciate that , remember and for everybody that's listening bad things happen to everyone . Yep .
Speaker 3As a matter of fact , the worst thing that's ever happened to you most likely will come from someone you love the most . Very often , or someone you love the most or a best friend .
Speaker 1Very often .
Speaker 3That's part of life , the greatest part and joy of life is the forgiveness part . And joy of life is the forgiveness part Because once you get over that , once you get over the fact that you don't want empathy where it came from understanding of why the person did .
Speaker 3What they did will get you through the hard part , but then God will reward you , because here , at 50 years old , I'm 55 . Now I'll be 55 in August . I play professional pickleball . I play pickleball every single morning . I lost 40 pounds . I quitball . I play pickleball every single morning . I lost 40 pounds . I quit smoking . I don't ever do drugs anymore . I go to bed at 8.30 at night . I wake up at 4 am and get on my knees and I , with gratitude , thank God for running water , a toilet that works , I have a sink that pulls out clean water , and 100 years ago you needed a cistern . So people understand that . And 300 years ago I lived better than the greatest prince or king or any royalty that's ever lived .
Speaker 3The poorest person . Because God did that and I give gratitude first , and then life is really hard . It's really hard . I have a son who's 22 years old , who has not spoken to me since he was 16 , because of the divorce , because of the , the , the , the pain that's there from my suffering that I didn't communicate with his mother my suffering that I didn't communicate with his mother . Yes , I was going through really hard times in the 80s . In the 80s , you guys were around .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 3We were around . There was no wokeness at all . Nobody was woke . Woke was a word that you woke up .
Speaker 3Now people really say that as a bad word , and I think that's the sweetest , greatest word ever , because it means everybody is somebody , the reason why I'm doing all this , the reason I'm going to greece and playing pickleball , to teach people how to play , and teach people that's never too late to accomplish your dreams , to dream big , to think that you're going to win olympic gold medal because I was a drug addict or an alcoholic a functioning one . It was a very high functioning drug .
Speaker 3Yet I would do . I would work 70 hours a week , I'd pay all the bills and I . But if you ask anybody that knew me , they're like man . This guy is like . He's like he's burning it . Burning it both ends are like we're waiting for you to pass and then what really set me straight is the secret , is what if you never die ?
Speaker 3what if everyone around you dies but not you ? What if it's true that you truly have eternal life ? It that could also be hell , too , by the way . If you don't take care of yourself , you don't do the right things , you don't act , behave rightly , if you , uh , if you're stealing , if you're a thief , if you're a bad person , if you wind up in jail , these are all terrible things . But if you're a good person and you play pickleball every day and you spread joy and happiness , yeah , and you go to another country . This , this was my thinking of how can I make a impact on this universe that I am part of ? I had several near-death experiences when I was a drug addict and a functioning one at that , I should say , because I still went to work on Monday . I'd be in the emergency room on a Saturday night that I OD'd , and I still went to work on Monday Now , Christy , are you with Nico during that time ?
Speaker 3A lot of it she was .
Speaker 4Well he had the overdoses , that kind of thing . That was before us . We've been together 14 , married 10 .
Speaker 3The demons , but he was still
Pickleball's Transformative Impact in Greece
Speaker 3.
Speaker 4we both were living a lifestyle where drugs were part of it Party drugs .
Speaker 3Party Ecstasy . We did a lot . We lived downtown .
Speaker 1And so , Christy , when you moved to Florida and you started playing pickleball , how was your life changed ?
Speaker 4Same way . So Nico started with what we call our day one , and so COVID hits . We both put on 35 , 40 pounds because we figured we're going to die . We might as well eat everything that is possible . We're going to try everything . So what ended up happening was on July 3rd 2020 , we said , oh my gosh , we're not going to die , and all of a sudden was sneaking another cookie and my mom said look , he's eating another cookie . I swore to him .
Speaker 3And we said oh my gosh , we have to make a change .
Speaker 4So , we called it day one . He got down and did some push-ups and that started it and we decided that we had to do something every single day .
Speaker 3What am I willing to do Every day , every day , for the rest of my life . No days off , minimum .
Speaker 4So we literally the last four years , we get up , We've built . It's been a slow progression .
Speaker 1Slow progression .
Speaker 4But we run two miles every morning .
Speaker 2Four a year .
Speaker 4You know , we do sit-ups , push-ups , calisthenics , then we go play pickleball , so we literally have come to best versions of ourselves and just keep working . The body's still set .
Speaker 2You know it's still good .
Speaker 3On the outside we're 55 , but on the inside I feel like I'm 25 .
Speaker 1Heck yeah , my body's solid in places .
Speaker 3I've never I have muscle in places . I never thought I'd have muscle .
Speaker 1I do 200 push-ups every morning and you know what you even talk like you're 25 . I mean you are a wonderful energetic speaker .
Speaker 3I love it , that's the Holy Spirit .
Speaker 1But let me ask this and Shelly , did you have a question you wanted to ask first ? No , go ahead , go for it , okay . So then you guys became totally absorbed with pickleball , and you ? So then you guys became totally absorbed with pickleball .
Speaker 3Yes .
Speaker 1And you said we want to take this and I think it's a we Nikio you keep saying I , but I think together you are , it's a we .
Speaker 3It's a we Okay it's a we .
Speaker 1I'm going to have you say we from now on .
Speaker 3I know there is no we without us , not a good whiskey in the mix here .
Speaker 1There is no me without us to take pickleball to Greece . And what was it about ? Of course , your Greek background , nico . But what did you want to have different in Greece with pickleball ? How was it going to change people ?
Speaker 3Well , because my father his story is such an amazing story . He was brought up in World War II Greece , very poor . The oldest of nine brothers and sisters . My grandmother had 25 or 27 miscarriages or stillborns before my father , so she had kids late . My grandfather died at 102 . So there's so much history in Greece .
Speaker 3I've been going to Greece since I was 12 years old or 10 years old and when you go there and you're so much I'm in the village . It's different than going to any other country in the world because my father would put me in the village with my grandmother and grandfather . So now I'm a local . I'm more than a local . You've got roots that go there for hundreds of years .
Life Lessons Through Pickleball
Speaker 3So my father told me the story about growing up in a war-torn country and , at 11 years old , no joy in his life it's trying to find food and taking olive oil to Athens to sell in the market . And then he had a dream of coming here and he came here in his 20s and jumped a boat and is an immigrant . You hear all these stories and it makes you so proud to be Greek , so proud . And he doesn't understand the language English , even as a 50-year veteran , because it's so hard to work full-time to support three kids .
Speaker 1And at the same time .
Speaker 3well remember , at the time when he came in the late 60s , he couldn't get immigrated to USA and this is important for me , why I take it to Greece because he wanted to be an American citizen so bad that he voluntarily signed up for Vietnam . While everybody else was trying to run the other way . He's like I don't want to leave this country , Please , I'll go fight .
Speaker 3And they gave him a Section 8 eight , wow like they wanted too , much and the story of him just being in this country and having me and then telling me how , how , um , I think , the proudness of being greek and how to be proud to be american , yet proud to be greek too , and to help people that are like you , that that are down , because he was down and help immigrants . So he stayed with me and this is my way of helping . I can't help America get pickleball . They already got it . They already got it . The wonderful thing about Greece is only , as we speak to you right now , there's only about 100 people in the entire country of Greece that play pickleball .
Speaker 4Oh .
Speaker 3That's it .
Speaker 1So , Nico and Christy , you are literally introducing pickleball .
Speaker 4Okay , we're so blessed we're bringing the flame . We're not the only ones .
Speaker 1That is very cool .
Speaker 3God works in mysterious ways , because he does have a couple other people that I've never met before with the same bug that I have , and they're trying to do it in Greece too . The wonderful thing is , now we are legit . Greece is legit as a sport that carries pickleball . We're having a pickleball day three free clinic september 16th , 17th and 18th in athens this coming september with dave weinbach , who's a international professional sensation , multiple gold medals .
Speaker 3Last year I went with a guy named kyle yates who was the number one great player in the world . Uh-huh , as of right now , kyle and I made a tv show called Second Shots that's available on YouTube if anybody wants to see it . It's called . Uh , it's on the tundracom and the show is called Second Shots with Kyle Yates and Nico Franiwos , and it's about my story that I just told you , that I said I was going to be in the Olympics and then I was joking with my father-in-law and I said not only will the number one player in the world teach me how to play , but he'll pay me to learn . And then the next thing six months later , kyle Yates called me and says hey , listen , I want to come to Greece and play pickleball .
Speaker 1Which I paid for him , but at the last minute he brought his girlfriend and he paid me , so it was kind of funny that it all came to pass .
Speaker 3The wonderful thing about pickleball is it will help people in Greece like me . It will help people who are socially you know . There's people that are 60s , 70s and 80s that are all alone yeah , living in a condominium building , and the worst thing ever is to be a person living in a city of two million people and suffer from loneliness yeah , you know , that's what happens in cities . So you know , yeah , well , and I saw that greece is I .
Speaker 2It was two years ago . I was in greece and it's so beautiful . I just can't wait to go back oh , but I have an image of walking in a beautiful old village and seeing an older woman up in a window looking out , um , looking sad and lonely so when I heard you say that they don't , I when I heard you say that when I heard you say that I picture that woman coming out playing pickleball .
Speaker 3But here's the thing I can't save them .
Speaker 4They're gone .
Speaker 3They don't want to be saved . I asked them come and play . I can save the next generation , though that's the truth . I'm 55 . My friends who are 55 , that live in Chicago Illinois , that are ex-lawyers or lawyers and doctors are 50 , 60 , 70 , 80 pounds overweight . They enjoy their money and their wealth and their hard earned successes , and they should . But enjoyment of successes when you're over 40 means drinking expensive liquor and eating expensive food which is highly fattening and nothing good for you . So we know that pickleball is not pickleball . Anything healthy is good for you .
Speaker 3So , this is a great way , because it got me to quit smoking .
Speaker 1Exactly , you two are the walking billboard . You're the walking billboard .
Speaker 3I tell Christy this all the time . And here's another thing , too , that I don't tell people I was also clinically depressed . I was also clinically depressed and I had high stages of obsessive compulsive disorder which were hand in hand with abuse . And it goes hand in hand with obsessed , just very highly addictive , addicted to alcohol , addicted to smoking , to drugs , to just about everything and with Pickleball . It brought me this joy and I have been cured from all of it and I tell her .
Speaker 3I laugh . I say I don't understand how something could just make you forget about everything . And this is what . So if I could just bottle a little bit of that up , bring it to Greece and make I'm not saying it's going to make everybody cured of depression or obsessive-compulsive disorder , maybe , but it may stop somebody from smoking . You bet and it may give somebody an extra 10 years of life .
Speaker 1And certainly bring joy .
Speaker 2So I have a question .
Speaker 1We're almost out of time , but I want to ask you . I have a burning question too , Go for it .
Speaker 2So my burning question is what advice would you two give , Because I would love to be a senior professional pickleball player oh , okay . And what advice would you give to people and people that are listening , that have those aspirations ?
Speaker 3Practice . See , the bottom line is you could play rec play every day , but if it's not and I this to to kyle yates too he says , if you're not practicing correctly , you're doing the right things , you're never going to get better . So first , first and foremost is is uh , participation is the big p . You have to participate every day . So if you want to be a senior pro , practice every day , number one . Number two is be in shape when the call comes . If you're not healthy , then when you get better in pickleball you won't be able to play . So I see a lot of my friends right now .
Speaker 3Four years ago , when I said I was going to be an Olympic champion in pickleball , I got laughed at by everyone . I was told Senior Olympics , special Olympics , people told me that I was terrible , I can't beat them . How am I going to beat them ? Four years later , I play Senior Pro and my wife and I . We lose . We play rec play every day , we drill almost every day , or a lot of times , and we lose probably 15% of our games . That's it . We're about 80 . We'll win eight out of ten of our games consecutively , no matter where we go , no matter what level , and that's because we're . You have to do it every day , and when you're losing in the beginning , you have to deal with that .
Speaker 3That's the hardest part the hardest part part is losing every day and still going there and saying , oh , I got to get better . Playing up and trying to get better , Because if you're playing down and not playing at the same level , so if you want to play senior pro , you got to play the best players and you have to be willing to lose to the best players . I don't think people understand that . That's part of the game . Losing with grace and dignity is not my so actually , that might be one of the life lessons .
Speaker 3It is . I'm learning that .
Speaker 1To close our conversation , which I hate to do because you two are an absolute joy , I mean wow you have so much to share , but are there certain life lessons that you've gleaned either from playing pickleball on the court or you've taken life lessons to the court ?
Speaker 3The best lesson I have is when I play with my wife and I let the mistakes go and I say nice play , instead of being angry at her . We win every time . And that's like in life If you're consistently at somebody and you're not being their teammate and helping them in life , you're going to consistently fight . I don't know if couples always fight because they're not helping each other . How do we get out of each other's way ? How do I help you out ? And although it took me a long time to learn that , I'm learning that and that's the life lesson that I'm learning from pickleball , because you're always learning something from pickleball don't quit , keep trying . There's a , there's always , there's always the motto . But now my motto with pickleball is um , not just don't give up , but be a better teammate , be a better human being , have more empathy for the person next to you playing and I promise you you'll be rewarded tomorrow not today .
Speaker 3It's all about tomorrow and sometimes we just yeah .
Speaker 4How about ?
Speaker 1you .
Speaker 4Christy , I would say from pickleball I've learned mine would be my day one that being healthier every day and doing something that's going to make me stronger , both mentally , physically and just spiritually . So starting my day with gratitude , lots of water , yeah um and you know push-ups and sit-ups and I plan on being able to . You know , I I started on my knees with like 2025 and now I'm up to 200 regular push-ups a day so I'm very . I'm very proud of myself for that 200 200 wow and every , and I'm doing it .
Speaker 2I think everybody needs an exercise ball and a floor mat .
Speaker 4But it's just making sure , because , living in the villages , we saw the people that are healthy and the people that go the other way , and you have to make that decision . So at 50 , we made that decision and every single day you know it's not hard , it's not easy .
Speaker 4You can't lie to yourself . It's holding yourself accountable . And , boy , because I've seen all the videos , kobe , all those things , and that's truly what you have to do . And I can eat every day . There's so many things I can do every day . I can work out a little bit every day .
Speaker 3That's fantastic . Plus , it's your sacrifice . I believe that without suffering , you know no pain , no gain . That's true . If you don't suffer , then you will never experience success , because success can only come from suffering . You have to like , want it more than ever and have to know what it's like to lose and cry . And you have to want it .
Speaker 4And that starts with yourself .
Speaker 3There is no age it's just keep going and it doesn't . You're never too old to start , that's right . And I tell people in their 60s and 70s , day one is the most important thing I've ever done well , and I am so saying with the day one my dad who's 82 , gets up every morning at 5 am does 45 minutes on the rower .
Speaker 4He rides his bike for 16 miles a day and he plays like four hours . Four hours of pickleball every day , so that's why I have to live up to it , that's inspiration .
Speaker 1We're going to have to close this pretty quickly , but no , we're not going to say goodbye just this minute , but I do want people to know how to find out about your Greek tours and pickleballs . What's the website ?
Speaker 3Ultimate Greece Pickleball Vacation .
Speaker 1Ultimate Greece .
Speaker 3Pickleball Vacation Ultimate Pickleball Greece Vacation . It's the ultimate pickleball vacation . Ultimate pickleball Greece vacation .
Speaker 2It's the ultimate pickleball vacation and it's in Greece , so if you put , any of those words in the website , it'll come up .
Speaker 3If you just put pickleball in Greece , the country , you'll see us . Awesome , it's a very unique trip , yep , and I can't see anybody not having a good time in Greece , yeah .
Speaker 1Oh , it's going to be awesome and it's helping spread the word .
Speaker 3Yeah , and we're helping spread the word . Oh , thank you .
Speaker 1And thank you so ? Much for taking this time . You are busy people and you're on a wonderful trajectory . Just a real quick answer what year Olympics do you want to be in ? 2032 . 2032 . Thank you we are going to watch for you to be in the Olympics in 2032 .
Speaker 3And thank you .
Speaker 4Thank you , thank you , thank you .
Speaker 1And thank you to everybody who's been watching and listening . Thank you so much for joining us and stay tuned for some information on how you can support us . Thanks everybody , bye . Bye , if you love our podcast .
Speaker 2We'd be so grateful if you'd take a few seconds to follow or subscribe to Life Lessons from Pickleball . This ensures you'll never miss an episode and helps us continue these wonderful conversations .
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Speaker 2Thanks , so much Hope to see you on the court .