Pickleball's Global Impact and Goals

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hi, I'm Shelley Maurer. And I'm Cher Emrick. 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. Welcome everyone to Life Lessons from Pickleball. We're so glad you're here and how lucky are we to have as our guest today Ruth Rosenquist. Ruth, you are an esteemed leader in marketing and public relations and you're an at-large board member and chair of the Marketing and Communications Committee of the Global Pickleball Federation. We are

SPEAKER_01 0:39

really honored to have you on our show today, Ruth, and we'd like to hear about all your involvements, especially the time you spent in Nigeria. But first, let's start. Tell us how you were introduced to pickleball and what was going on in your life at the time.

SPEAKER_03 0:53

Well, I'm one of those people that found pickleball back in 1992. So my game doesn't reflect it, but I've been playing that long. My uncle actually put in a pickleball court at his beach home down in Mexico. And we used to go down there all the time. So we picked up some paddles and wiffle balls or whatever we could find and started hitting around. And of course, we didn't know what we were doing, but I knew I loved it. I was hooked. So came back to Scottsdale, could not find any place to play. There were no courts in 1992. So I finally ventured up to Fountain Hills, which is a little bedroom community about 30 minutes from me and found pickleball. And honestly, some of the nicest people, and that's what happens. They just bring you in.

SPEAKER_00 1:54

Oh, that is so cool. So you've been playing since then. Mm hmm. And have you seen a change in the pickleball world since you started?

SPEAKER_03 2:05

Well, other than I was completely pickleball shamed if I ever discussed pickleball. Yeah, a lot has changed. I would say everything about pickleball has changed since the early days. But one thing that hasn't changed is the people playing. And that's what really brings you in because they're so warm and just great supportive individuals. I'm sure you've found the same.

SPEAKER_00 2:33

We absolutely have. In fact, Shelly and I met. The first day I played pickleball, I think both of us, it was the first, maybe you had played a little bit before, but it was our first lesson day and we met on the court and have been fast friends ever since and said, hey, let's do this because we're seeing how pickleballs changed our lives and we've heard how other people experience the same thing. So let's talk about it in a podcast. So very cool. I love it. So how did you become, well, we know that the Global Federation, Pickleball Federation, has just been around very briefly, and we're so excited about it. So tell us about it and how you got involved.

SPEAKER_03 3:14

Thank you. I'd love to. Well, the Global Pickleball Federation was launched in November 2023, and it was basically a task force that was created by Pickleball Canada and Pickleball Australia. They both saw the need for a governing body that would reflect all players, all countries, all diversities. So I had previously been with an organization called the International Federation of Pickleball. But but we started a new organization and I'm just very pleased with where we've gone in less than a year. It's been amazing.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

And what's your, your role is in marketing and public relations. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:05

So I chair the Marcom committee, which means marketing and communications. And yeah, What's really interesting and amazing about our board is we are all working volunteers. So no one on the board, we are a nonprofit. So we have no for-profit agendas, which is really important right now in the world of pickleball. As you know, there's a lot of factions that are trying to rise to the top. But we want to be that unified standard for all pickleball players.

SPEAKER_00 4:50

That's amazing that you are all volunteers. Even the president?

SPEAKER_03 4:55

Even the president. Javier Regalado founded Pickleball in Mexico. and he is our president. So not only is it an amazing group of volunteers and workers whose hearts and souls are into this, but All the people I work with have a legacy like that. One of our board members founded Pickleball in the Philippines. He started it on the streets of Manila, and now there are 128 clubs. We have a board member from Poland who founded Pickleball in Poland in 2018. You've talked to Dr. Akufo, who founded Pickleball in Ghana, and now he's the father of Pickleball all over Africa. And then we've got Australia. We've got Ireland. It just goes on and on. And I don't think we'll ever see a board like this again that is so seated with people that truly this has been their life mission. So it's really an honor.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

Oh, it just gives me chills as you're talking about it, thinking about how Pickleball has brought the world together.

SPEAKER_03 6:05

It certainly has. It's amazing. And that's one of its most defining qualities is it can bring people together and it can help foster unity. I reported over the weekend, part of my role with the Global Pickleball Federation is social media. So on Instagram... I posted over the weekend about the first national tournament in Iran. And you would not think of Iran. But I have never seen a group, an association that is so excited and so enthusiastic and so supportive in this space than Iran. And if you also look at our Instagram page, Our number one, our audience, the number one place they come from is Istanbul. And you don't really hear about that. No. So it really is crossing all lines. It's in borders.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

That is so exciting to me. And so in Iran, is it? Women and men?

SPEAKER_03 7:16

Yes, that's a really good question. You do see women out there playing. It's predominantly men, I'm going to say, at least the photos that I've seen. But women do play. And that's important for the future Olympics. You need to have both men and women athletes.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

And is your organization working, one of the instruments that's working toward making pickleball an

SPEAKER_03 7:46

Olympic sport? time right now.

SPEAKER_00 8:09

That is. When do you think you might qualify?

SPEAKER_03 8:13

Well, we know that we're not going to make the 2028 Olympics. Everyone, you know, is still holding out hopes for LA, which would be fabulous. But those additional new sports were chosen about a year ago. So our next best shot you would say is the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

So is there anything that we could do as a public to make the earlier Olympics happen for pickleball? It's absolutely not a possibility. Yeah, no,

SPEAKER_03 8:50

that is a decision made by the IOC, the International Olympic Committee. And they go through a very lengthy process to determine which sports are most popular, which are going to get the most eyeballs. You know, there's just a lot of criteria around it. So we are setting ourselves up for success now so that we can check all the boxes. for IOC compliance?

SPEAKER_00 9:18

Well, I think they're missing the boat. But it'll be... Oh, for sure. Most popular? Are you kidding me? We're a

SPEAKER_03 9:27

little biased, you know. But, you know, you think about sports like squash that did make it in, and they have been working on it for decades. So absolutely part of it is our sport is so new. So we're going through some of that growing pains as well.

UNKNOWN 9:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

Well, I'm grateful to you and your whole organization for pursuing this because I think it's a wonderful goal and I know it'll succeed.

SPEAKER_03 9:59

Yeah, it'll be a happy day, won't it? Oh,

SPEAKER_01 10:05

yeah. I read that you had said that your most gratifying achievement was getting the pickleball played at the 13th. African Games. Can you tell us about that?

SPEAKER_03 10:17

Well, I cannot take credit for any of that. That would have been Dr. Kwabena Okufo, who founded Pickleball in Ghana, and he also sits on our board. He is actually a resident of Accra. Ghana. So he had some wonderful connections and was able to get pickleball in as a demonstration sport. And why that's so important is the African games are only held every four years. So it's like the Olympics of Africa. So for us to have a demonstration there in a continent where pickleball was virtually non-existent previously was really important. And they ended up giving pickleball so much exposure and so much, um, you know, there was a lot of videos, a lot of great things came out of it. They did a wonderful job. Um, nine countries came to the first competition and it was very interesting to watch who's really, um, adapted pickleball in Africa, you know, Kenya, Egypt, um, came out on top because they have a large expatriate population that brought pickleball, and they've been playing it quite a bit longer. But these other countries are catching up really fast. And Africa, for instance, they are just celebrating their first anniversary of the founding of their confederation. And they have, you know, they started with 11 countries. They've got 23 in the pipeline. So it's a really exciting time there. They're really embracing it. And, you know, it's a low barrier to entry game. And it's easy to adapt and bring to other parts of the world.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

You've made a comment, at least I read this comment, that no place in the world could benefit more than Africa from pickleball. Say more about that.

SPEAKER_03 12:25

Yeah, well, from a few aspects. And we're working with a woman right now who is a retired Air Force veteran from North Carolina who is spending her retirement in four townships in Johannesburg. And she is specifically there to teach the children how how to play pickleball and develop a skill and develop some life skills at the same time. But it's incredible to watch what it can do. And we also know that pickleball can be a mental health boost. In many parts of Africa, mental health is stigmatized. So if you have a mental illness, you are not to talk about it because you will be completely isolated. But we feel like pickleball is one of those places where you could open the door and give people a sense of hope and a sense of encouragement and bring some other attributes besides just athletics and games and playing.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

As you mentioned, we did have Kwabena'a Akufo on our podcast, and we encourage people to, if you haven't listened to him, you should. He's terrific. And he also was reflecting on how different tribes would come together on the pickleball court when they wouldn't ordinarily in social settings. And it just really breaks down not only the tribal barriers, but also the gender barriers and the age barriers. And that's true around the world too, of course, which is pretty exciting.

SPEAKER_03 14:12

And name any other sport that could do that so beautifully. You know, it breaks down language barriers, but it's, you know, from my unique vantage point on social media, I get to watch it all over the world. I get to watch how Latin America is just racing to pickleball and how it means so much more and something very different to them than it does to us in the States. In Latin America, it's connected to family. It's connected to God. It's connected to a sense of pride and community. And they really take to a whole different level, which is amazing to see.

Connecting Faith, Global Impact, & Growth

SPEAKER_00 14:56

Gosh, it's interesting. I hadn't thought how faith could be associated with pickleball. Say more about that.

SPEAKER_03 15:10

And first and foremost, he can speak about God and faith. And it's an interesting combination. But I love that he's able to combine those in such a powerful way.

SPEAKER_00 15:25

Yeah, yeah, very cool. So from your vantage point and seeing all of this that's going around in the world, what do you see as the future besides the Olympics of pickleball?

SPEAKER_03 15:39

Well, there's so much happening, as you know. It's impossible for any one person almost to keep up with it now. But I just had the honor of going to Dubai for the launch of the World Pickleball. Pickleball Tour. So they're calling it the Pickleball World Tour and it will start in Dubai in 2025. And they're also bringing Andre Agassi to India for one leg of the tour. So just amazing things are happening. India is really embracing pickleball because they come from a badminton background, very strong racquet sports background. So pickleball is a natural for them.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

And you have lived in Nigeria. How did that come about and how long were you there?

SPEAKER_03 16:35

My father worked for the Rockefeller Foundation. So I actually played tennis when I was there.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

We still love you,

SPEAKER_03 16:44

Ruth. We forgive you. That was back in the day. But yes, so we were there for several years. And so we saw it was the largest indigenous Black city in the world. So it's quite a contrast to where I grew up in the U.S., in Iowa.

SPEAKER_00 17:06

And

SPEAKER_03 17:08

it just brought home to me how powerful it could be if we can bring a game like pickleball to cities like that and how much it can contribute. I mean, even if they don't have courts, they can play in dirt lots, and they are. You know, you see it happening. So it's really exciting to watch.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

It is. Yeah. I follow Coach Andy on Instagram and he's in Uganda.

SPEAKER_03 17:38

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

And that is what you see. See him playing on red dirt over wire fences or just against the walls or just laughing and having so much fun. So, yeah, you don't need the courts.

SPEAKER_03 17:50

I'm very jealous of him. You know, think about that opportunity he has to influence so many lives and make a difference. It's so great.

SPEAKER_00 18:01

And he's particularly focusing on teaching young girls who typically are not invited into sports there. And so it's really exciting to see, yeah, how gender is taken off the table and status is taken off the table and who we are with our friends is taken. We're just all one. And then you play with, first, they're your opponent. And so you're really wanting to beat the other people. And then that opponent becomes your partner. And it's just fun how it all mixes everybody's love for the game without interfering with, uh, anything that might get in the way.

SPEAKER_03 18:45

That's right. No, that's wonderful. The main attraction I would say for me, um, is I always tend to keep myself pretty busy and, uh, As Brene Brown said when she found pickleball, she said, you have to be fully in the moment. And that's what I love about pickleball. It lets me empty my brain and just focus on that little ball coming over the net and the other paddle on the other side. And what's my next shot? And that's all I have to think about. And what a gift that is, really.

SPEAKER_00 19:21

What a gift

SPEAKER_03 19:23

that is. You can just be in the moment.

SPEAKER_00 19:25

So that's one life lesson. Have you come up with some other life lessons either that you've learned on the court that you take into life or lessons that you've learned in life that you use on the court?

SPEAKER_03 19:38

Well, I never thought I was that competitive, honestly. You know, it never was a part of my psyche, but I think I am. Because you find this out after you start playing. You know, like the old rule of thumb is if you hit a great shot and somebody compliments you, the next shot, you're just going to whip it. You're just going to hit a terrible shot. And so I think that one thing that pickleball has given me is a good sense of humility because, you know, every day is a new day.

SPEAKER_00 20:14

That's a good lesson. Every day is a new day. Let it go and start again. As

SPEAKER_03 20:22

great as you think you're playing, the exact opposite can always be true. It's a very humbling experience. That's one thing I love about pickleball too and just the range of people that I would not have ever met. I actually had the opportunity to meet Barney McCallum, who invented Pickleball. And he lived up near you in Bainbridge. So I was with USA Pickleball. I was the media chair back in 2013, 2014. And so I would arrange our media interviews. And so I got to talk to him quite a bit. And he was just the most humble, lovely man. And he's actually the guy that went into his woodshop and made the first pickleball paddles, the first wooden paddles in his woodshop because they didn't have anything to play with. So he, you know, is just such a lovely human being. And I said to him one day, I said, you know, Barney, Someday people are going to make a lot of money off of this. And he would just giggle. He thought that was the funniest, funniest thing. And now look. And now look. Yeah. If Barney could only see all this happening.

SPEAKER_00 21:50

I have a feeling he's having a great time watching it all happen. I

SPEAKER_03 21:54

think he is too. I like to think so. I do too.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

You even played in 2018. You played in Italy for North America in the Bainbridge Cup.

SPEAKER_03 22:05

Yeah. So we had started having some international competition. So that was one of my goals was to get over to Montesilvano and play. And that was where I first got drawn into the international global side of pickleball. And I've never looked back. So you just want to see it go everywhere. In the US, we're very fortunate because we do have access. And so there's other parts of the world that have no access. And that's what's really exciting to work on.

SPEAKER_00 22:45

So does the Global Pickleball Federation, is it involved in providing equipment to other? Oh, tell us about that role.

SPEAKER_03 22:55

So our member countries, we currently have 52 member countries, and they are all eligible thanks to a program that we have with Pickleball United. to receive 10 welcome kits. So that's four paddles. One welcome kit is four paddles, a net, and eight balls. So if you have 10 kits, that can go a long ways towards setting up programs.

SPEAKER_00 23:25

You bet. You bet. And how do you go about... How can we be supportive of the work you're doing?

SPEAKER_03 23:33

Oh, thank you for asking that question. I love that. We are always being approached. Like I mentioned, this woman in South Africa who's retired, and she's just going there to teach people who virtually have nothing. And so we are constantly... hearing of needs and just collecting used paddles and used shoes even is so helpful to get to various parts of the world. So I know you're in Seattle. We can figure out a way to get it there.

SPEAKER_00 24:09

Awesome. And you accept donations?

SPEAKER_03 24:13

Absolutely. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 24:16

Yeah. And the website?

SPEAKER_03 24:18

The website is GlobalPickleballFederation.org, and I encourage everyone to follow us on Instagram or Facebook at Global Pickleball Federation, because there you'll see what's happening out there in real

SPEAKER_00 24:32

time. And tell us about your other involvement. Yeah, I'll

SPEAKER_03 24:37

be working with a paddle manufacturer. So I'm with a company called Velos, and this is a proprietary paddle that was invented in Newport Beach in 2022. What's unique about this paddle and why I fell in love with it is because it's edgeless and it's wrapped in four layers of carbon. So it's continuously wrapped. And so it's just got a very consistent, surface and it's very hard to miss hit a ball with this paddle and so it's it's very easy to represent it this company because it's such a such a great product

SPEAKER_00 25:21

and what's the website if somebody were want to learn more about that for instance

SPEAKER_03 25:26

yeah that would be velos v-e-l-o-z usa.com

SPEAKER_00 25:32

Nice, nice. Well, you're a busy person.

SPEAKER_03 25:37

A little busy, but I love it all. So I also work with charities. I love giving back. So do a lot of that in terms of tournament support. And there's just so much to do. And it's such a good life purpose. I just get so much joy out of it.

SPEAKER_00 26:01

The fact that you are volunteering your time and that the whole board is volunteering its time is really phenomenal. And you are making such a difference for all of us. I'm personally very grateful to you.

SPEAKER_03 26:17

Well, thank you. Between the companies that we represent, we have 95% of the pickleball players in the world. So it's really important that we have a unifying organization.

SPEAKER_00 26:33

Does your organization set the rules?

SPEAKER_03 26:37

The rules and the standards are created by USA Pickleball. So because they sanctioned the paddles, they sanctioned the rules. So we are following along their rules at this time.

SPEAKER_00 26:52

Okay. And USA Pickleball is rules for the world, not just for the U.S.?

SPEAKER_03 26:57

Yes. So they have actually given us usage. So we do have a Global Pickleball Federation rulebook. That's a wonderful question. Yes. And you can find that on our website as well.

Pickleball's Life-Changing Global Community

SPEAKER_00 27:12

Okay. Nice. And how about you? How has Pickleball changed your life? Oh.

SPEAKER_03 27:22

It would be easier to say the ways it hasn't changed my life, but I feel like it's kept me young in many ways because it's age agnostic. As you know, you can play with any age group. It's expanded my network of people I know so greatly. Now I tend to get 5 a.m., WhatsApp texts from Nairobi, or I'll be hearing from Chile or Poland or somewhere in the world, but we're all out there with the same goal and the same heart. And so, so it's, it's not work really, if you do what you love.

SPEAKER_00 28:05

Can't thank you enough, Ruth. Yeah. Thank you for being on our show. Loved having this conversation with you, but thank you for all that you're doing to make this world a better place through Pickleball. thank

SPEAKER_01 28:19

you

SPEAKER_00 28:19

and thank you to everybody who's watching oh my gosh how lucky are we to have this connection to this incredible organization and please do support it in any way you can you all know how much pickleball means to you and to the world and let's keep making this world a better place. Thanks everybody and we look forward to our conversation next week.

SPEAKER_01 28:42

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SPEAKER_00 28:56

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