Pickleball Pioneer

Speaker 1 0:00

Hi, I'm Shelly Maurer and I'm Cher Emrick. Welcome to Life.

Speaker 2 0:04

Lessons from Pickleball where we engage with pickleball players from around the world about life on and off the court.

Speaker 1 0:12

Thanks for joining us. Welcome everyone. We are super delighted to have Mark Yoda Friedenberg as our guest today. Mark, we love your nickname, Yoda, and we'll ask you about that for sure. But first, you are a retired Naval Lieutenant Commander. You've taught computer science at the US Naval Academy, at Microsoft and at two community colleges, and you owned ProLite Sports, developing some of the earliest lightweight composite and graphite paddles.

Speaker 3 0:47

You also organized the USA Pickleball Association and served as its first president. You've won more awards and medals than most players in the history of pickleball. You are the author of two books the official Pickleball Handbook and Winning Pickleball, and in 2017, you were inducted into the Pickleball Hall of Fame Wow, Wow is right.

Speaker 1 1:14

So first of all, Mark Yoda, thank you for your service and thank you for all you've done to expand the sport of pickleball. So tell us, when were you first introduced to the game and what was going on in your life at the time?

Speaker 4 1:29

Well, at the time this was 1989. And I was working for Weyerhaeuser in Federal Way, washington and I had a good buddy. He and I were playing a lot of racquetball. There was a racquetball court there and beside the racquetball court was this strange-looking small court and I said, larry, what's this? He said it's pickleball. Well, how do you play this game? It looks like fun. And so he showed me how to play and then I started playing a little bit. So I played a little singles with this guy and we played to 21. And he beat the snot out of me 21. I only got one point but I said you know, hey, this is fun, this is going to take off. I really like this and that's how I started the gang there. And I learned a lot at Weyerhaeuser because they had a lot of good players and I didn't know that. And all of a sudden I'm joining this gang of pickleball players and that's where I started.

Speaker 1 2:42

For heaven's sake. And so how did you get Yoda as a nickname, your ancient wisdom man?

Speaker 4 2:50

I'll tell you two stories. Okay, two stories. I'm going to tell the story with uh, uh, with Fran. Fran Meyer introduced me into the hall of fame and she had a little paragraph here. I'll read it first.

Speaker 4 3:08

A long, long time ago, in a log cabin in Hollywood, california, a young couple had a baby boy. They were stunned by the appearance of this small wrinkly being. My goodness, they said he really looks like an ancient one, and so they called him Yoda. So that's one of the stories. The real story is, I was playing in a tournament and I was playing this young, cocky little kid. He was 25 years old and I was 50. And we were playing singles and in those days we played games to 21, because we only had two courts, maybe three at max. And so I played him and I beat him 21 to 5. Wow, he was dejected, walked off the court and threw his paddle. He threw his paddle against the wall and broke it, oh gosh. And he said to his friend and I knew his friend, he was a well-known pickleball player too he said I hate to say this, god damn it, I got beaten by an old man. And his friend said no, no, you got beat by Yoda the ancient master. It stuck, so people call me Yoda ever since.

Speaker 1 4:36

That is so cool. So are you just Yoda? So are you Yoda to us.

Speaker 4 4:42

Yoda yeah, my real name is Mark, but you call me Yoda anything you want, love it. Some people call me different names.

Speaker 1 4:48

Let me tell you, we'll stick to Yoda. We'll stick to Yoda, or Mark? Yeah, that is very cool.

Speaker 3 4:56

Well, tell us more about how you evolved in pickleball.

Speaker 4 5:01

I kept playing pickleball and I joined tournaments and I met this guy His name was Frank Candelario and he was making pro-life paddles and I thought, well, he was going out of business. He didn't want to keep the business anymore and I bought it from him and I decided all right, let's make paddles. And the other thing is, when I bought it from him, he had the ownership of the USAPA organization. Now he got from a guy named Sid Williams, who's also in the Hall of Fame, very famous, and so I got the rights to the USAPA. Well, unfortunately, frank Candelario decided not to renew. So here I am with USApa, the organization, and it was defunct. So what I did was I created a new organization USAPA, without the periods, and decided to create the new organization and build a board, to create the new organization and build a board.

Speaker 4 6:29

Now, what happened there really was I was thinking about the US Naval Academy. Since I taught there on the walls there were statements if not you, who? If not now, when? Since they didn't decide on this, I'm taking it over. I'm taking the bull by the horns and creating an organization with 11 board members. Why 11? This way we have bright people. All of them play pickleball. I wanted to make sure that they had the experience in playing pickleball and playing pickleball, and this way no one person can rule the board or the organization, and it came out very well. The mission of the USAPA was to grow pickleball, and it's growing and growing and growing. I hope that helps.

Speaker 1 7:22

What year was that that you organized it?

Speaker 4 7:25

That was 2005,. February of 2005.

Speaker 1 7:29

So there's a quote that the huge growth and expansion of pickleball was the result of the USAPA and its stated mission, which is to promote the growth and development of pickleball not only on a national but an international level. I love that you had that vision right away. Yes, you weren't just focused on the States.

Speaker 4 7:51

Well, my dream was to get the uh, get pickleball, into the Olympics and I talked to one of the uh board members of uh, of the Olympic committee a long time ago and they said you'll never get it in unless you have pickleball as a sport at the highest level in most nations. I'm not sure what most nations meant, but still, and it's still, we're going to get it there and I'm hoping before I go I'll see it, me too.

Speaker 1 8:29

Yeah, and so tell us what it actually does, the USAPA?

Speaker 4 8:34

Well, one of the things that we created at the time from Earl Hill, earl Hill had the idea ambassador system, the ambassadors. So we had thousands of ambassadors. Now we have thousands in the USAPA and the ambassadors go out and teach pickleball or show pickleball or govern pickleball in their own areas and that was the key to growing pickleball the ambassador system. So I think that helps. I hope.

Speaker 1 9:06

That was a fantastic idea to have ambassadors.

Speaker 4 9:09

Yes, because that really grew Pickleball.

Speaker 3 9:11

And the tournaments. I said, four years after you formed the USAPA, you hosted your first tournament and it drew 400 people just right out of the chute.

Speaker 4 9:23

Yes, the first national tournament you're talking about, and I was lucky enough to win the first national tournament. Wow, if we played today the first national tournament at the open level. No, there's so many good kids out there now that just can run circles around me, that's for sure.

Speaker 1 9:45

Well, I'm not convinced they would still do circles around you, my friend, you have, as Shelly was mentioning in the intro, you've won more medals and awards than anybody else in the whole pickleball community and you were inducted into the Pickleball Hall of Fame. So tell us about that.

Speaker 4 10:11

Well, first of all, you're saying I won more medals than anybody. You know I don't really care. You know what happens is I win a medal, I get off the podium, put it in my bag and never to see it again there are a few good medals that I really enjoyed, like the national medals, of course but the biggest thing is the interface with all these people.

Speaker 4 10:30

That's what pickleball is all about. You don't get this in a lot of sports. You don't get the camaraderie, the social aspect of the game. You know, we're social animals. We really are, and what this does is we go to play pickleball and we complain about what's hurting us, what's ailing us, and that's what it's all about. I bet that these pickleball players have more pickleball friends than any other friends in their life. That's true for me. True for me, and it's true for me. Yeah, you know, I love it. That's what keeps me going. Every day I play pickleball. I'm an addict. Yeah, Now some people say well, how can you play pickleball when you play when there's only two fives or three five players, you know, and you don't have anybody that's up to your skills? Well, I don't care. Well, in a sense I do care, but I don't in a sense that I want to. I want to get out there and play and maybe I'll pop up the ball, let them hit the ball, slam it at me and try and return it. That's what I need practice on.

Speaker 4 11:45

There you go, but some people don't know the code. Do you know what the code is? What's the code? When I pop the ball up, you slam it at me, not my partner. Oh, and what they do is try and win the point by slamming it at my partner. Yep. So I tell them you don't know the code, but I enjoy playing everybody. I really do.

Speaker 1 12:09

How did the Hall of Fame come about?

Speaker 4 12:11

The Hall of Fame came about with a guy named Seymour Rifkin. He decided he wanted to create a Hall of Fame. Now there were a lot of people talking about the Hall of Fame or wanting a Hall of Fame, but again he was the doer. Everybody else is a talker. So he established the Hall of Fame and I was lucky enough to be one of the forefathers well, one of the original members of the Hall of Fame, and I appreciate that because I'm along with the forefathers of pickleball. Yeah, it's the highest honor I've received in pickleball really oh.

Speaker 4 12:53

Did you?

Speaker 3 12:53

know Barney.

Speaker 4 12:56

I knew Barney. Yes, I did, I met him. He also knew my son.

Speaker 1 13:02

We talked quite a few times, but not a lot, so Barney, for those who might not know, is one of the founders of pickleball.

Speaker 4 13:12

I knew his son very well, David McCallum Nice.

Speaker 1 13:17

It's so great that you knew right away that this sport was going to take off, because you know it was developed decades ago and it just seemed to slowly, slowly, slowly build. And then doesn't it feel like just in the last few years it just exploded.

Speaker 4 13:36

Yes, when I started, it started to go up and then after a couple of years, it started to go up and then, after a couple of years, it started to go up exponentially and now it's real up there. Now, one of the things you know, it's growing and growing and growing and people see, hey, I can get off the couch now, instead of sitting on the couch and watching TV, I can get out and play this game, which is it has a small field. It's only 10 feet. I can cover only 10 feet. Yeah, rather than you know a football field like a tennis court. Yeah, that's the big thing. It saves lives, it really does. That's the big thing. It saves lives, it really does. I've seen so many people that are in bad shape and they come out and play and they're having fun and they're getting exercise. Getting exercise and the social aspect.

Speaker 3 14:35

And having fun. And having fun. Yes, exactly.

Speaker 1 14:39

Feeling like kids again, yes, exactly, feeling like kids again, yes. So tell us some of the stories of I mean, imagine all these people that you've been playing with and how you've seen lives affected, and what are some of the stories that you recall.

Speaker 4 14:52

I'm going to tell you I do a lot of coaching Ah, I mean not a lot, but enough and I learned that you have to be positive. Now I'm going to tell you a story. I played pickleball with my girlfriend, heather. We went out to Happy Trails in Arizona and we played there and we were playing the Hackenbergs Okay, and we were playing the Hackenbergs Okay, and we were winning. And then we played the Hackenbergs and what happened was they beat the snot out of us in the first game 11-0. I said to Heather hey, they can't do this to us. So we played another game. You have to win two out of three. So what did they do? I think they beat us 11-1, maybe 11-2., not sure, but they just, like I said, beat the snot out of us and I said look, heather, we can do better than this. So we had a. This was double elimination now. So we had a chance to go all the way back and we did, we did, we beat a few teams and came all the way back to play them again. All right, all right, now we play them.

Speaker 4 16:09

And Heather went, played out, she played out of her mind. Okay, we beat them two straight. Wow, she was the one who went after? She went after. She didn't go after Yvonne. No, who'd she go after? She went after Jim huh, she went after Jim. She just tore him apart and so we won two straight. And then we had to play the tiebreaker, a game to 15. We lost 15-7. Well, the moral of the story is I said the wrong words at the end of the game. What I said I should have said, heather, you played out of your mind. You were great. I should have given her all these positive comments. And what do I say? Well, let's see if we can do it again. Okay Now to most people let's see if we can do it again. Okay Now to most people let's see if we can do it again. God, that's negative. That's negative. That says it says I doubt if we can do it again. That was my big mistake. I'll never live it down to this day, to this day. That was 10 years ago.

Speaker 3 17:23

But think about what a great life lesson it was. Now you know that's what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 17:27

It was a great life lesson, because I should be more positive. Instead of saying, you know in my lessons, well, you're not doing this right, you're not doing that right. I should say, well, let's work on this, let's work on that, let's work on that. You know, be positive, be positive. You know saying the right words. So I have to think more than open my mouth.

Speaker 1 17:51

Love it, so that's, that is a terrific life lesson not just on the court, but in our lives too. What are some of the other lessons maybe you learned in life that you've taken onto the court, or you've actually learned on the court, like that one that you've taken into your life? Are there others that you can think of?

Winning Strategies in Pickleball

Speaker 4 18:11

Well, the big thing is you've got to be positive. No matter what you do in life, you should be positive. You can't keep looking at negativity because that's not going to get you anywhere. You know. If you fail, okay, you fail, all right. What's the lesson? Learn from failing and move on. So a lot of stuff. In pickleball, for example, when I lose I'm saying, well, what could I have done better? Maybe I could have gone to his backhand or her backhand, or maybe I could have done this, maybe I could have done that. So I analyze my game. I try and get better and better and better. As far as games, I've been down 10-0 before and in something like that, you really have to be positive one point at a time and know where you're going to hit the ball and do your best to win, to win the points. Well, I've been back 10-10. I've come back 10-10. Yes, I've lost many times, but still getting back to 10-10, that's a victory in itself. You bet it is.

Speaker 3 19:22

I think what you're saying is really just think each point, don't think about the score, because I know I've lost a game before where I was up 10-6 and I get too excited oh, I've won, I've won.

Speaker 4 19:35

And then you don't. Once again, you have to analyze you were up 10-6, but you lost. Why did you lose? Yeah, all your timeouts, you know, and ask yourself. You ask yourself and in the timeout, where am I getting my points? How am I losing my points? What am I doing to lose points? Where am I hitting the ball? What am I doing? Or what is my partner doing? What am I doing? Or what is my partner doing? Yeah, you have to do something different. You have to change a losing strategy and you know stick with a winning strategy.

Speaker 3 20:09

Sounds like I need to read your book Winning Pickleball For sure. All these strategies are in that book, right?

Speaker 4 20:14

Yes, Plus, plus. I have this here. I'll read it to you. Okay, I'll read it to you. Okay, I'll read it to you.

Speaker 4 20:22

This was the 12 Commandments of Pickleball. That's in the book, too, cool, okay, okay, several months ago this was a while ago, but several months ago I was hiking into the White Tank Mountains of Arizona and I heard this voice speak to me. It said Yoda, yoda. It was the pickleball God. And I said well, what do you want from me? What do I need to do? And the God replies I am going to help you and your pickleball buddies by creating the 12 commandments of pickleball. And here they are.

Speaker 4 21:03

First of all, all service returns must be good. Why, tell me? Why, come on, pickleballers, keep the game going. Yeah, well, if you hit the ball into the net or out of bounds on the service return, what happens? Lose a point, you lose a point. So that's that's rule number one All returns must be good. It doesn't matter what the opponent does, ok, all returns must be good. Now, speaking about returns, I'm going to tell you one other thing. Now, speaking about returns, I'm going to tell you one other thing. Three out of every four points in pickleball, three, three, one, two, three are unearned.

Speaker 4 21:45

You're unearned or somebody hits the ball into the net or out of bounds, or just doesn't even hit it.

Speaker 1 21:50

Because somebody else made a mistake. So we get the point. So it was unearned, exactly.

Speaker 4 22:04

Three out of every four points. So the mindset, your mindset, should be just get the ball over the net into the other court because there's a good chance they're going to screw it up 75% chance, right, yep, okay. So all service returns must be good. Rule number two oh my, I see this every day All serves must be good. It doesn't matter how you serve the ball. How many aces are you going to make? Not very many, no, no, you're not going to make many aces. So just serve the ball over the net into the court. Yep, serve the ball over the net into the court.

Speaker 4 22:35

And I see so many people hitting the ball out of bounds or into the net, mostly into the net. We all do it. But rule number two get the serve in. Number three all third shots must be good. Now, what happens is somebody serves the ball, somebody returns the ball, and here's your third shot. Well, what do people do? They like to rip the ball right. Well, some people are good at that, some people are not so good at that. Get the ball in right, get the ball in play, because, again, the mindset 75% chance they're going to mess it up. Okay, number four live by the golden rule. Do you know what the golden rule is?

Speaker 1 23:22

Well, I know the typical golden rule. What's the pickleball golden rule Do?

Speaker 4 23:27

unto others before they do unto you. Okay, okay, a little twist. Go get them, go get them. Twist, go get them, go get them. You, you go, get them all right. Number five limit your errors. Limit your errors. Okay, again, three out of every four points is unearned. Yeah, number six keep your paddle up, keep your paddle up, keep your paddle up, keep it up, up, up, up here. Why up here?

Speaker 1 23:59

Protection. Does it affect your face?

Speaker 3 24:01

No.

Speaker 4 24:03

Because then you're ready. You're ready If a ball comes up, boom, you just hit it like this you don't hit it hard, just hit it. Hit it, keep your paddle up, don't do the caveman walk. You know what the caveman walk is, don't you?

Speaker 3 24:19

No, you're holding the paddle like it's up, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 24:30

So it's down on the ground or it's down below. You can't hold it down there. Then you have to raise it up and it takes time to raise it up. Number seven keep your head down. In other words, watch the ball when you hit it. Yes, keep your head on the ball. Yes, very important, especially on the third shot. Why on the third shot? That's because the receiving team hits the ball and you're ready to hit the ball and you see the receiving team run up to the net, so it's distracting you. So you're looking at the player rather than the ball.

Speaker 4 25:02

Very common mistake Keep your head down, watch that ball when you hit it. Number eight watch your opponent's paddle. And the reason is the ball doesn't tell you where the ball is going. The paddle will tell you where the ball is going and that split second that you have to see where the ball is going is very, very important, and I have to practice that all the time, because I forget a lot about not watching the paddle In a tournament. It's crucial. You really have to watch that paddle.

Speaker 3 25:37

That's why that ball always goes whizzing by the sideline, because I'm not watching the paddle and moving myself over. Right, exactly.

Speaker 4 25:43

That split second of anticipation will make you a better player. It really will. It's hard for everybody to do, but you have to do it. Say, watch the paddle, watch the paddle, watch the paddle Got to do it. Nice, nice Number nine have a game plan. Have a game plan. So you're playing these two people in doubles, maybe.

Speaker 2 26:06

Well, who are you going?

Speaker 4 26:07

to hit to in a tournament. Now, if it's not a tournament, then you want to challenge a stronger player, you do, but if you're playing in a tournament, well, that's a different story. Who's the weakest player? Right, you go with that, or maybe you go to the strongest player because that keeps him where he's at rather than roaming around the court. Ah, good point. Different things, oh, different things, but have some kind of game plan it helps.

Speaker 3 26:35

Oh, I like that game plan. I haven't thought of that one.

Speaker 4 26:38

Yeah.

Speaker 3 26:38

Controlling the stronger player Okay.

Speaker 4 26:41

Yeah, you have to do that. The other reason for having a game plan is, well, you're not just one player, you're two, okay. Okay, if you have the game plan and you're losing, well then you have to number 10, change a losing strategy. Okay, like I said, before you call a timeout, you talk to your partner. Where am I getting my points?

Speaker 1 27:08

I love that. Where am I? Where am I getting my points? We're losing my points.

Speaker 4 27:12

How am I losing my points? Are they hitting to one player? Well, well, maybe we got to adjust, maybe, who knows? But where am I getting my points? Where are they getting their points? You got to ask. You got to ask yourself that Change that losing strategy. If you don't change that losing strategy, you could lose a lot of points. Real quick, number 11. Number 11 is big points. Real quick, number 11. Number 11 is big, really big. Okay. Communicate with your partner. Well, that's a life lesson. Communicate with your partner. You've got to, and I don't hear anything. When I play these pickup games, I don't hear anything. I'm the only one yelling you, me. I got it, but you got to talk. You have to talk, otherwise you're going to get messed up. Leave no doubt who's going to get the ball. Communicate with your partner, okay, you me.

Speaker 3 28:12

It's amazing what a hard skill that is, though. It's a very hard, though, to see the ball get to it and be able to say mine.

Speaker 4 28:18

There's one more, oh 12. Here's a good one. Always show good sportsmanship. Thank you, good sportsmanship. Do not disrespect the game we all love, okay? Respect your partners, your opponents, the referees, line judges and the spectators and the spectators. Sometimes the spectators will get on you.

Speaker 4 28:47

I know they've gotten on me you know, and I've got to oh, you know, yeah, don't say a word, just play the game, focus, focus. But it's important winning. Losing is always part of pickleball and life, okay, and life, you'll always get another chance, you always get another chance. But but disrespecting others will show, okay, it will show, and the word spreads real quick, yep, real quick, yep. So be respectful, be respectful throughout the communities Well.

Speaker 2 29:29

Yoda.

Speaker 1 29:29

I see why you got your nickname. My goodness, those are awesome commandments and every one of them can apply to life, especially that last one where show respect. You know we might disagree, we might feel frustrated, but show respect on and off the court.

Speaker 4 29:49

You know, many times, many times, a lot of the disrespect comes from bad line calls it does. But again, you know it happens, everybody calls bad lines. Sometimes and many times what I'll do is, if I call a ball out, I'll ask the opponent on my side what did you see? Yeah, if they said, well, I thought it was good, okay, it's good, I yielded to them Nice. So you know, you can always do something like that, but you don't want to yell and scream, and you know, because everybody sees that and it's not good.

Speaker 1 30:34

Well, I just I love these commandments and I want to reiterate for our audience that you have two books the official Pickleball Handbook and Winning Pickleball. Yes, this is.

Speaker 4 30:44

Winning Pickleball.

Speaker 1 30:46

This is Winning Pickleball that has the commandments and it's cheap. Very, very good, it's cheap.

Speaker 4 30:52

Well, I tell a lot of people this I'm not in the business to sell the book, but what happens is I give lessons and hey, you know I'll charge maybe $50 an hour, $75 an hour, whatever it may be, but the book is only $15. I mean, how can you go wrong? I mean how can? You go wrong.

Speaker 1 31:13

Can't go wrong. You're amazing and it's so cool that you took time out of your very busy schedule to talk with us and to share all of your commandments and your ancient wisdom and your new wisdom, and just really appreciate you being with us.

Speaker 3 31:30

Yes, and thank you all you've done for the expansion of Pickleball. It's just the joy of my life.

Speaker 4 31:37

One last thing, one last thing, one last thing Nowadays we have pros, okay, yeah, and the pros are very, very good, they're very quick, they have very good shots and it's kind of a different game in a way. And I played pro a little bit when I first started. I won some money, but nowadays the money is bigger and bigger and bigger. But the thing is, it's growing the sport. The pro side of the sport is really growing the sport, because they see a lot of young kids coming into the game. Hey, I can do this, I might be able to earn some money. Yes, but you know, it's growing the sport and that's what I care about.

Speaker 1 32:26

We care about it too, and we thank you for everything you've done to make that happen. Really appreciate you, and I want to say thank you to our audience. Thank you so much for joining us today. Wow, you got a lot of good insight and information for you pickleball players. My gosh, you just now have the 12 commandments, so we're all going to do even better next time we play. I hope so. Thank you all and we look forward to a new conversation next week. Bye, bye.

Speaker 2 32:56

Thank you all and we look forward to a new conversation next week. Bye-bye. If you love our podcast, we'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.

Speaker 1 33:10

On Apple Podcasts, spotify or wherever you listen, go to the show page and tap the follow button in the top right corner, and on YouTube, click the subscribe button under any of the episodes.

Speaker 2 33:23

Thanks, so much Hope to see you on the court.