Welcome to Life Lessons from Pickleball

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 to Life. Lessons from Pickleball everyone. Oh, we couldn't be more excited to have with us as our guest today Bainbridge Island's very own Mr Pickleball Clay Roberts.

Speaker 2 0:28

Clay, you are the CEO of Roberts Associates, a firm dedicated to the healthy development of young people. You are also a prevention expert on the Today Show, a renowned keynote speaker and a school consultant, passionate about helping kids develop the internal and external assets they need for career and life success.

Speaker 1 0:49

We are super eager to hear about your pickleball journey, Clay, and your beautiful title, Mr Pickleball.

Speaker 3 0:57

I didn't make that one up, by the way. That's your title, not mine.

Speaker 1 1:00

Oh, you read it, it's in print.

Speaker 3 1:10

Thanks for that very, very, very nice introduction. It's one of those introductions that you wish your mom and dad were here to appreciate, and they're never here at the right time.

Clay's Work: Prevention & Youth Development

Speaker 1 1:15

But nice to be with you but we, we want to hear first uh about work with kids, your company and the incredible work you're doing with kids.

Speaker 3 1:27

Well, I really appreciate you asking that question, first because my grandchildren think I'm a professional pickleball player and this is what I've done all my life.

Speaker 3 1:36

But in fact, what I'm most proud of is our professional work and we've had a great team. But most of the research looks at children who don't make it, Kids who use drugs, kids who are violent, kids who drop out early and ask what went wrong here, and we decided that wasn't the way to do this work. Our focus is on prevention. So we have a database of three and a half million children and we looked at those children who came from adversity and made it in spite of that adversity. They were the most interesting children to look at and when you look at those kids, there's a profile and my clients are primarily school districts and governmental agencies and they want to know what do you know about those incredibly resilient children? So that's our work and we not only share what we know, but based on that, how would you do things differently with children? And just to give you a couple of quick examples yes, please. Children who have three or more adults in their life in addition to their parents do dramatically better.

Speaker 3 2:42

Kids who spend an hour a week in community service giving back to the communities in which they live. You know they're givers, not takers. Those kids do dramatically better.

Speaker 3 2:53

I mean as you go down this list and it's a pretty significant list Actually. I was doing this work not too long ago and a guy came up to me and he said people pay you to do this. He said what are you the CEO of Common Sense? But it's common sense, not common practice, and so our work is all around building healthy communities for children. So that's the work I've done professionally and, interestingly enough, done professionally and, interestingly enough, it kind of set the stage for my volunteer work with Pickleball. I didn't think this was where I was going to spend this much time, and I'm not totally retired, but kind of semi-retired. I didn't think this is where I would be spending my time right.

Speaker 2 3:39

Sharon, I didn't know. We would be spending all our time playing and playing, and focused on pickleball. That's right.

Speaker 3 3:47

Do your significant others roll their eyes when you say the word pickleball.

Speaker 2 3:52

Yes, and my grandchildren and my children.

Speaker 3 3:58

Yeah, I know exactly where you're at. And aren't we lucky.

Speaker 1 4:03

We are very lucky. How do you get the information that you have on kids? You said you focus on these kids. Are you following them over the years? I mean, how do you get?

Speaker 3 4:15

the information.

Speaker 3 4:16

There's a survey that young people fill out, both in middle school and high school, and we have kids around the country filling out that information high school and we have kids around the country filling out that information and that data is tabulated and we come up with a profile of how many of these. We call these things developmental assets and we can track how many of them they have in their life. That's one of the issues and one of the things we work on, but I can tell you it's one of several programs we've done.

Speaker 3 4:45

Another program that some of your viewers may know about is a program called Natural Helpers, which is a program which is a peer helping program where we go into high schools and middle schools and survey, see kids know when their friends are in trouble long before we know.

Speaker 1 4:59

Yeah.

Speaker 3 5:00

And if you want to intervene in school shootings, in suicide, kids know when their friends are in trouble long before we do. They're the early warning system. And so we go in and survey kids and we ask them if you had a personal problem drugs, alcohol abuse, list by name, two students and two staff members you would trust to talk with. List by name, two students and two staff members you would trust to talk with. We tabulate that data, come up with a profile the most trusted students and staff in the school. We take them away on a retreat with mental health professionals and we teach them not to be junior counselors or therapists, but they're the canary in the coal mine. They know when things are going on and if we can get that information early, we have a chance of intervening successfully. So that's just another model. So we've been trying to figure out how can I put it, I think some creative ways of improving mental and physical health for children.

Speaker 2 6:01

So that's what I do and it really takes a village it, it absolutely does yes, and and what we've done in the past is we've left kids out of that village.

Speaker 3 6:12

We're trying to do it with them, I mean for them and and to them, rather than with them, and I think, unless, unless we partner with them, we don't have a chance of success. Right, so true, yeah, so that's, that's what I do.

Speaker 1 6:26

Oh my gosh, I can't thank you enough for what you're doing. I have a six-year-old grandson who I know is going to benefit from all the wisdom that you're imparting with the on how to relate, how to be available and help kids have a better sense of self. That's huge help kids have a better sense of self.

Speaker 2 6:44

That's huge. I learned how to be part of a community.

Speaker 1 6:46

Yeah, and your programs have even been featured in PBS Frontline, Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal, and you're an expert on the Today Show.

Speaker 3 6:59

Well, that's what they called me. I'm not sure that I meet the all the criteria, but but, um, it's like this. It's an opportunity to get the word out on on really important work and, um, and I think, if we begin to understand what we need to do.

First Contact with Pickleball

Speaker 1 7:23

it's more likely it'll happen, so that's that's our work. That's beautiful. Thank you for everything. Very touching, actually Very touching, the prevention part. Like you said, don't come in after the fact and try to figure out what went wrong. Let's prevent it from the get go. Yeah, thank you. So, what was going on in your life when you were first introduced to Pickleball.

Speaker 3 7:44

What was going on in your life when you were first introduced to pickleball? I was nearing where most people retire but we were spending a little more time down south during the wintertime and we went down to the Palm Springs area with some friends and I was watching all these people play and my friend good story, he, he was not a pickleball player either and we watched it and and he's got a dog. The next morning he was at the dog park. He said the guy said do you play pickleball? And John said no, but I think I could be the champion. I watched it the other day and the guy turned around and said well, I am the champion of this court.

Speaker 3 8:21

And it turns out, there's a whole lot more to the game than one would expect, right.

Speaker 2 8:29

Not just hitting the ball over the net.

Speaker 3 8:32

And it's not being a banger, you know. And so that was my first. I spent a few weeks playing, came back to Bainbridge and found that we at the home of the game didn't have any courts. I mean, we were playing on a tennis court, sharing it, with shared lines and all of what everybody else has been through, and I thought this is really wrong. This is so wrong at the home of the game, right? So that's how I first came into contact. I knew a little bit about it, but then I started playing and I got hooked.

Speaker 1 9:13

Did you get hooked right away?

Speaker 3 9:16

I did. You know I played a lot of games in my life, but this one was different. It was the most social game I had ever played, and I was a former tennis player. You know, if you show up as a single at a tennis court, you might be waiting three weeks to find somebody who invites you in.

Speaker 3 9:37

So, true, as a pickleball player, you know you show up and in five minutes you got a game and you got three new friends right, yes, indeed. So, um, when we didn't have any courts, I, a friend of mine, bill walker, and I decided we'd approach the parks department and and um lobby them to at least, um, let us have a better setup on the tennis courts. And, and it went from there, and and the tennis people made such a stink that the that the parks department said well, the money that we'd set aside for we were going to build new tennis courts, we're going to build new pickleball courts.

Speaker 1 10:19

So we, we raised money.

Speaker 3 10:21

They raised and we built six new courts and I thought this was about courts. It's not about building courts, it's about building community. So when we talk about, one of my first life lessons was, I thought my job was to help build courts, but it was really when we started doing this I realized we're about building community.

Speaker 3 10:45

Yeah, and that was something I knew a little bit about from my professional career, Right, but it was just. I mean, everybody has stories, right, but I still remember a woman that I taught to play, you know, and about six months later we were at a social event and she came up to me Her name's Pam and she said Clay, I just want to thank you for teaching me to play. And she started to cry.

Speaker 3 11:13

I said Pam, it's pickleball. And she said, no, you don't understand. She said I lost my husband this year. And she said I just played in a game with three other people who've all lost a spouse in the last year. She said I stay home too often and cry. She said this is my happy place. Like did I think this is what we were about?

Speaker 1 11:41

No.

Speaker 3 11:42

No no you know it's. It's been really interesting to watch that. Another woman came up to me and said you know, I told a friend I'm playing pickleball and she said that's not a sport and it's not exercise. And she said look, I lost nine pounds this last year and I have 40 new friends and Weight Watchers didn't do that for me.

Speaker 3 12:18

So I have learned to look at pickleball a little different than all the other sports I've played over the years. You know, in basketball if you got hurt somebody would drag your body off the floor and get a substitute in and they'd say to you I hope you get better.

Speaker 1 12:29

Yeah.

Speaker 3 12:29

My doubles partner, who's really a fine player, backed up and tripped and fell and broke both her wrists and she's the caregiver for her husband who has cancer. For six weeks people took her her husband, to their appointments, brought food to them. I can tell you, if I was on the basketball court, no one would have done any of that for me so true, this is a different.

Building Community, Not Just Courts

Speaker 3 12:59

So one lesson learned this is really about building community. Don't just think about building courts when you're trying to expand what you do. Build community and they will come right.

Speaker 2 13:12

Right, absolutely, absolutely. And you were also very instrumental in keeping the historic part of the pickleball being founded on Bainbridge Island right. Tell us about that.

Speaker 3 13:32

Well, I just stepped down after six years as being the leader or co-leader of Bainbridge Island Pickleball and we've built 24 courts. We're opening 12 new indoor courts this month, and you know I'm tired of building courts and raising money, and now you know people want more courts. So I decided, really what I want to do is I want to make sure that the spirit of the founders Again, I think that our role on Bainbridge Island, the home of the game, we need to be the guardians of the spirit of the founders spirit of the founders and so I've decided that that's where I want to spend my time, sharing what that spirit looks like and what it looks like in practice. And so I made up a new title for myself. My title is Chief Spirit Officer.

Speaker 1 14:21

I like it.

Speaker 3 14:22

And when you're this old, you can make up any title you want for yourself. That's my new title and I've been able to work with some of the franchises around the country and ask them to try and incorporate some of this into their work and I'm real happy that many of them are open to that. And you know, I think that there's a whole lot again a lesson learned. There's a lot of money that's come into pickleball. You know we have the PPA and we have tournaments and we have Duper and we have rating systems. By the way, I had the good fortune of spending time with the last living founder, barney McCallum, and and Barney wasn't real excited about all this rating stuff, and so my rating, actually this week my rating changes. I'm a 7.6. This week I was a 7.5. Well, I'm 7.5 right now. I'll be a seven. Six on on friday well, oh, your birthday.

Speaker 2 15:29

People say it only goes to five.

Speaker 3 15:31

I said no, I I've been. I talked with one of the founders. He gave me a rating.

Speaker 3 15:37

Like you know, there are places that are real snooty, like you can't play unless you're professionally rated and you're a three, five or above yeah, that's not in the spirit of the game, by the way, um, just just to let you know, um, so I really think that's we need to keep that alive, because as the money's come in, it's gotten much more competitive.

Speaker 3 15:59

There's a lot of younger players, which is great because we need to grow the game. So there's a lot of good things about the growth of the game, but I think there's some things that we need to keep in mind as we move forward. This is about friends and family and about friendly competition, and we need to keep that alive. And I think the traditions and you know, and around the country it's funny because people are embracing some of this. As an example, every game ought to start in the corner of the court closest to Bainbridge Island, right, right, and usually that's the northwest corner, but wherever it is, that's where you ought to start the game. Yeah, my feeling is, you know, in golf, when you hit your first tee shot and it's a crappy tee shot you know what they give you, what they give you what they give you a mulligan.

Speaker 1 16:49

Mulligan, you get one extra shot.

Speaker 3 16:52

So my take is on the first serve of the day in pickleball if it doesn't go in, you ought to get a.

Speaker 1 17:02

What.

Speaker 3 17:02

McCallum, see, there were three founders, but they aren't all created equal.

Speaker 1 17:10

Barney.

Speaker 3 17:11

McCallum was the most important founder in my mind. You know Joel Pritchard was a great promoter and he did a lot for the game. Bill Bell was a spy for the CIA. He wasn't around a lot. Barney ran an envelope company in Seattle and when five o'clock came he put the envelopes away, pulled out the pickleball stuff and started selling box sets of pickleball. He's the guy who made the paddles and kept making different prototypes of the paddles. And, by the way, there's what I consider to be at least a third and a half or a fourth founder and it was Nick Brown from Tacoma. You know Brown and Haley, the Almonroka company. He had a summer place and he played with these three other guys and the reason we have a kitchen today. He was six foot six and the first few and the first few weeks he would stand at the net and pound it down on the kids and the kids drew a line and said you can't go inside that line. That's the origin of the kitchen.

Speaker 3 18:19

So there's some history here that I think people need to know as the game continues to grow and frankly I know this won't be very popular with some people, but I don't think billionaires from Texas or from Arizona ought to be involved in creating the Pickleball Hall of Fame in Texas or Arizona.

Speaker 1 18:44

Oh, I didn't know that was happening.

Speaker 3 18:45

Oh yeah, there are two. There are two hall of fames, one in arizona, one in texas. You know, in baseball the hall of fame is in cooperstown new york yeah, and basketball is in spring ought to have the home of the game, is where we ought to have the Hall of Fame for pickleball, not Texas or Arizona. I agree so we think it's really important to keep that alive and keep those stories alive and keep that spirit alive.

Speaker 2 19:24

You have a museum there currently, don't you?

Preserving the Spirit of Pickleball

Speaker 3 19:27

We have a historical museum. There are partners in our tournament each year. We're really delighted to work with them and they have a whole section on pickleball.

Speaker 1 19:36

So they don't just recognize ancient history.

Speaker 3 19:39

here on Bainbridge they recognize pickleball as being an important part of our history.

Speaker 2 19:45

Clay had sent us an article that he wrote Preserving the Spirit of Pickleball and I was just wondering is there a link to that for our listeners to read? That is really a great article Listing how we can all keep the original spirit and intent of the game alive Well that's a good idea.

Speaker 3 20:03

Maybe I'll get our group to link that with our website.

Speaker 1 20:08

Oh, please do.

Speaker 3 20:09

Oh, you should.

Speaker 2 20:10

Shelly read a few of those that we really liked about the tradition, what I loved is the traditions that you had, that hopefully everyone that's playing the game now are maintaining the traditions of. As you said, play always starts in the northwest corner, because the corner that's closest to Bainbridge Island. The game begins with introductions at the net. We should all start at the net, talk to each, look each other in the eye. Someone told me that the other day too is don't just walk up and push your paddle up there, actually look everyone in the eye. You know like you really care. It's like it's a real introduction, right?

Speaker 3 20:43

Yeah, I call that dink and discover. Yeah, Like it's a real introduction right.

Speaker 2 20:45

Yeah, I call that dink and discover. Yeah. And then your next one is the dink and discover. When you're warming up, you're dinking but discover. Ask people some questions about themselves on the other side of the net, right, really kind of try to discover each other, get to know people and the game. I love this one. This is the one that I haven't done. The game starts with the question are you ready to have some fun? So the first server should okay, are we ready to have some fun? I love that, yeah.

Speaker 3 21:13

I just think it sets the right tone. Especially in recreational play, you know yes.

Speaker 2 21:19

And at the conclusion we all go to the net and we tap paddles and it's important that we keep all those traditions up. I think that's what really makes Pickleball the community that we're paddles, and it's important that we keep all those traditions up.

Speaker 3 21:31

I think that's what really makes pickleball the community that we're talking about.

Speaker 2 21:33

Yeah Right, I agree, it's so beautiful and there's so much more in the article about knowing the rules, good sportsmanship, how to handle aggressive play and ideas for clubs Like you were talking about. You've been talking to clubs and it's just a great article. I think you need to have this linked on your website so everyone can read that.

Speaker 3 21:52

Well, thanks for reading it.

Speaker 1 21:54

Yeah, it's beautifully written and great reminders, and I never thought about it. I think one of them is you know, stop the game. If somebody's being really rough, stop the game and just touch base and say, hey, we're here to have fun and let's have fun, instead of kind of grueling through it.

Speaker 3 22:16

Yeah, and I think one of the things Barney was most proud of when I asked him, you know he was 94 and we were breaking ground for our courts and we had him there and I said, barney, what are you the most proud of? He said I'm proud that we created a game where men and women can play together, yeah, where placement beats power every time.

Speaker 3 22:39

Yeah, yes, and you know, I see some guys who are bangers and target people, and oftentimes in doubles. I see them targeting a woman in that and I'm thinking, you know, this isn't what it's about, right.

Speaker 1 22:56

Yes.

Speaker 3 22:57

And I do think none of us men or women like to be targeted and like to deal with people. I mean, I know it happens it always happens accidentally but but if I think, if it's happening deliberately, somebody needs to call it out and say, hey, let's back off a bit and have fun here, right?

Speaker 1 23:16

So yeah, that is so great, Do you have?

Bringing People Together Across Differences

Speaker 2 23:19

any other fun stories you'd like to share with our listeners? Do you have any other fun stories you'd like to share with our listeners?

Speaker 3 23:25

I guess another lesson is, I think, what's missing in America right now and what we need is bringing people together. Yes, and you know, I still remember a fun game my partner and I were playing against another group, and the guy I happen to know is a member of the LGBTQ community and the woman is a Trumper, and and they're high fiving and their fist bumping.

Speaker 3 23:54

And and they're having the best time. And and I turned to my partner as we walked back to serve, I said you know what? This never would have happened without pickleball. No, absolutely, and one of the lessons I have learned is it is really hard to demonize somebody once you've played with them. Yeah, so true, you can't talk about them, those people, because you know this person personally and you're enjoying playing with them, and so I think we need to play more together.

Speaker 1 24:29

I do.

Speaker 2 24:29

And I agree because, like you said, when you've after you've played with someone and you have that relationship, you are, you're just more open to share things and open to who they are. Yeah.

Speaker 3 24:40

And I've seen it time and time again on the courts and I. I think that's what's missing in America. There was an article some time ago and I'm sure you saw it is can pickleball save America? Well, on some levels, I think it certainly can improve things right.

Speaker 1 24:54

I agree, and we've talked with a number of guests about the idea of getting more representatives and senators to play together across the political lines, across the net and side by side, and I think it would make a big difference if they would just do more play.

Speaker 3 25:14

Yeah, I think I always try and remind people. Hey, the game was founded by a Republican congressman and it was made the state sport by a Democratic governor. So it was founded by a republican and made the state sport by a democrat. This is really about people everybody having fun together, right?

Speaker 1 25:35

indeed, and in fact that was your special day. I think that's where you got the mr pickleball. Your title was the day when Governor Inslee acknowledged the work you had done. Can you tell us about that?

Speaker 3 25:48

Well, yeah, you want to know the backstory.

Speaker 1 25:50

Yes, I do.

Speaker 3 25:52

I'm an avid cyclist and basketball player. Jay is an old basketball buddy and he's my cycling buddy and during the pandemic we were looking for things to do so we'd go out and cycle together because we had appropriate distance, and every time I would say OK, jay, when are you going to make pickleball the state sport? And he accused me for two years of being an illegal lobbyist because I was not registered. But every time I saw him I just gave him crap about not making it to state. I said look, you know, just like Texas and Arizona grabbed the Hall of Fame, they're going to grab this as their state sport.

Speaker 1 26:34

Right, yeah, good point.

Speaker 3 26:36

And thankfully, john, he's a senator from Linwood and I'm drawing a blank on his last name Really good guy, yeah. And Jay, during this whole thing he said, yeah, this is going to look really good during the pandemic. The governor has nothing better to do than making pickleball the state sport. Politically, it was not the right time to do this, but he got some bipartisan support because there are people who play on both sides of the aisle, and so we were able to make it happen. So my role was really behind the scenes. Every time I saw him it was like, okay, okay, I hear you Right, but it's not the right time to do it. So that's really why I'd like to tell you it was this hard work that I did behind the scenes and all the political wrangling. It was simply riding a bicycle beside the governor for weeks on end and not letting him forget that he could do something really cool and make pickleball the state sport. So that's how it happened persistence well, you know this whole thing.

Speaker 3 27:51

I I just have to laugh. You know this. I've been called several things, um, some of them by the tennis community that probably you don't want to, but but you know, I've been called the pickleball impresario, I've been called Mr Pickleball and it's like you know this is. This is about being in the right place, bainbridge Island, at the right time, because I think the pandemic was a horrible thing, but there was a little bit of a silver lining here and that people were looking for anything they could do to get out and play with their children and their neighbors and be safe, and Pickleball fit all and checked all those boxes. So we were able to grow really fast during that time. And once it caught on, you know what's happened. It's been a tsunami, and so I was fortunate just to be in the right place at the right time and I think I had a great. I want to make sure that we acknowledge what a wonderful community I live in. I got a lot of credit for asking people for money.

Speaker 2 29:09

And they gave it to themselves.

Speaker 1 29:10

I live in, you know I got a lot of credit for asking people for money. It was for a good cause.

Speaker 3 29:13

Yeah, it's really. It was really an eye opener. But but seriously, I mean, what I did was my business was really hard to keep going during the pandemic and I'm not good at sitting around, so I needed to have a cause and this was a great cause and what a generous community and my teammates and we didn't call it Bainbridge Island Pickleball Club, we called it Bainbridge Island Pickleball Community my teammates and the community stepped up to the plate, did a lot of hard work, gave money and, as a result, we were able to do some things that no one believed we were going to be able to do.

Speaker 3 29:58

I mean the fact that we're opening 12 new indoor courts at the end of the month. Beautiful new courts. I'm going, oh my God, whoever.

Speaker 1 30:06

That's news. We didn't know about that Clay, so that's exciting.

Speaker 3 30:10

They're in Poulsbo, because we found the building in Poulsbo, we got 12 clubs in the area too. It was a vacant building. It used to be an office max store. I've been vacant for a year and a half and the critical element is is the ceiling high enough and are the posts in the right spot enough between them? And it was perfect. It was like they designed it for pickleball, right. So I got 12 clubs together and said okay, guys, can we raise the money to repurpose this facility? You know clubs from Kingston, paulsbo, silverdale, bremerton, and it was perfectly located. And they said, oh, yeah, yeah, we can do this. Then we got the mayor on board and she came to. I called a meeting and I said let's just look at the facility and of course I put up all these temporary nets in there and take the floor so everybody can see where the parts were going to be.

Speaker 3 31:04

And we all walked in and you know I invited 12 clubs. Well, 60-some people showed up, including the wife in Paulsville, and she went and she put on her Facebook page that day. We're going to do this. Paulsville's going to do this and a commercial group Pickleball Kingdom heard about it stepped in and John and Mara, I think, who you talked to last week.

Speaker 1 31:30

Who are, I mean, so lovely they?

Speaker 3 31:34

are so good. And it's like they said we'll do it. And I said and they said how do you feel about that? And I said I don't have to raise any money and it would be much nicer than what we could do. They've just got the right attitude and the right spirit.

New Indoor Courts & Future Vision

Speaker 3 31:53

This is going to be a huge success, I think, and I'm just looking forward to this, and the mayor is behind it and the city council's behind it. Man, this is. We couldn't ask for a better setup. So we call that our home too, although it's a little off island, but it's about as close as we're ever going to get to the home of the game, with courts that nice that are indoors. So we're excited about that.

Speaker 2 32:19

That is very exciting.

Speaker 1 32:21

Well, clay, oh my gosh, you are absolutely the person who should have the title Mr Pickleball, because you have the heart, the work you do with the kids, oh my gosh. And community is so important for kids as they're growing up, and here, community is so important for adults as well. And Pickleball can bring all the ages together, all the ethnicities, all the languages, all the cultures, all the political events and all. It's amazing, and I am so appreciative of everything you've done, especially here in Washington.

Speaker 3 32:54

One last lesson.

Speaker 1 32:55

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 32:56

Bring them on Pickleball is the perfect model for youth development. You know what, if you remember I said one of the things we know is young people who have three or more adults in their life in addition to their parents do dramatically better. We've found and we don't do enough of it, and I don't think I haven't seen many clubs who do enough of this. But we need to engage young people more in learning the game and playing with them together. It's intergenerational interaction and I can give you multiple stories. But there are kids who came to the court. We gave them paddles, we started teaching them.

Speaker 3 33:36

George is one that I love and now he just kicks my fanny and I give him all this responsibility. Like George, can you lock up the courts? I got to go. He loves it, he does it, he brings his friends. I'm thinking we're missing the boat. If you really want your children to grow up healthy, this is a safe place where they can interact with adults of all ages, and it's not that they learn from us. We learn from them as well, amen, it's like perfect.

Speaker 3 34:13

And we need to do more of that. That's my last lesson.

Speaker 1 34:16

I love that. Oh, my gosh Clay, Thank you. Thank you for everything that you've done, that you continue to do with kids and with Pickleball, and the way that you have helped change the world. You really are changing, you know. The question was can Pickleball save America? I think Pickleball can save the world and you are such a part of that and I really appreciate everything you've done.

Speaker 3 34:42

Well, thanks for doing the podcast, everything you've done. Well, thanks for doing the podcast. I think I keep thinking people who don't know about need to understand a little more about the game, because when they do, you've seen what happens once they show up, they're hooked and and and they and they bring others to the game and I just think it's. It's good for us both physically and mentally right.

Speaker 1 35:03

Mentally and emotionally Absolutely.

Speaker 2 35:06

And our joy yeah, so much joy, yes.

Speaker 1 35:10

So what's your website where people can find you?

Speaker 3 35:14

Well, they can't find me, but they can find Bain Magenta and Pickleball. If they just Google Bain, magenta and Pickleball, you can go to our website. We've got some cool things going on and we've it's. It's gotten a lot better since I left. We've got younger people in the leadership role, which I think is absolutely perfect, and and I get to play more and have to do less work as a volunteer.

Speaker 1 35:39

So Is that the website you were referring that you would link the article to?

Speaker 3 35:42

Yeah, I'll ask them to do that.

Pickleball: Perfect Model for Youth Development

Speaker 1 35:44

Okay, very good, very good. Well, thank you, and wait, what's the website for your business?

Speaker 3 35:53

I don't have one.

Speaker 1 35:54

You don't have one. No, oh, that's impressive that you are so. No, it's not.

Speaker 3 35:58

It's when you're kind of trying to wind things down. The business is Roberts and Associates and people can find me if they really want to hunt me out they'll find you through the pickleball.

Speaker 1 36:10

Oh my gosh. Well, thank you, thank you. Thank you really appreciate you being on the show too and thanks for those who tune in you bet. Thank you all. Oh my gosh. Yeah, pickleball is the state sport now for Washington. And come on over you guys, come visit Bainbridge. It's incredible.

Speaker 3 36:31

Right, clay, we'd love to have you. We want it to be. Our goal is have it be the friendliest place in the world to play. That's what the founders would expect of us, so we've tried to make that happen.

Speaker 1 36:45

Awesome. Come be at the friendliest place to play pickleball Bainbridge Island. Thank you all for joining us today and we look forward to a new conversation next week. Bye-bye, Thank you.

Speaker 2 36:57

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 37:10

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 37:23

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