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™
E51: Wes Gabrielsen: A Hall of Famer and Pro’s Journey Through the Evolution of Pickleball
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What does it take to stay at the top of professional pickleball for more than a decade while continuing to grow as a player, coach, and person?
In this episode, Pickleball Hall of Famer Wes Gabrielsen shares his journey from first discovering pickleball in middle school in 1998 to becoming one of the most accomplished players in the sport. Wes talks about the early days of pickleball in the Pacific Northwest, his path into professional competition, and the incredible experiences he has had playing and coaching around the world, including in Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, and India.
He also reflects on the life lessons pickleball has taught him about patience, grace, partnership, and understanding the different reasons people come to the court. From teaching and coaching to competing on center court at the sport’s biggest events, Wes brings a thoughtful perspective on what makes pickleball special both on and off the court.
This is an inspiring conversation about professional pickleball, coaching, international competition, partnership, patience, sportsmanship, and the life lessons that come from the game we love.
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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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Meet Pickleball Hall of Famer Wes Gabrielson
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 . Oh gosh , we are so honored to have with us today professional pickleball player and Pickleball Hall of Famer , wes Gabrielson . Wes , you are one of the most decorated players in professional pickleball .
Speaker 2You are an 11-time USAPA National Champion , six-time Canadian National Champion , ppa Australia Champion , two-time tournament of champions gold medalist and two-time US Open champion . Wow .
Speaker 1Wow . And in addition to all of your award-winning playing and your coaching duties , you provide one-on-one lessons and group clinics internationally and throughout the United States . But let's roll back to the very beginning . What was going on in your life when you were first introduced to Pickleball ?
Speaker 3Well , first of all , thanks for having me on the podcast . All I'm going to say , with all of those accolades , is it takes really good partners to get you there , and so I give all the credit to my partners for those titles . But thanks to all of them . Give all the credit to my partners for those titles . So , but thanks to all of them , but thanks for having me . Yeah , pickleball first entered my life in 1998 .
Early Pickleball Days Since 1998
Speaker 3People feel like the OGs of the sport were the ones that were playing right before COVID . Well , that's not the case . There's plenty of people that were playing open level pickleball long before I got into it , but I was actually introduced in middle school . So I grew up in Salem , oregon . We had , of course , being in the Northwest . You know the Seattle area is where pickleball was created and that trickled down through the school , pe classes and throughout the Northwest . So I was a seventh grader at Judson Middle School in Salem and my PE teacher said hey , we're going to play pickleball today . We played with a wood paddle , we played with an outdoor durable on a gym floor .
Speaker 3So you can imagine how quick the rallies were . There wasn't a lot of control and we didn't know dinking , we didn't know any of that stuff . I played a little tennis growing up , uh , at that point , so we were just playing tennis on a pickleball court and uh , yeah , I've been , I guess , playing since 1998 so did you keep playing ?
Speaker 1because we've heard a lot of people say , yeah , I was introduced in school , but then I didn't pick it up for another 10 years or something .
Speaker 3So I played through high school because we had again classes . I remember us competing for like Seattle Seahawks hats and things our PE teacher would bring in .
Speaker 3But I played up through high school and then when I went to college I played college tennis at a Division III school here in McMinnville , the town I live in , called uh , linfield college and uh , we had a pickleball class at Linfield and our women's coach was teaching the class . So when we had rainy days and we had practice canceled , we would go audit the pickleball class and she would let us she kind of push all of us tennis guys down to the last court and let us roam free . So I kept playing that and then I started my professional career as a teacher and a high school coach . So I took like three or four years off and my tennis partner was the one who got me back into . Pickleball Probably would have been 2010 .
Speaker 2Pickleball probably would have been 2010 .
Speaker 3And Pickleball legend , someone I think should be in the Hall of Fame . Christine Barksdale lives in Arizona now and we go to this elementary school . I show up I'm expecting a wood paddle , a durable . We still have the gym floor . She hands me a Pro light Magnum , which is a high end paddle back then and this soft wiffle ball . And I say to the people in the group does anyone want to play singles ? And they looked at me like I was insane because everyone was playing doubles and the rest is history . I was hooked .
Speaker 2Wow . So you've been playing for a long time and you've seen a lot of changes in the game . How do you feel about those ?
Speaker 3How much time do we have ?
Speaker 1Got a half hour , let's go for it .
Speaker 3I've got a lot of feelings about some of the changes .
Evolution of Pickleball and Going Pro
Speaker 3I think paddle technology , I feel like up to a certain point , has been good . The evolution , I feel like it's a little interesting these days . I think it's a little bit easier if you come from a very high level of sports , especially racquet sports , to come in and make a quick ascension in the pro ranks . It doesn't mean those players haven't put in the time , because of course they have . Sure , I would like to see it ease off a little bit in terms of power , more so from a safety standpoint , especially for amateur players . I feel like paddles are a little poppy these days and beginner players really need to learn how to play the soft game , how to have ball control , before they ascend to a more powerful paddle .
Speaker 3Aside from that , I feel like most of the changes have been fantastic . The accessibility to court space as brutal as COVID was for the US and the world from a health standpoint . The amount of people that are playing now as a result of that time period , it's amazing and I think we owe a lot to that time period where there wasn't a lot to do inside , so people went outside and they were active Selfishly . I'm kind of happy that all these changes have happened and that boom happened post-COVID because I left a 15-year education career as a high school teacher and a high school and college tennis coach and have been coaching professionally the last four years , along with kind of a second wind of a playing career where there's now these international opportunities to go play , make money playing again and see different parts of the world . So 99% of the changes I love .
Speaker 1So what year did you go pro ?
Speaker 3Well , the very first pro pickleball tournament was an invite event in 2013 . I was so new to this space I wasn't invited because I really hadn't competed outside of the Northwest . They didn't fill the tournament with all the invitees , and so my mixed doubles partner , christine Barksdale , who got me into pickleball at that level , got invited . She brought me in , and so I was lucky enough to play in that first tournament in 2013 called the Tournament of Champions , which still I don't know if it happened this last year , but it still was happening through 2023 and became part of the PPA Tour . So I was lucky enough to be at that first tournament , when we had maybe 10 teams in the draw for all the pro events . It was very small .
Speaker 1And then , from that point on , were you full-time ? I'm trying to understand when you left teaching . Is that when you went pro ?
Speaker 3No , so I think pro pickleball was born in 2013, . So I still played pro pickleball tournaments while I was a full-time teacher and a coach . So I think , there weren't as many tournaments available In addition to the prize money piece wasn't quite what it is today , so I would play in the summertime and then my principals actually were kind enough to let me take a week off in November every year to go play the US National Championships . So 2013 is technically when I went pro but left teaching at the end of 2021 .
Speaker 1Well , thank you for teaching , for being a teacher . Shelly was a teacher , even started a school . My son's a teacher . So teachers have our heart , thank you .
Speaker 3I come from a long line of teachers , so I have to owe it to my parents and my grandparents , who also taught Brilliant .
Speaker 1Brilliant . So we actually know a number of the people that you play with . We were talking about just before we started this , pj Purple , jesus , max and Dino and Diane Baumgartner , who we just interviewed . So it's so fun to have it's like a small or big family actually , with all the people that you come across
International Tournaments and Global Reach
Speaker 1.
Speaker 3Yeah , it's a small world , but it's a big family too at the same time it's a big family too at the same time .
Speaker 1Big family , exactly so it . Are there some common threads among those that are in the pro circuit with you , that personality or kind of life experiences , or is it varied ? Is there a lot of variation ?
Speaker 3there's a of variation and I just want to define it real explicitly here .
Speaker 3I wouldn't consider myself anymore like a full-time touring pro because you have a lot of people playing APPs every tournament and PPAs .
Speaker 3I'm a little more selective with what I play these days based on the length of time . We're not getting younger every year , so I've got to be smart about which tournaments I play and days based on the length of time and you know we're not getting younger every year , so I got to be smart about which tournaments I play and space them out . And so it's really interesting because I feel like pre COVID it was a really still a pretty tight knit group and now you have so many pro pickleball players that it's hard to keep track . I mean , I feel like every week on the PPA tour there's a new face , there's a new name that comes into the ranks and surprises everyone Maybe not the community that they come from , but that's really been fun to see and to go to these different countries and play and coach like I have the last couple years . It's really been wonderful to see the variation of personalities , playing groups , training groups , styles and backgrounds .
Speaker 1In fact , you just got back from India , I think I was in India the first two weeks of February . Yes , Of February . So I lived in India for a lot of my childhood and Shelly's been there for as well , and so we have a heart for India so tell us about that experience .
Speaker 3It was pretty incredible .
Speaker 3Uh , there , there were , I should say , three pro pickleball leagues that were started this year , and I happened to be lucky enough to get selected and drafted into the global sports league , and so I went for a couple of days ahead of time and did some coaching , actually , and then when all the players arrived , we had 10 teams of six players , and most of the teams had at least one player from India on the team .
Speaker 3The teams varied again six players per team , a lot of Americans came over . Teams varied in terms of the separation between genders . Some teams had three men and three women , some had four men and two women , and then there was one team that had two men and four women . So it was all dependent upon the draft choices of the team owners and essentially , it was really fun to be on a team with a lot of players who I'd played against in the US but I'd never partnered with or spent a lot of time with , and we played in Mumbai and it was a week long event . We had the team competition at night and then we had an there was an Indian open in the morning , so we were playing two tournaments within one week . So it was a lot of pickleball .
Speaker 2Those .
Speaker 3Of us that were are blessed to be over 30 , we got to qualify for the 30 and over brackets , which most of the pros in the league were not . Uh , so I think I counted 45 matches I played during the week oh my gosh , a lot , oh my god , I got a lot of sleep on the flights home , um , but yeah , it was .
Speaker 3it was a great experience , um , the league was wonderful . You know , I got to meet tons of players from around the world . You know , connect with some future coaching clients , so people that young pros in India that are going to come over and spend some time with me in the States , and we got to do a little bit of sightseeing . We were pretty jam-packed with pickleball , but I'm going to tell you , pickleball in India is on the rise and it is booming both from a participation standpoint and a skill standpoint . There are a lot of really talented players .
Speaker 1That's so good to hear .
Speaker 2The opportunities that pickleball brings to your life are incredible .
Speaker 3It's been pretty amazing a couple of years .
Speaker 1Yeah , so where else have you been internationally ?
Speaker 3Uh , 2024 . So last year I played in the major league pickleball Australia league . So they had a league and we were uh , there was one international player allowed per team . Some teams didn't draft an international player , they had players from Australia , new Zealand and Asia . But there were two seasons and I was lucky enough to get picked for both . So we played an event in Sydney , got to go to Sydney , I went to Auckland , new Zealand , I went to Brisbane twice and then we played an event in Vietnam .
Speaker 2Vietnam was hot .
Speaker 3It was very hot , oh yeah , hot and muggy .
Speaker 1I don't think we've ever sweated that much playing football even in Florida . Oh my gosh . Yeah , I believe that .
Speaker 3Yeah , it was just amazing .
Speaker 1It was amazing .
Speaker 3It was hard to be away from home , that much you know .
Speaker 2but I made it work where I would be gone for a couple weeks and then I'd be home for about a month and a half in between , that's the best part of pickleball Even if we're not invited to be in professional tournaments , when we travel we can take our paddle with us and always find
Center Court Moments and Tournament Thrills
Speaker 2fun pickleball opportunities .
Speaker 3Just the connections we've all made . India was really fun for me because I knew all you know most of the American pros there and that was one world for me . And then I'd spent that year in Australia and there were a lot of Australians and Asian players , so it was like two worlds colliding for me in India . It was really fun to see partners from one league meet partners from the other and it was just a great experience .
Speaker 1Is there any difference in the rules in these different countries ? Does everybody follow the same ?
Speaker 3expectation rules . The only difference would be you know , in the Major League Pickleball Australia and then the Global Sports League , for the team event we use rally scoring , but for all of the , you know the PPA Australia pro events and then the Indian open . We used a standard scoring .
Speaker 1And explain the two .
Speaker 3Explain for those who don't know Rally scoring would be that every rally that is played is worth a point . In traditional scoring if you're the serving team , let's say you serve . The return comes back and you missed your third shot into the net . You're not penalized in traditional scoring or standard scoring , but in rally scoring you would be penalized a point .
Speaker 3So it really puts an emphasis on consistency . But you have to find how to control your aggressive play , because you don't want to err on the side of being too cautious or too aggressive . You have to find the happy medium .
Speaker 1Because every point counts , yeah , and I think a lot of players .
Speaker 3It's a good benefit for especially emerging pros because , like I said , we were playing regular scoring during the morning and then nighttime you got to shift to a different scoring method . So it's a good practice and discipline to know when to be aggressive and when to be a little less aggressive .
Speaker 1And the people you coach right now ? Are they different ages or primarily a certain age ?
Speaker 3All over . So I was just over at the Oregon coast at a place called Salishan Resort over in Lincoln city area , and so I had a couple of clinics and it was mostly people over 50 that were in the , you know , three , five to four O range of players .
Speaker 3Uh , I've got a couple of lessons actually tonight with some players who are more in the four , five and five O range and they're a little bit younger . So , um , I think at the moment I teach a lot of different ages and skill levels , Uh , but I definitely focus more on my private lessons on the upper level players , and the big clinics are traditionally more of the intermediate level players .
Speaker 1Do you have some stories from your all your adventures around the world or even coaching , that kind of inspire ?
Speaker 3or funny or that might be different . Yeah , some we can't tell . You know , I think I get asked a lot . You know what are your favorite tournament experiences ? I always go back to any time when we were blessed to have USA Nationals at Indian Wells Tennis Garden where every year they have the big ATP and WTA tennis tournament that's actually going on right now big ATP and WTA tennis tournament that's actually going on right now . To be able to play pickleball there at the location where these elite tennis players are and the center court that they built out for us every year .
Speaker 3Any chance I got to go play on that court where you think about a traditional pro tournament where you might be playing in front of a couple hundred people in the stands . To now you're on center court at Indian Wells and there's six to eight thousand people in the stands and it's nighttime and the lights are on . That's actually when I feel the calmest , because I love , I love it , I love it . I think you get to that point . You get on that court and , honestly , you got nothing to lose , because that's the pinnacle for us up until .
Speaker 3Up until we moved away from that venue , that was the pinnacle of our sport professionally . Playing on that court in front of all those people was such a thrill and I'll tell you what . I won some matches on court , but I lost a lot of close matches on that court . I still enjoyed it either way , you know , to be able to look up and see 50 to 100 people from Oregon who I knew that were there rooting for my partner and I and we could hear them in the stands and we could look exactly and figure out where they were .
Speaker 3Like that was so thrilling . And I remember we had one match in particular where I was playing with Eric Lang , who now plays with with Max with Purple Jesus . Uh , and Eric and I played against Jay DeVillier and Tyson McGuffin in the second round of nationals . We had a packed stadium . I think they beat us like 11-9 in the third game and the four of us at the end all hugged each other . Of course we were disappointed that you know we didn't win and they won .
Speaker 3But , we all looked at each other and said how amazing was this experience to get to play against two friends , the sport we love , in front of all these people who are having a great time , you know . And so I always enjoyed playing there and I really hope someday we go back because I think for a lot of American pros that have been playing for a while that was our favorite place to play .
Speaker 1Well , we'll put that out to the universe . And so what would ? What are some of the life lessons that you've , either maybe as a teacher or as a coach , or in your general life ? You have these life lessons that you find yourself using while you're on the court , or lessons that you actually learned while you wereinking , and the metaphor and just you know comparison between being patient when you dink and patient with people in your lives .
Speaker 3I think we can learn a lot from that . You know , there's a drill I like to do with my students and when I drill , called the Spanish fighting drill . It's not as combative as it seems , but essentially it's a dinking drill where you are playing just in the kitchen with one player , let's say Shelly , you and I are playing and there's a 20 ball rally and I hit number 21 into the net . You collect all 20 points . So every dink is worth a point and it teaches you to be patient but also to stay mentally tough , physically tough , and I think that's a great connection between the patience that we need in the sport and the patience you need in life , because there are times where you know you're very frustrated with people , but you just have to stick with them , give them some grace . You're very frustrated with people but you just have to stick with them , give them some grace . And I think dinking has taught a lot of people how to be more graceful and appreciative of life and patient .
Speaker 2You can try that drill if you want so wait what's it called ? Do you try to get ?
Speaker 1to 100 or something .
Speaker 2Yeah , okay , that's good .
Speaker 3I like that was a tennis drill that I used to use with my high school kids and I I implemented in pickleball . But , um , again , I think that's been a great patience piece
Life Lessons from the Pickleball Court
Speaker 3. Uh , again , a good lesson . Um , I think , learning how to interact with different people all right , you know , you think about tournament partnerships , but also when you go to open play , when you go to round robins , you got people from all different backgrounds , ethnicities , political beliefs , religious beliefs , all of those things , and the common thread is pickleball . And you have to you know again , if you're not a patient person and you're not accepting , pickleball can help you embrace everyone , or else it's going to be hard to live in the pickleball world , because everyone is pretty patient and nice , right , it's so true . It should be .
Speaker 1We tell this story that our coach , madeline Lapkey , here at Eastside Tennis Center in Kirkland Sorry that our coach Madeline Lapkey , here at Eastside Tennis Center in Kirkland , when she first started playing she would ask people do you play pickleball ? Yes , are you nice ? Yes , okay , we can play , but that's it Got to be nice . Or you can't play , and that's essentially pickleball community , as far as I can tell . I mean , there are a few who haven't quite learned that yet , but that's a life lesson . Maybe they will learn in time . But yes , side .
Speaker 3if you're playing with someone that's maybe a little competitive during open play or treating it like the national championship for them , that may be the national championship and learning how , as the patient person , to try to give them a little support and grace as they are working through their frustrations . I don't think we look through that lens a whole lot . I think we look more at the other side of that situation . So again , everyone's in it for a different reason and uh , yeah .
Speaker 1Right , I love that . Thank you , wes , I actually haven't , I hadn't looked at it that way , and that's such an important cause . It's so much easier to be judgmental about somebody who's being busy , but I love that you're saying hey , no , turn it around , sure , maybe they need that extra grace .
Speaker 2You know , like we say , we never know someone's story right . We need to be patient with everyone .
Speaker 1And it might be really important . I took that from teaching .
Speaker 3You know we would have students that would act out , students that you , you know wouldn't turn in assignments and they're , you know , you know , inappropriate or something . And we get in teachers meeting and most of us would say what's the ? What's the home life like for the kid is ?
Speaker 3the kid getting fed , is the kid getting enough sleep , and so I think I've had practice with that and folks in in education have been lucky enough to go through that thought process that that's allowed me , when I am teaching or playing , to address that person who's getting agitated , frustrated , and try to help them have a better experience .
Speaker 1Sometimes it doesn't work , yeah , but your intention is good . And what a great way to model not just how to play the game , but how to live life . I mean bless your heart . Thank you . It's not easy , so how can people find you ? Because people are going to want a great coach like you or follow you on your play or whatever . Yeah .
Speaker 3So I've got a , a , a business website , uh , wesleygabrielsonpickleballcom , and that lists , you know , my coaching services , upcoming clinics , tournaments . I'm playing um the sponsors that people are interested in , you know , using discount codes to to get some pickleball gear from my sponsors , and so , uh , again WesleyGabrielsonPickleballcom , and then on Facebook and Instagram as well .
Speaker 1My gosh , what a what an honor to have you on this show with us . Wes and your wisdom is unbounded , and the and you've really given me a lot to think about , and I'm going to going to think about it after the show too . I really appreciate that .
Speaker 3Thanks for having me on .
Speaker 1Thank you . Shelly how lucky are we , huh .
Speaker 2So lucky . Thank you very much .
Speaker 1Appreciate your time Really do . Thanks , wes , and thank you all . Thank you all for being a part of this show . You got some good coaching tips from Wes today and I'm going to try that drill too up to 100 . Dinking Yikes Well . Thank you all and we look forward to another conversation next week . Bye-bye
Connecting with Wes and Show Closing
Speaker 1.
Speaker 2Bye-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 .
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Speaker 2Thanks , so much Hope to see you on the court .