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™
E60: Brian Ashworth: The Pickleball Experience: Fun Over Perfection
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How does someone go from getting kicked off a basketball court for pickleball to becoming a 5.0 pro, international instructor, and one of the most respected coaches in the game?
In this episode, Brian Ashworth shares his incredible pickleball journey, from first discovering the sport at the YMCA in Billings, Montana, to winning major titles, teaching around the world, and helping shape the game through coaching, clinics, and the Pickleball Experience. Brian talks about how coming to pickleball without a racquet sports background helped him think differently, play differently, and develop a unique style that set him apart on the court.
He also reflects on playing with top-level partners, working at Pickleball Central during the sport’s explosive growth, building the Pickleball Experience with Peter Hudak and Jemuel Morris, and what he has learned from years of teaching players at every level. Along the way, Brian shares thoughtful insights about patience, confidence, creativity, family priorities, and why no player should ever be the reason someone quits the game.
This is a fun and inspiring conversation about professional pickleball, pickleball coaching, Pickleball Central, the Pickleball Experience, international clinics, patience, partnership, and the life lessons that come from growing with the sport while helping others love it too.
📘 The Expanded Edition of Life Lessons from Pickleball™ is now available on Amazon
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An uplifting collection of short reflections and life lessons inspired by our podcast conversations with people from around the world. Through stories of community, empowerment, and joy, the book offers inspiration both on and off the court. about community, empowerment, and joy through the game of pickleball.
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Introduction to Brian Ashworth
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 Gosh . Today we are thrilled to have with us Brian Ashworth as our guest . Brian , you are a true pioneer in the pickleball world .
Speaker 2Your journey from Billings , montana , to becoming a 5.0 rated pro and a sought after instructor is nothing short of inspiring , not only have you clinched titles like the 2017 US Open Men's Double Gold and the 2016 Canadian National Men's Open silver , but you've also been instrumental in teaching and promoting the sport across the globe , from Florida to Hawaii to Costa Rica and many more .
Speaker 1And let's not forget to mention your signature paddle , the Pure Shot Brian Ashworth series , with one-shot pickleball . It's a testament to your influence and dedication to the game , and you are also co-owner of the Pickleball Experience and Head Pro at the Drop in Tacoma Washington .
Speaker 2We're eager to hear about all of your accomplishments , but let's get started with how you were introduced to Pickleball and what was going on in your life at the time .
Speaker 3Awesome . Thank you guys . That was very nice of you . Looking back on some of the stuff you said , I have been very fortunate and lucky to travel the world teaching , travel the world playing , playing with a lot of great partners , which definitely helps in the success , and I actually had somehow tricked two companies into making me a signature paddle Um and unfortunately left one shot recently , but , lucky for us , we just signed with Yola , so me and the pickleball experience are now sponsored by Yola , so that will help us as we teach and do our clinics and stuff .
Speaker 1That's exciting . When were you first introduced to pickleball
First Steps into Pickleball
Speaker 1?
Speaker 3Oh , God 15 . It was about 15 years ago . I spent a lot of time at the YMCA back home in Billings , montana and we shared one gym for basketball , for boot camp , for pickleball . And one day after playing basketball , we were getting kicked out for pickleball and one of my friends was like , hey , you should stay and play this . And I was like maybe . So I watched them play , thought , wow , that actually looks pretty cool . Next day I came back and played and never really stopped .
Speaker 1Is that it ? And ?
Speaker 3what was your sport before pickleball A lot of basketball , a lot of football , baseball growing up . But as I got older it was basketball and soccer and I kind of for a while joked that I was kind of a professional recreational athlete . I would just kind of play whatever .
Speaker 2So pickleball was your first racket sport .
Speaker 3It was . It was , I think , helped in a lot of ways because I think differently , I see differently . Obviously it'd be nice to have a bunch of tennis experience and have you know this skill set that they come in with right away . But I was kind of a blank slate Right , so I got to learn as I went and got to make things my own and then work on form as I go .
Speaker 1Say more about what you just said . You think differently , you see differently . What's that mean ?
Speaker 3Right . So tennis players read tennis players very well . They think they play very similarly . So if you match up two tennis players , they're going to be comfortable playing each other . If you throw me out there with a tennis player doing my goofy stuff , they might be better , but they're like what is he doing ? You're not supposed to do that . So it kind of works out for me . Yeah , so it kind of works out for me yeah , so you started playing pickleball .
Speaker 2And then ? What was your journey then to becoming a 5.0 pro ?
Speaker 3Okay , cool , yeah , yeah . So at first , especially back 15 years ago , I was one of the youngest by quite a bit . I'm very loud , I don't really use great language sometimes , so I wasn't always everybody's favorite to play with at the gym , right . So I went and got some of my basketball buddies , some younger trash talkers . We all started playing together , didn't even know it was a real sport , right , we're trying to hit each other with the ball , talk trash . And then slowly got better and better and started playing with the better players and I was like , oh , this is actually awesome . Watched a couple of videos online and the local ambassador we had that taught us how to play was like , man , you guys should really go play some tournaments . So I was like , whatever , watched some YouTube , thought I could play with these guys , went and watched them live and was like , wow , they're very good , but it was fun .
Speaker 1And so what was your introduction to actually ? I mean , were you still in Montana when you started doing tournaments ?
Speaker 3I was , I was Yep , so at the time I think we went to if you don't count the local ones right Montana or Wyoming . We did some little ones . Seattle used to have an indoor tournament . That was a pretty big tournament that I would go to , and then Utah in Brigham City had a tournament and the Nationals were kind of the main ones for the first year or two . I then started growing my name and venturing out a little bit .
Speaker 1So were you a 3.0 when you just entered tournaments ? You just kind of were a natural , or were you already a 4 ? For sure , natural , for sure . No , no entered tournaments . You just kind of were a natural , or were you already a four for sure ?
Speaker 3natural , for sure . No , no , uh , I was a hard worker , I had some skill . Um , back then we played our first tournament at four or five . Wow , mans did okay in c-tech . I don't remember we didn't place , but we did okay . And then in mixed doubles I actually took silver , wow , which was pretty cool right away .
Speaker 1Wow .
Speaker 3But that old SeaTac tournament man you'd play on Saturday was the 4-5 and 4-0 day , so you could play men's doubles , mixed doubles , singles in the same day . Wow Wake up Sunday , do it again in the open division . So it was awesome for me to play on Saturday and compete and then on Sunday see all the guys that I would see on YouTube and like , oh my God , here they all are . Like it was really cool and so fun to play against them .
Speaker 1And were you also playing singles , doubles and mixed ?
Speaker 3Yeah , yeah , back then , of course , of course , wow .
Speaker 1Yeah , and did you have a regular doubles partner or you mixed ?
Speaker 3yeah , I did , especially early on , right coming from Montana , where there was so few of us . There was kind of four of us that always travel together me and a buddy and two girls that were friends and it kind of worked out that we all played with each other . So it was pretty fun . Then , as you grow , you start branching out partners and stuff .
Speaker 2Well , and you had said that you've really got to play with some talented players
Tournament Journey and Early Partnerships
Speaker 2.
Speaker 3Right , right , tell us about that . So the first one that really took a chance on me . His name was Chris Miller Goes by . Mills Met him , bonded with him right away , like I , really , really like him . He called me up one day this is when I lived in Montana . He called me up on like a Monday and he goes hey , my partner's hurt . Can you play in San Diego on Thursday ? He's like .
Speaker 3I'll get you a place to stay , I'll have partners for you for the rest of the week and for me , I was like , yes , like at the time he was top three in everything , like huge opportunity . Um , I was going to stay at Jen LaCourse house , who's a hall of famer . So it was like , yes , I'll make this work . So I think I paid 800 bucks to fly from feelings to San Diego and play the tournament . And he was , he was very big . I owe him quite a bit actually . Um , helping my career , getting my foot in the door . Actually , when I moved to Seattle area , I moved in with Mills . I lived with him for a couple of years .
Speaker 2So wow , how did he know about ?
Speaker 3you , um , just I think through SeaTac must have been , and maybe in Utah , um , we're kind of similar personalities loud , annoying , trash , trash , talking , swearing , yeah , yeah , so naturally we're like best friends , of course , right , so , but it was really fun and I do owe him a lot .
Speaker 3But through that you know , as you play and you get results , like you get better and better partners , and then as you get results , you get better partners . One thing I think that always helped me is I've always said I think I was a better partner than a player right , like in the way that if you watch Ben play right now , he's gonna win with everybody . I feel like what I was good at is adapting to my partner's strengths , being a like if they miss , I don't care . Like I wasn't rude to anybody . I didn't feel like you need to play my game , um , and I was never that great at maybe creating or scoring a lot of points , but I was pretty good at defense . So I always said , like you can play the way you play , I'll clean up your mistakes . Do the dirty work .
Speaker 1You know , I've never heard that comment before , but you're absolutely right . Being a good partner makes all the difference and we each have different strengths . And yeah , being good in defense , that's terrific . And cleaning up the mess .
Speaker 3We all want to be Michael Jordan , but I'll take Candice Rodman . I used to play with Ben quite a bit and I always joked like while we were playing take anything you could touch , man , I'll get the heck out of the way . But then every medal stand I'd be right in front of him just to let him know like I got it you played with Ben Johns .
Speaker 3I've played with a lot of the top players . Ben I met when we went to Florida for an exhibition . Back then it was in the villages , it was like the first coaching type things , but it was unpaid . We would just like do these clinics and I was lucky enough to be there with Kyle Yates , with Wes Gabrielson , two of my best friends .
Speaker 3And we met this kid , ben , and we were playing with him and at that point we were all a little bit better than him , but it was like man . This kid in two years is going to be amazing . Two months later was US Open and I think he won singles . All right , it took two months , but I convinced him to come out to the West coast with me back then . All the best players are on the West coast , so we played a couple of tournaments and he was so fun . He's so good .
Speaker 1So when did you start teaching ?
Speaker 3I don't know . Yeah , probably seven or eight years ago , um , and I always felt like I helped people , right , if you had questions , because I felt like , because I didn't necessarily have natural talent racket I was , I had to be pretty cerebral , I had to understand , you know , court positioning , awareness strategy type stuff , um , so I was always willing to help people or listen to any advice from anybody . Um , but I started , I believe it was probably through Boost Camps , which was a Pickleball Central clinic series at the time , and I helped teach some of those and just kind of branched off from there .
Speaker 1You worked with them for Pickleball Central for six years or so .
Speaker 2Correct , correct , correct .
Speaker 1And awesome . It was awesome . Why yes ?
Speaker 3Just really fun to see how Pickleball grew . I think when I started there there was maybe 15-ish employees . There was two of us in the warehouse in the shipping department , you know , pumping out a really busy day , and I don't even know if I can say this , but on a really busy day , a hundred orders a day , and then after , like through COVID , with the explosion and everything , I think we had maybe 60 employees . There's probably eight or 10 in the warehouse . There was times we were putting out five , 600 orders a day , so it was really cool to see like how much pickleball had grown . Our original warehouse was the size of two pickleball courts and one of them we would actually play on . Um , our original warehouse was the size of two pickleball courts and one of them we would actually play on , so we left it empty . By the time we left it was , I don't know , 20 or 30,000 square foot warehouse . It was insane .
Speaker 1So what were you shipping out ?
Speaker 3Uh , paddles , balls , clothes , shoes , anything and everything pickleball related . We had it .
Speaker 1I didn't realize there were pickleball shoes that long ago .
Speaker 3Back then . Yes , we had a couple of brands . It was mostly paddles , balls , nets .
Speaker 1Nets too yeah .
Speaker 3And then some clothes every once in a while . But paddles , balls , nets .
Speaker 2Wow . So then how did you go from working at pickleball central to starting your business ? The pickleball experience yes , perfect .
Speaker 3So when covid hit , boost camps kind of stopped , at that point we were teaching them in at pickleball central . We had four courts on premise . So me , my buddy peter hudako and then our buddy jemuel morris , we're kind of teaching those together . So when they stopped um one day we were at lunch . I used to work with peter at pickleball central as well , so we were outside at lunch . Jim came and met us and he goes . You know , guys , I think we should keep doing this and just do our own thing . And we were like sure , why not , let's do it . I just kind of slowly built up from there , which was really fun because I love Boost . It was a great opportunity . It was cool to like teach with them .
Speaker 3But we were teaching somebody else's curriculum and you had to follow it pretty specifically . Once we started doing our own thing , we could do whatever the heck we want , right ? So if we're with a group and we're like hey , I know we're supposed to be dinking for an hour , but they obviously need more time or less time , we have the ability to adapt off of it . Nice . And then just over the years we've done all sorts of different clinics , different styles . The one we just did was in California . We did three groups of four players . We like to do a four to one ratio , so one coach to each court and basically went in without a curriculum . The first 15 minutes we watched that group of four play and we started adapting and making our curriculum on the spot for them .
Speaker 3What a great idea it was like this is exactly what you guys need . It's really , really , really fun .
Speaker 2So that was my question what is the pickleball experience ? Because I saw that on your website you do tailor it to groups .
Speaker 3Right right , that's what you're talking about , Exactly exactly . We've run tournaments . We've done clinics . Jem and Peter did a lot in Hawaii to help them resurface courts . I came up with the Name Pick Law experience because I always thought like the idea of it is an experience together . It's really fun to me . Each one can be a little bit different , we can kind of do whatever we want , but it's awesome .
Speaker 3I feel like I've hacked life right traveling with some of my best friends teach pickleball once twice a month and then just raise my kids wonderful , what a dream , what a dream .
Speaker 3And travel internationally right
Teaching Philosophy and The Pickleball Experience
Speaker 3yes , so we're also lucky enough , being that I'm buddies with ben . Ben Ben's got his company Pickleball Getaways . They hire us out every once in a while to go teach some of their getaways and we were lucky enough to get good reviews and have been back quite a bit . But that takes us , you know , mexico , dominican Republic , costa Rica , antigua I think those two have been to Turks and Caicos .
Speaker 3I went to Portugal with them yeah , it's awesome and both aspects are fun right To do his clinics . They got all the people , they got everything . We literally just show up and teach .
Speaker 1And are you teaching your experience or you're teaching their curriculum ? Both , both .
Speaker 3If we're the head pros , we have the freedom to kind of do what we want .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 3However , because it's their business , we do kind of work together on a curriculum and make sure we cover what needs to be covered essentially . Sure , it's also some of those . Mexico is 80 people , right , so it's much different doing 12 people for three coaches versus 80 people , for what do we have ? We do groups of 40 , so five or seven coaches . So you do got to adapt your curriculum based off hey , we got this many people , we got to be a little more broad with what we do . Or hey , we got four people , we can do exactly what you guys need .
Speaker 1So you guys are known , peter the wizard , you the dragon jemuel the goat how did you each get your titles for those ?
Speaker 3uh , let's see , let's start with peter . So peter is the wizard . Peter is very misdirected , very goofy with the shots he hits um , almost like he makes the ball disappear and then reappear somebody else . So we just called him the wizard . He's also kind of witchy , kind of hippie . It fits really well . I was the dragon , because sometimes I'm a little sleepy , don't really care , but if you wake up , the dragon sometimes you're in trouble , right .
Speaker 3And then Jim was the goat because especially in the early days , right , goat everybody thinks like greatest of all time Goat was a little video he sent us in the early days . Basically Peter would be explaining a drill , me and Jim would be doing it and I would just be like , without really trying , would be annihilating jim in these drills over and over . But he sent us a video that was like this little black goat just getting picked on by everybody and he was like that's me . So the nickname of goat stuck um , but it's fun because everybody else when they hear it they think oh , this guy must be really good and he's very good now .
Speaker 3But it started because he was just getting dominated over and over .
Speaker 2That is so funny there was one pickleball experience I read about . That was very heart touching , where you were in Hawaii but you were raising money for orphanage in Mexico . How did that work ? I ?
Speaker 3think you were in Hawaii but you were raising money for orphanage in Mexico . How did that work ? So , jem , I believe it was on one of the trips we did getaways for Ben we were there for a week . We went home for five days . We came back , jem stayed there and went to around the area and I think he ran into this place or somehow got connected with them . So actually I believe and I'd have to confirm , but I believe we give a portion of every single clinic every single experience , everything we do goes to this place .
Speaker 3Jem is the one that found it . Jem is the one that did it .
Speaker 1I think primarily for children with disabilities . That's , that's what .
Speaker 2Yeah it's a home for children that have been with disabilities , that have been cast out of their families and they're 20 like 25 to 30 people kids now housed there . It looked like it was amazing right , right .
Speaker 3Yeah , like I said , jim is a better person than me , he's a gem , he is , he is you had said that right before the show .
Speaker 1You said , oh , they're better people . And I said to you they would say the same about you . Yeah , that's what humility does . It's very endearing . You said you had a signature paddle . Now you're with Jula , but how do you go about even getting a signature paddle ? How did that even happen ?
Speaker 3Pure luck , man . It kind of started back in the day Maybe gosh , I'm so bad with years Maybe like 2015 , 2016-ish .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 3I was playing with ProLite at the time , oh yeah . This is when I was one of this is like kind of peak-ish of my career , right , I had three , four good years in a row , um , and we wanted to come out with kind of a signature paddle , which I still say . That paddle was ahead of its time . It was an all-carbon fiber paddle oh that long ago wow um , it was covered .
Speaker 3They put something over the top , so it wasn't the raw carbon fiber that you see today , but very similar felt awesome . I love that paddle and we put a little beard sticker on the bottom and like my name , it was so fun .
Speaker 3For those who aren't watching the youtube our guest here has an amazing beard , right , thank you and at the time , like I remember , it was like it was really fun , but also kind of embarrassing at times , just like if somebody had it . It was like it was always really cool . But I was like how , how did this happen to me right ?
Speaker 3um and then when I started working with one shot which is a local Seattle company , two of my very good friends we kind of wanted to do like the same thing , come out with something , so I helped design this one quite a bit more . It was like exactly what I wanted in a paddle um took the beard logo off of it , um just felt like , in a way , maybe women didn't want to paddle with a beard , so this was something that was maybe a little more easier for everybody . Yeah , but that was awesome too and we had very good success with that , especially the first couple of years , kind of until all the paddles basically became the same paddle .
Speaker 1Ah , yeah .
Speaker 3So , but it was fun .
Speaker 1How did you get hooked up with Jula ?
Speaker 3Kind of through getaways , teaching out there . One of the guys that was there works for him . He really liked our style . He said yo , would you ever be interested in signing with them ? And at the time it was kind of like , yeah , sure , maybe . But I also really liked one shot right , friends , local , I like being loyal . Shot right , friends , local , like I . Really , I like being loyal . They're always good to me . I want to be good to them . Um , but then one day I hit the yolo paddle and it was like , oh okay , this is pretty nice , um , and I felt like in a way I'm in a different chapter of my pickleball journey . Ah , to where it is , maybe more coaching , more teaching , less playing , and through YOLA I think the support we can get is a little bit better for that part of my journey .
Speaker 1Yeah , is it YOLA ? I've been saying YOLA , yola
Life Lessons from Pickleball
Speaker 1, yola , good , good , that's very cool .
Speaker 2I think Yola , but I don't know .
Speaker 1I'm sure you're right . I'm sure you're right . So you've had an amazing life , my friend , and you're also a dad with adorable children and you have this remarkable career on the court . So what life lessons would you say you have gleaned either in your life and that you use when you're on the court or when you're coaching , or that you've learned on the court or while you were coaching that you find yourself using in life ?
Speaker 3okay , um , yeah , the biggest one to me would be patience and I listened to wes's wes Gabrielson's episode with you guys the other day . He said patience as well , yeah , but I just think it's so true , right , especially younger , where you get fired up about dumb things and then when I would play pickleball like if I was really good , I was way up here , and then when I get upset I would drop way down . So patience to me became more than just like , okay , dink 10 times before you attack . Right , it was calmness , patience , relaxing , don't get too high , don't get too low . And that has carried over really well to real life for me . Like I don't get that worked up about much , so that's been kind of the big one , and to me I feel like patient .
Speaker 2Oh , sorry you no-transcript .
Speaker 3They're fun . They're fun . But right now we have a two and a half year old and a five month old . What so two ? They're just in two different stages , right ? The two and a half year old wants to run around all day and scream and yell , and the five month old can't move . So it's very interesting . But , yes , patience is very much required . Right ?
Speaker 1love it , I absolutely love it oh , what a nice balance to have your home life and your professional life and have one lesson that kind of works with both right , right right and then patience .
Speaker 3I also look at it in the way of like teaching right , I feel like I'm pretty good at meeting people where they're at . Um , I think a lot of people teach pickleball very black and white , right , like you have to do this . You have to play pitching right , I feel like I'm pretty good at meeting people where they're at . I think a lot of people teach pickleball very black and white , right , like you have to do this . You have to play like this . You have to look like this . You have to hold the paddle like this .
Speaker 3And to me , I'm like no , like if you said , hey , I want to be a pro pickleball player in three months , sure , there might be some hard rules , but other than that , like , most of us are playing for fun . So to me , let's have fun . Right , like your game can look funky , it can look unique . That shot that everybody tells you don't hit , I'll tell you , maybe situations why not to ? But maybe there's plenty where it is good to hit , right , yeah , and to me , even if you watch high level , they don't all look the exact same no right , and if that's the case , why should we right ?
Speaker 3or to look at other sports right , like basketball is one of my favorite sports to play . To watch basketball . All they do is shoot threes and dunk . Well , I definitely can't dunk and I don't shoot three .
Speaker 3So what am I supposed to not play like right ? So ? Or if you watch golf , right , they hit right down the middle every time . I've never hit the middle in my life , so I'd rather just kind of meet people where they're at , have fun , build confidence . I feel like most people just want to feel like honestly , like they belong on the court and that their partner isn't like oh , I have to play with them again . Yeah , yeah I think that's a big part . It's just confidence of like dude . If you miss , who cares ?
Speaker 1if you make the shot , who cares ?
Speaker 3who cares , right , yeah , if you win , it doesn't matter if you lose doesn't matter , as long as you had fun playing .
Speaker 1Who cares ? Correct , correct ? So you've seen a lot of changes in the game since you first started 15 years ago what are some of the changes that you like and what are some that you're kind of wondering about ?
Changes in Pickleball and Future Plans
Speaker 3I would say right now it's different . When I was still competing at pro level and still trying to hang on , I didn't like that the game sped up . I didn't like that it was getting more athletic . I didn't like that people were just ripping . Because I felt like my best skill set was out thinking you and out smarting you .
Speaker 3And a little bit of that went away . However , now that I don't play as much anymore I don't play pro like , to be honest it is more fun just to like , not think , and just hit the ball hard and see what happens , right , so it is very fun . I would say one thing that I don't love as much as I do . Feel like back in the day I feel like we'd go to tournaments , everybody would play with everybody , we'd hang out afterwards .
Speaker 3Um , now it doesn't seem to have as much camaraderie as it once did , or there is more people making exclusive groups , but maybe that's just part of the growth , right , like you used to be able to go to any pickleball court anywhere and be able to play . Now , right , you know six courts in seattle . There's 30 stacks of four paddles waiting .
Speaker 3So if that's the case , maybe you do want to just play with your friends so it's just it just seems a little bit different in that way , um , but it's really fun for me again , like with the growth , like I used to be . If somebody said what do you do ? And I'd be like , oh , I play pickleball . They'd be like what's that ? And I'd have to be like , well , how ?
Speaker 2much time .
Speaker 3Do you have right short version ? It's like ping pong and tennis with chess , right long version . Well , let's get into it . And now it's well , I play pickleball and they're like oh , I love pickleball .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 3Right so , and to see commercials with it and see it in TV shows . So overall , I think it's very , very good . It's just cool to see how many people are still playing and how many people still love it .
Speaker 1Yes , yeah , and I hope we don't ever lose the camaraderie . I know what you mean and I think it's up to each of us , as players , to make sure that we keep the open heart Remember that some people are just starting . We started a long time ago , and so it's we . We got to keep that going , because that's the spirit of this game .
Speaker 3Yeah , that's the only way we get to where we're at .
Speaker 1Right .
Speaker 3I had buddies that took a chance on me before I was ready . There you go so good on them and I tell people a lot , right ? Pickleball means so much to so many people that I tell them don't be the reason . Somebody quits playing . Maybe that's all they have going in their life that day and you roll your eyes at them once and they never come back .
Speaker 3How heartbreaking would it be to hear , hey , three people quit pickleball because of you . Like that would crush me . So I try to never be a reason that somebody quits playing . I say if I go to open play , I will play with anybody , I will have fun , I would , I don't care . There is times I will set up groups , sure , but it's not an open play , right .
Speaker 1Sure right , open play has to be open play .
Speaker 3Let's do it right I don't care if you've never played . I don't care if you're the best player in the world . Let's play . Let's have fun .
Speaker 1I love it Right . So what's your future , what's coming up for you and how can ?
Speaker 3people follow you , who knows Now teaching a lot through Pickleball Experience . Check out our website , thepickleballexperiencecom . We do a lot of custom . We're actually just about to go to Canada in a couple of weeks Nice and I think that's another similar one where we're customizing it to them .
Speaker 1Nice .
Speaker 3Going to Michigan . It's just so fun to like travel around . But essentially because we're willing to customize to what you want . It's not yo , bring this cookie cutter clinic to the area . It's hey . You might call and be like , hey , my area needs this , can you guys do it ? Of course we can , right , so that's a big part of it . I don't know that I'll ever get into as many tournaments again . I feel like that's hard because I still have expectations of my level but they're not where I'm at and I don't necessarily want to sign up for a tournament and be like crap . I got to train for three months or I'm going to be very upset with myself , like right now . I'd rather hang with my family , my kids and grow those bonds , then be marginally better at pickleball , right .
Speaker 1Great priorities , Brian .
Speaker 2Yeah , you can come back to being a senior pro . Maybe who knows what it'll look like .
Speaker 1How old are you , Brian ? How old are you ?
Speaker 3I'm 40 . Oh , he says it so quietly we're in our 60s dear .
Speaker 1So yeah , you're a babe .
Speaker 3Exactly To look at like pickleball and say like oh , senior pro , I got 10 years for that . Look at what pickleball looked like 10 years ago .
Speaker 2If that continues .
Speaker 1I won't even be close to senior pro You'll be fine If you decide you want to get back into it , but I love that you're coaching . I love how you three guys are meeting the needs of the people you're coaching and not just asking everybody to adjust to whatever it is you want to teach . I think that's fantastic . You watch the group and you say , oh OK , we're seeing what it's . You know , some of the weaknesses are what your strengths are , and let's build on the strengths . Yeah , I love that . Good for you .
Speaker 3And it's more fun for us that way .
Speaker 1I bet .
Speaker 3I bet .
Speaker 1Well , Shelly , how lucky are we . We are so lucky .
Speaker 2Very lucky .
Speaker 1So lucky . Thank you , brian , thank you so ? Much for taking the time .
Speaker 3Yes , absolutely .
Speaker 1Thank you , guys and give your kidlets a little kiss and hug , and your wife too .
Speaker 2Let's start for keeping them busy . Oh man , she's a saint .
Speaker 1Thank you .
Speaker 2And thank you all .
Speaker 1Oh my gosh , thank you for tuning in . Don't forget to share these episodes If they're really something that you think . Oh , I know people who could really benefit . Share these episodes and if you haven't subscribed , subscribe to the channel , like us , follow us and follow Brian Ashworth and the pickleball experiencecom . Go to that website , check it out . Thanks you all and we look forward to a new conversation next week . Bye-bye , bye-bye . 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 2Thanks so much Hope to see you on the court .