Speaker 1: 0:00

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

Speaker 2: 0:04

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

Speaker 1: 0:12

Thanks for joining us. Welcome everyone to Life. Lessons from Pickleball Gosh. We are really happy today because we have with us Jemuel Morris, who's better known as Jem Jem. You are not only a top tier pickleball player, but you're also a passionate coach and community builder.

Speaker 3: 0:34

You also, jem, are a 5.0 player, a PPR certified pro trainer and the co-founder of the Pickleball Experience, a coaching company dedicated to helping people grow on and off the court through high-level instruction, connection and transformation and with more than seven years of coaching experience, you've taught across the US and internationally.

Speaker 1: 0:57

You've led clinics with some of the top pros in the game and developed destination retreats, which we definitely want to hear about, and training programs that inspire confidence, joy and meaningful community.

Speaker 3: 1:09

You're not just building better players, you're helping people discover their strength, joy and potential. Jim, we're so glad to have you here with us today, thank you. And why don't we start with? How did you first discover Pickleball and what was going on in your life at the time?

Speaker 4: 1:27

Great Well, first of all, thank you so much for having me on, Shelley and Cher. I'm really excited to talk to you both. So thanks. I've watched your programming and I've gotten a lot out of it. Just in the short time that I've known about it.

Speaker 1: 1:41

So thank you.

Speaker 4: 1:42

Really appreciate what you guys are doing time that I've known about it. So thank you, really appreciate what you guys are doing. Yeah, so I guess the way I started is kind of a life lesson, because I bring it up at all the experiences that we do. And the way I came to Pickleball was I was in the parking lot at a park on the phone with my parents, had the car turned on, but not not. Uh, with the engine on and uh, by the time I finished I tried to start the car and the car battery was dead.

Speaker 4: 2:12

Oh so I look outside, there's one person kind of walking through the parking lot. I opened my door and, before I can say anything, this person says, hey, you're here for pickleball. And says, hey, you're here for pickleball. And I'd never heard of it. And my first response was I was like, yeah sure, I'd love to play pickleball. Can I get a jump for my car? And so I go over to this group of four players and they ended up being the four best players on the island, which is and the reason I tell this story is because this is in 2017. And it's very rare these days for a top, top level group of four that has made a commitment to meet, and you know, it's kind of a sacred thing to invite someone in that has never played before. Good point. And so I always tell that story to say, hey, you never know what kind of life you're going to change by just asking someone if they would like to you know, come in and play pickleball.

Speaker 4: 3:17

So they were kind enough to let me in and they beat me up, which is probably fun for them, and they were very encouraging of me to come back, which was positive, and so that's all I needed was those words of encouragement, and it felt great. That is so good. Now you mentioned the island, yeah, so I'm on Orcas Island and, yeah, I moved out here in 2016 from Los Angeles, california. Yeah, I was here about eight months before I found Pickleball.

Speaker 4: 3:49

And then it kind of then the bug, as everybody else knows, kind of got a hold and yeah, like not even two months later. I'm getting lessons from the two people that I'm now business partners with.

Speaker 1: 4:02

No kidding.

Speaker 4: 4:03

Oh my gosh.

Speaker 1: 4:04

You got to jump for your car and you got to jump in your life from that experience. That is so cool.

Speaker 3: 4:09

That is really, because how did you end up on Orcus anyway from LA?

Speaker 4: 4:13

Yeah, so I was in LA doing. I was down there for acting, I was down there for about 17 years and I was just done with city life. So my wife and I were looking at different places to move. We looked at New Zealand, we looked at Costa Rica, we looked at the Oregon coast and then Orcas Island was nice because it's kind of close to home and family. I grew up in Seattle, um, so we we came out here, loved it and, uh yeah, got lucky with with finding pickleball out here on a little island.

Speaker 3: 4:53

Like you said, like you never know how you're going to impact somebody, you didn't even know what pickleball was and now, because of them, it's your life.

Speaker 4: 5:00

Yeah, it's my life.

Speaker 3: 5:01

It is my life.

Speaker 4: 5:02

Yeah, it's, it's totally changed the trajectory of kind of where I was going. You know so. And then to be able to meet so many people along the way, I mean, you guys know it's just the gift that keeps on giving, isn't it you, the more you play and the more you branch out. So that's the beauty of it for me is that I get to branch out. I know that, um, you know, in communities sometimes it can, it can get a little sticky with who's playing with who and those kinds of dynamics. But it's lucky for us that we get to travel out and just kind of meet a bunch of different people.

Speaker 1: 5:42

So, and you mentioned we, and so the two guys that you're in business with, peter and Brian did you know them before you started playing pickleball together, or how did that work?

Speaker 4: 5:56

So, like I said, I went to Pickleball Central you guys are familiar with Pickleball Central and there used to be these four courts there called Pickleball Station and so I went there to go get some training because I just wanted to get better. And so my first lesson was with Brian and I think my second lesson was with Brian and then he passed me off to Peter because Brian was working the warehouse and he didn't really have the time. So Peter was the head pro there. So I started taking lessons with Peter and I just went down there anytime I could to get lessons and play with people and and get better. And so, uh, yeah, I, uh, I actually took a, the certification, the PPR certification, um, that that next year.

Speaker 4: 6:44

And the only reason I did that was to get better at pickleball. It was not to teach. I had no interest in teaching. No kidding, my goals were become a pro, which did not happen. But yeah, I thought if I could learn how people are teaching the game, then it would improve my own game. So I went and studied with Peter. I was his uh sort of I'd say hey, if you ever need any help with lessons, I'll be the person on the other side, kind of hitting the ball and and, uh, feeding whatever you need. So he said anytime you're welcome, very, very encouraging and very inviting to to let me in. And uh, yeah, so then. So then with Brian they were doing these uh camps called boost um.

Speaker 4: 7:32

B O O S T.

Speaker 1: 7:33

Okay.

Speaker 4: 7:34

Booster game.

Speaker 1: 7:35

Yeah.

Speaker 4: 7:35

And so the two of them were teaching them, um, it was a program run out of Southern California by the Dawsons, and uh, I asked if I could be their ball boy, um, and yeah, they said sure, so I started with just being their ball boy, you know, kind of doing the exercises with them. And and eventually they kind of asked, you know, if I had any thoughts on it. And sure enough, I. I've always kind of had a mind for tweaking, you know, games and and, uh, just, you know, creating a little bit of a different spin on making things fun. So I had some ideas and we kind of went with those, uh, some of the time. And yeah, we once, once COVID hit, the boost stopped and uh we said, hey, let's, let's continue this, cause we like working together, and let's, let's continue this because we like working together and let's do something with, you know, maybe travel around, and you know, the rest is kind of history.

Speaker 3: 8:29

And Pickleball Experience was born.

Speaker 4: 8:33

The Pickleball Experience was born behind Pickleball Central on a lunch break.

Speaker 1: 8:40

No kidding.

Speaker 4: 8:41

From them working the warehouse. So I said let's get you guys out of the warehouse and let's do full-time teaching, if we can.

Speaker 1: 8:51

So the pickleball experience you guys have this unique strategy. I guess it would be in how you teach. You don't go with a boilerplate plan and tell everybody this is what you're doing. Tell us about how you go about teaching. I think it's lovely.

Speaker 4: 9:10

Yeah. So we love four to one ratio and so I think when we started out we had higher numbers and we started just going less and less, so eventually we got down to this four to one ratio where we can be on a court with everybody and kind of guide people through One coach for four players.

Speaker 1: 9:29

Is that what you mean? Yes, okay.

Speaker 4: 9:31

Yep, and it was better for us, it was better for the players, and so we just thought, okay, we're not going to make as much money, but it's more enriching for us and what we want to do.

Speaker 4: 9:46

So what it does is it allows it to be this experience that ends up being exactly kind of what you want to get out of it. So people write in when they sign up for our experiences and they say, hey, this is what I'd love to get out of it for our experiences. And they say, hey, this is what I'd love to get out of it. So we take all that and we say, okay, this is the things that are common themes, and then this person wants this and that, and we work it into a curriculum that we come in with. And then, once we see people play, we then adapt our curriculum kind of based on that and we say, hey, let's pivot and move to this, because I think it would be really helpful for this group particularly. So we call them sort of customizable experiences, so that people can really get what they want out of each experience.

Speaker 3: 10:37

And you'll come to wherever the people are right.

Speaker 4: 10:41

Yeah, we are a traveling circus. We will pop up our tent anywhere that will have us.

Speaker 1: 10:48

So tell us about some of the destination events.

Speaker 4: 10:52

Yeah, yeah, so we're. I think Brian mentioned we were just we were heading up to Canada and I can kind of follow up on that because we just went to Terrace, bc, which is sort of near Alaska, so it wasn't getting dark till 11 up there. Just a beautiful countryside, so surrounded by mountains, snow capped, and there's a river running through this small town. Just beautiful, and the people were just very grateful and appreciative of us coming up there, because they just don't get much instruction, sure, and so we like to go to places like that where you know the community has invited us in and we get to share with them kind of what we've learned along the way from all of our travels, really.

Speaker 4: 11:36

So I mean we're definitely learning more from the players than I think they are from us, because we've gotten so much. You probably hear this all the time from coaches and things like that, but it really is true that we're getting so much more out of it At least, I feel I'm getting so much out of each session that it's amazing.

Speaker 3: 11:56

What's something that surprised you or that you've learned from players or communities?

Speaker 4: 12:02

There's so many common themes, that kind of run through each community. I think everybody wants that sense of belonging and feeling included you know, which you know goes back to the playground mentality of who's going to get picked and who's not yeah? And it is like that, right, you know you want to be picked and you want to feel included.

Speaker 4: 12:26

I mean, I always relate pickleball back to relationships, just because the relationships are so prevalent in my life, and so one of the main things I would say is people always get down on themselves after a point. There's always one person on the court. Everybody else is, you know. One person's always like, ah, dang it, and the other three are like, no, that was actually a pretty good point, you know. But it is that one person that feels like, okay, they made the mistake and here it is, and that's that dwelling on it.

Speaker 4: 13:01

And so I think that there's so much dwelling on the mistakes that are made instead of all the positives that are happening in every single rally. And I always tell people, if you think about it like a relationship, like with my wife, there's so many great things in the relationship, but it's that one thing where, yeah, but you just did that, and then I focus on that instead of all the great things, and that's just so like it happens all the time, probably in every sport, um, but I just noticed it so much when we're teaching that, uh, I we really try to get people focused on the positives that are happening and to remain positive after your shots and to kind of say, hey, where did I? What got me that setup?

Speaker 4: 13:52

Or you know, because people will hit into the net or hit out of bounds and they've got this high ball and I was like what got you that setup? Think two shots ago instead of beating yourself up or, you know, say hey, thank your partner for the setup or thank yourself for the setup. Um, so I think I think positive self-talk is huge, because I think we get down on ourselves and uh we try to tell people you know talk to yourself the way you would want to talk to your partner.

Speaker 2: 14:22

You know you wouldn't. You wouldn't go out there and say oh that sucked you know if your partner missed right, but you say it to yourself when you miss.

Speaker 4: 14:33

So you know you're talking to yourself and I feel like that's you, that's that's your inner child you're talking to. And you know, the more you kind of beat yourself up, it's you're hard on yourself. We don't need to be that way.

Speaker 1: 14:44

So that's very sweet. It's like you need to be the best partner is for yourself to be a good partner for yourself, right yeah, for sure. Oh, that's very sweet. Does your wife play pickleball?

Speaker 4: 14:57

No, she, actually she. She wanted to do some secret training for a while, you know, like four solid months of secret training and then come out and talk the world. So I think we did a little bit of that and it it just didn't take. You know, she, she has other interests and she's just not as into pickleball, but she actually runs the, the back end of the pickleball experience.

Speaker 2: 15:21

So she does all the website stuff.

Speaker 4: 15:24

She does all the flyers, she does all the emails and everything.

Speaker 1: 15:29

So she's busy, yeah, she is busy. Yeah, that's a good partnership too. Yeah, it's great you have your. You each have your strengths. Same on the court, you each have your strengths, play to your strength. That's cool.

Speaker 2: 15:41

For sure.

Speaker 1: 15:42

I love how you focus on relationship on the court I started a lesson with Madeline Lapke, our coach, and you said you went to school with Madeline's brother-in-law, right, that's so cool, small world, and so I love that you are so relationship focused. So when you think about the people that you've been teaching or coaching, can you think of some experiences that you observed and how people kind of their life changed as a result or their relationships changed from their experience learning pickleball?

Speaker 4: 16:25

I heard a good quote from somebody on the court the other day at one of our experiences and he said I'm not going to let the next two hours affect the next 22. And he was playing with his wife and it was eye-opening to me because it's just so smart and I think it goes beyond pickleball, I think it goes into cause, cause I think we go onto the court with some mental stuff sometimes at whether we've had a bad day or an argument and we go onto the court and we kind of bring that in there too.

Speaker 4: 17:06

And then we let, we let the, we let the day affect us so much. Like if we had a good session of pickleball, we're on cloud nine for the next 24 hours, and if we lost five games, then we're on like cloud one or whatever cloud that would be. We're down in the dumps for the next 24 hours until we get back on the court.

Speaker 4: 17:26

Yeah, and I just think that if you, if we, if we can not let the highs and the lows affect us so much, I really feel like the people that that have that balanced out are the ones that are most happy on the court and and a real joy to be around, because they don't let it, you know, affect them as much, Whereas the other ones it's sometimes it's great to be around and then sometimes it's not so great. Do you have?

Speaker 1: 17:59

a technique to how to keep ourselves balanced.

Speaker 4: 18:03

Well for me, yeah, because that was my story for so long. I would be out there, I'd have a good day, I'd come back, just like we said. So now I kind of go out there and I look at the courts and sort of it's sort of like entering the field of play, and so I look at it a little bit differently. One I try to stay focused on the task of what I'm trying to accomplish that day, whether it's just to have fun or whether it's I'm working on a skill, and then once I complete that or not complete it, I always am very grateful. So I try to be grateful at the end of every session, no matter what it is. So if I lost every game, I'm grateful for that experience because that will help me grow.

Speaker 4: 18:51

And that just kind of lets it kind of go for me.

Speaker 4: 18:54

That's sort of the the being grateful part for me is probably the biggest thing and that's that I would say that would go for. If you feel pressure in a tournament, um, if you're just feeling nervous, um, being on the court with somebody, you what I say kind of immediately is thank you, Thank you for this opportunity to grow on my path. This is another opportunity for a challenge, you know, and this is how I look at it now. So I think the more we can be grateful for whatever comes, and just at the end of that session, hey, I'm grateful for this. This is what I took away from it, Instead of that constant like beating up, beating up or, yes, I'm the best player in the world.

Speaker 3: 19:37

You know I love that, because we forget that we should be just grateful that we're able to play pickleball.

Speaker 4: 19:45

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 19:46

Able to be on the court at all.

Speaker 4: 19:48

Yes.

Speaker 3: 19:49

And just if we could just keep that in mind, right, I'm just grateful that I'm out here. And just if we could just keep that in mind.

Speaker 4: 19:55

Right, I'm just grateful that I'm out here. Yeah, nothing else matters. Yeah, that's so true. I mean, like I just I'm experiencing a knee injury, uh-oh, kind of for the first time and it's getting better. But as I was kind of going over it, I was like somebody was kind of saying, oh, that's a real bummer. I was like, man, I'm just thankful I have a leg, because there's people that just don't have a leg.

Speaker 1: 20:16

Thank you, you know, they don't have an arm.

Speaker 4: 20:17

They don't. They can't play pickleball. They don't have you know, whatever it is, I'm just like man, I've got a leg I got I can feel this pain. I'm grateful for it, Whatever, it is. I just got to be grateful and but yeah, that's a good point and that's a good life lesson.

Speaker 1: 20:35

So we were going to ask you what life lessons? There you are. That's the perfect life lesson live in gratitude. No matter what's coming along. We've got things to learn. We have things to experience. We have so much to be grateful for, even when we're feeling frustrated about one thing or the other. That's a beautiful life lesson. So when you think about other experiences, life lessons when we're feeling frustrated about one thing or the other, that's a beautiful life lesson.

Speaker 1: 20:55

It is so when you think about other experiences, life lessons that you, because you are really. I just love the fact that you're so relationship oriented. So is Brian and I imagine so is Peter, if you guys are all enjoying each other working together. But when you've been on the court, did you learn some things that you then take into your life, or life lessons like this one. Live in gratitude that you bring onto the court. You have others that you can share.

Speaker 4: 21:23

I think the big one is really focusing on the positives of a relationship. I'll just kind of go back to that, because it really did. The more I saw it in pickleball, the more I was able to bring it back to my own relationship and say, hey, I'm grateful for this. Uh, you know, bring out the the positives that you see in your partners or that your friends or whatever it is, and and remember to kind of share those things instead of kind of keeping them in or just saying the things that bother you right.

Speaker 4: 21:54

Cause that's what we typically do. We just say hey this, if you just change this, this, and that you'd be perfect. You know, instead of hey, how can I be better?

Speaker 4: 22:05

Number one, but also these are the things that I absolutely love about you and I'm so grateful that you are this way and and I think just hearing that allows people to be themselves, that's probably the biggest thing for me is that right there, also kind of the art of letting go, I would say Letting go of not getting kind of the outcome that you want in relationships. You know, I think we all kind of want to be heard, and then, if it doesn't go your way, you say, hey, well, this is you know I, we all kind of want to be heard. And then if it doesn't go your way, or say you say, hey, well, this is, you know, I told you this, you know what about x, y and z? Instead of just like, okay, they heard what they heard.

Speaker 4: 22:44

And I've got to kind of accept where people are at and let go just like, just like letting go of that stupid 10-0 victory we had and we lost 12-10. How did I let that happen? Or how did I lose every single game in that round robin? Yeah, that's a funny story. Actually, I played a round robin with a buddy of mine and we were the favorites going in. You know and I think every you know, even people were coming up to us like, oh, you guys are sandbagging, I can't believe you're playing this game. You know this, this, so we're playing we.

Speaker 4: 23:23

We lose our first match and, uh, we lose our second match and we only have, I think, five more matches. You and we lose our third. We get to our fourth and we're beating them. And I'm thinking, these poor guys, they probably haven't won a match all all day either, you know, and so I kind of start taking my foot off the gas, feeling bad for them. They end up coming back and beating us. Turns out they hadn't lost all day, they were undefeated. We lost the rest of the matches. We did not win a single match. We lost. We were 0-7. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 24:11

So yeah, I mean just the fact that we were able to find humor in that the day of find someone that you can enjoy losing with.

Speaker 1: 24:20

Oh, that's a good line, that is.

Speaker 4: 24:22

And really I think Brian says that a lot. So, credit to Brian because and same with your relationships, pick someone that you can go through stress with or, you know, go have some battles with and it's all okay, you know. So that to me would be another another big one, because sometimes you just you're not going to get a win all day or all week.

Speaker 4: 24:44

And it's, can you still kind of remain upbeat and positive and laugh about it, even though you're, even though, even though your, your rating went way down and you think people are talking about you? And you know all this stuff right, that we get into our minds. You know everybody's going to say this, or all the stuff that we all think about on the court.

Speaker 1: 25:06

And our insecurities come up, it occurs to me that the paddle tap is more than just a paddle tap. I'm realizing it really is kind of a let go, all's good Let go.

Speaker 4: 25:20

Yeah, all's good After every rally paddle tap, it's all good. Yep.

Speaker 1: 25:25

Let's go.

Speaker 4: 25:27

We need paddles like that in our arguments.

Speaker 1: 25:29

Yes, we do. We got to have a paddle in our hand Just be like hey, we're still good right. Maybe you need to design that. That would be good A relationship.

Speaker 4: 25:40

Paddle tap, do a high five, we're good, right? No, you don't want to paddle tap me right now? Okay, maybe we need a little bit of a break before we paddle tap. Oh, that's a good one. Yeah, keeping it light before we talk about that? Oh, that's a good one, yeah keeping it light Because, really, if you think about the majority of you know the things that happen in relationships at home or with friends or whatever they're so small.

Speaker 4: 26:06

They're just so. Yeah, it's a dink into the net really, and not even that. It's just like what are we even talking about here? But we get so stubborn, we get so into winning or having our way, you know, and I think that art of letting go is big, of being okay with the outcomes, whether you know you win or lose.

Speaker 1: 26:28

I like that a lot.

Speaker 4: 26:29

But we get into the mental game a lot, which I'm always fascinated about.

Speaker 1: 26:34

In your pickleball experience.

Speaker 4: 26:36

Yeah, that's something else we bring, so that a lot of times what we'll do is we'll have these three-day experiences. Then we'll have a gathering, probably day two in the evening sometime, and we'll do like an hour and a half to two hours on the mental game of pickleball, which for us is super important, if not more important than a lot of the physical. It just really depends Some days it's the mental is 90%, some days it's 10%. You know, if you're playing with total beginners, the mental game's not really a factor. Your skills are going to kind of take you through right. But if you are playing with people that are above your skill level, probably a lot more mental comes in. And that's kind of what we love to talk to players about, because so many of us are feeling those insecurities and it's really that thought of what are people thinking about me?

Speaker 1: 27:28

What is?

Speaker 4: 27:29

it that that's so? Oh man, are they going to think this? I don't want to let my partner down. What's my partner thinking? That's so, oh man, are they going to think this? I don't want to let my partner down. What's my partner thinking? All those? Things that we start to bombard us and then we can't play, yeah, so.

Speaker 1: 27:43

So what's a tip for that? So say, I'm nervous about not holding my end when I'm playing with my partner and I'm feeling badly about that. Do you have a tip?

Speaker 4: 27:52

Yeah, so there's two brain networks at going on. So there's the default mode network and then there's a dorsal attention network. The default is the one. That is just what you're talking about. Like, hey, I'm thinking internally about all the stuff that's kind of going on, like, am I letting my partner down? Why are they hitting to me? Am I the weakest person on the court? I just missed that. We're going to blow the lead. You know all those things right? Yeah, whereas the dorsal attention is bringing you into the present moment.

Speaker 4: 28:24

It's a very goal-oriented task or a focus. So, like, hey, I'm going to bend my knees, focus, watch the ball into my paddle, pick my targets. So a quick, easy thing to do would be to have targets in mind and say, hey, I'm going to hit the ball, the next ball to this spot, as opposed to just randomly kind of playing you could kind of count down to. That's the thing about those networks, I'll say this is that you can't be in both states at the same time. You're in one or the other and you can go in and out of them very quickly, but a lot of times we get into those like states of shoot. I just made that mistake. I'm thinking about that. Or I'm thinking about the future outcome, or I'm thinking about what's going to happen if I win this gold. You know what will people say back home. You know what will people say back home. That's going to be so awesome Shoot.

Speaker 2: 29:16

I just lost the game you know now I got to tell them that.

Speaker 4: 29:17

So all that stuff that goes into our minds instead of what's really going on, which is you just got to, you got to focus down to one, to two things and commit to that. Hey, I'm going to get my serve here.

Speaker 2: 29:31

I'm going to bend my knees.

Speaker 4: 29:32

I'm going to keep a light grip on the paddle. Whatever it is that kind of brings you back. It could be tapping the paddle, it could be counting down from three, three, two, one. It could be taking that deep breath and back into focus.

Speaker 1: 29:45

I'm going to start using your techniques and I'm just going to get really focused and then just say, oops close, oops close instead of out. That's what.

Speaker 4: 29:55

I say at the end of my shots. I say almost Like I would want to be talked to myself. Whatever dialogue works best for you if you have partners that talk to you a certain way. Oh man, I just encourage myself. That's what I try to do, and then I try to get back to okay, that point's over. This point counts. This is the one that counts, not that last one.

Speaker 1: 30:20

Not the last one. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 30:23

Good life lesson.

Speaker 3: 30:24

I like that almost I love that.

Speaker 1: 30:27

I do want to ask you. I think you are the one who inspired your group to start supporting an orphanage. What can you tell us about that?

Speaker 4: 30:38

Yeah, so the Tashirot down in Mexico. What they're doing is just amazing. So the people that live there, they live there full time. It's not like they have a bunch of volunteers coming in and out, it's they. They've decided to become the parents of these orphans.

Speaker 4: 30:58

So, they've got these groups of kids that they they take in from orphanages that can't take them because they have either mental disabilities, physical disabilities or abuse. They've come from abusive situations. They've been left, you know, on doorsteps or left for dead, you know, and and so this community now is raising them as as one big family. So so these kids get parents, you know, lifelong parents, that that they know will be staying there for the rest of their lives.

Speaker 4: 31:35

They're an all-vegan community. They get their produce from nearby and they get a weekly kind of drop-off. I guess I got to go down there for a week and teach some of the kids PE and just kind of hang out with them. I'm going to be going back down there in September, october this year and so, yeah, what they're doing is amazing. We donate some of our experiences to them and then we just did one in Kona, hawaii, where all the proceeds went to, and I think we raised just $4,000 for the for the orphanage um, which was fun to do so but they're a great organization and what's what's amazing about them is they've never asked for money in the 15 years that I've known them.

Speaker 4: 32:27

They'll send me a card with a thank you, or they'll send a video or a voicemail, but they're never like hey Jim, can you donate? Wow, it's like hey, thank you, we're just so grateful for you know, whatever they get, Um, so they're just they're doing amazing work, Uh, and I know that all the money's going directly to them. You know, sometimes you just don't know where you're going.

Speaker 1: 32:52

My youngest is adopted, so I have a very tender place in my heart for orphanages, but I also want to be sure that our audience can learn about this orphanage and support it as well. So will you send me information that?

Speaker 4: 33:06

we can put in the notes? Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1: 33:09

And oh my gosh, that is so sweet. I love that I'm a little bit teary. Thank you for doing that. That is just so sweet. So how can people find you my friend and the Pickleball Experience and sign up for their own.

Speaker 4: 33:24

Yeah, yeah, the pickleballexperiencecom, they can reach out. We love it when people have any kind of questions, so they can reach out. They can say, hey, want a solo lesson, I want a lesson where I just send you what I'm doing on the court. You can kind of evaluate it. Or hey, we'd love to come to your community.

Speaker 1: 33:44

What's the smallest and what's the largest groups that you would do?

Speaker 4: 33:49

Smallest would be one and uh, and largest, we like to do 12. Yeah, you know, that's that's kind of our, that's our ideal. So with 12, it would be hey, sometimes we'll do, uh, a full day of 12 and then, uh, the next day will be another whole group of 12. And then the next day will be another group of 12 and the next day will be another group. Next day will be another whole group of 12. And then the next day will be another group of 12. And the next day will be another group.

Speaker 1: 34:13

So we get 48 people, you know to come in for over four days, oh, that's great.

Speaker 4: 34:18

But also we do stuff where, hey, it's three hour session in the morning, so we'll have 12 there, a three hour session in the afternoon, and then, you know, those same people come back the next day and do a three day thing. So there's all kinds kinds of ways that we can run it to to make it work for people's you know needs.

Speaker 4: 34:37

So that is terrific yeah, yeah, it's fun very, very you know I had a question for you because you guys have talked to so many people now. Um, I'm curious about what are some of your greatest takeaways from doing this podcast, you know, for is it over a year now?

Speaker 1: 34:59

Yeah, we just celebrated a year a few weeks ago. Thank you.

Speaker 4: 35:03

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 35:05

Shelly, how would you answer that?

Speaker 3: 35:08

I think that the common threads that we found and you talked about all of them today and it's interesting when I was reading on your website you say the same thing is that really what Pickleball brings to all of us is community joy and empowerment, and we hear that over and over and over in all the stories. It's just you know whether, like you said earlier about you're glad you had your leg one of our guests did lose his leg and was playing pickleball, plays pickleball with a prosthetic and just how the pickleball community embraced him and how it was empowering for him. And just story after story.

Speaker 1: 36:00

It's just so incredible awesome and what we also have found is that we're talking with people we never would have crossed paths with but for pickleball yeah and it's just remarkable that we can be such different people, from different countries, different cities, different towns, different experiences, but having one common thread, one common love and that everything else just fits, it's just perfectly fine, and everybody's story is fascinating.

Speaker 1: 36:32

Doesn't matter what life might have brought. It's just fascinating to hear all the different life stories. So you're a perfect example. I get kind of chills, you and Brian. We haven't met Peter, but you and Brian are just the loveliest men. I mean the fact that you are so relationship oriented that you bring your hearts to teaching. It's not about the win, it's about the empowerment, it's about the confidence, it's about the love. So yeah, that that keeps us going.

Speaker 4: 37:05

Talking to people just like you, wow Thanks, thank you.

Speaker 1: 37:08

Thank you for asking that. That's so cool, and thank you for being our guest.

Speaker 3: 37:13

Oh yeah.

Speaker 1: 37:14

Really really sweet, Jim, so nice to meet you and so nice to hear about all that you're doing on and off the court and thank you to your wife for all that she does to support everything that you guys are doing as well. Very cool?

Speaker 4: 37:28

Yeah for sure. Well, I'm looking forward to getting on the court with you, now that I know that you're in Mercer. Island in.

Speaker 2: 37:39

Kirkland yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1: 37:40

We got to get on the court. Now Definitely have to get on the court. Well, thank you, and thank you all so much for tuning in. If you're new to this podcast, thank you so much for joining us and please share this episode like subscribe. But you guys need to know about this pickleball experience. You can have them right in your own backyard and they are the loveliest people in the world and you will learn so much about pickleball and about life. So, thanks so much and we'll see you again next week for a new conversation. Bye-bye.

Speaker 2: 38:12

Thank you, bye. Bye. If you love our podcast, we'd be so grateful if you 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: 38:27

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: 38:40

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