SPEAKER_01: 0:00

Hi, I'm Shelly Mauer. And I'm Cher Emric. Welcome to Life Lessons from Pickleball. Where we engage with pickleball players from around the world about life on and off the court. Thanks for joining us.

SPEAKER_02: 0:15

Welcome everyone to Life Lessons from Pickleball. We're so excited to have with us today Rick Sipes. Rick, you have been a regular contributor to Pickleball magazine for the past four years, sharing insights, humor, and stories that capture the heart of this game that we all love.

SPEAKER_03: 0:35

You're also the author of How to Play Better Pickleball and Pickleball Riffs, both available on Amazon. And you run Bite-sized pickleball, which includes a Facebook group, a podcast, a Substack newsletter, and even a clothing shop.

SPEAKER_02: 0:53

And if that's not enough, you're also working as a producer and director on a brand new docuseries called Full Court Shadow, a five-episode show about former NBA players and their sons trying to carve out their own paths.

SPEAKER_03: 1:10

Rick, we're so thrilled to have you with us today. You've got a fascinating mix of sports, storytelling, and creativity in everything you do. Let's start with what was going on in your life when you started playing pickleball.

SPEAKER_00: 1:26

What was going on in my life was what was going on in a lot of people who started pickleball at the time. It was the uh the year 2020. Uh-oh. So I don't, yeah, right. That's all I need to say is 2020. So it was April 2020. We all know what was going on then. I was a basketball player, and they put lids on all the baskets in town. They literally bolted lids, so we couldn't play basketball anymore. And so a friend of a basketball friend and I decided to go out to the pickleball courts one day. Uh he had played before and he introduced me to pickleball. It was April 20th, and um I was, you know, I was a little hesitant. I had seen pickleball before. Another friend of mine had shown me, and I was like, eh, didn't have the juice, the testosterone from like basketball I was looking for, but gotta say, I was instantly taken with the sport.

SPEAKER_02: 2:20

Isn't that bizarre how quick it just kind of hooks us?

SPEAKER_00: 2:25

About that sound of the ball. Like the sound of the ball, like, oh, I like that.

SPEAKER_02: 2:30

I have the same thing, and I know that there's a lot of neighbors who aren't keen on the sound of the ball. Right. And there's work being done to try to s quiet the game, but I hope it never quiets. I just love that sound. Yeah, very cool. So, what were you doing professionally at that time?

SPEAKER_00: 2:49

Uh professionally, um, I was a journalist at that time, probably. I uh I'm trying to remember back to five years ago what I was doing. I've done so many different creative things in my life. Um yeah, I was probably doing some writing for somebody.

SPEAKER_02: 3:06

And so it was after 2020 that you wrote your two books?

SPEAKER_00: 3:11

Yeah, I started uh I used to write for ESPN and some other companies. And as I started Pickleball, I I read what they were writing, and I thought I could juice it up a little bit, make it a little bit more colorful. I knew I had the writing credentials to get a job for Pickleball magazine. And so I contacted them and said, I'd love to write for you. And then I started writing for them, and I got further and further along, and um I didn't start writing my books until I didn't really lean into. I mean, to be honest, at first I was like, do I really want to spend my time being a pickleball ambassador or a writer? And and and I I didn't think it was too noble, to be honest. Like right around 2020, 2021, I was like, God, kind of embarrassing. Like you went to the grocery store and you said the name pickleball. No, they're like pickles, right? Like everyone was like looking at me and you and us like you're freaking crazy.

unknown: 4:14

Right.

SPEAKER_00: 4:14

And so I was like, I I don't want to say ashamed, but I was like, you know, is this really where I want to, is this really where my life is going right now? Down the pickle lane, pickleball lane? I could probably do a penny lane pickleball beetles riff on that one. And something happened. There was an inciting event, and um, I started a podcast, and I got an email from a woman, and she says, I love listening to your podcast. Dot, dot, dot, dot, dot. When I'm milking my cows on my farm. And I thought, you know, I teach through pickleball, I like to teach self-work and mindfulness. And my whole shtick is, hey, you want to be better at pickleball? Go in here and be a better person, etc. So I figured if I'm getting through to some woman in the Midwest milking her cows, who's listening to my podcast while she's milking her cows, I I know that might be a weird visual for everybody. I love it. But and I won't, yeah, it's not something I'll demonstrate. But um at that moment, I went, you know what? I'm I'm reaching some people. Um I'm people are identifying and people are are feeling this, what I'm feeling, and I'm gonna go for it. So I I wrote um how to play better pickleball maybe three summers ago. Um, and then I wrote the other book there. Uh which you're demonstrating. I gotta look back and see the title, Eleven Ways of the Athletic Warrior: A Guide to Peak Performance, which is really uh in the middle of how to play pickleball. The whole section is on mindfulness. And if you go to Amazon, almost every review talks about mindfulness, and I really love the mindfulness. So I I figured I'd write a whole book on mindfulness. So that's the really long answer of that whole circle.

SPEAKER_02: 6:13

That is so cool. I'm a very mindfulness person. My whole career has been around that. And so when Shelly and I thought about doing this podcast, I had kind of that same feeling of pickleball? You know, there it it's not deep enough. It's not, and it's turned out to be it just changes people's lives. We just were interviewing a woman in Ukraine in Kiev who brought pickleball there. And I mean, it's it's changing the world. So I'm so glad you stayed with it, Rick. And I'm looking forward to reading your books. That sounds very cool.

SPEAKER_03: 6:49

What about the pickleball rifts?

SPEAKER_00: 6:51

Isn't that pickleball rifts is um all my um articles from pickleball magazine in one place? So there's probably 20, 25, 30 articles, and a lot of other I I also have a newsletter that's on Substack, the bite-sized pickleball newsletter. And so I do a lot of experimental pickleball writing there. So for instance, one day I live in Santa Barbara, one day I met Kevin Costner. It's a good story. I was backing into my parking spot, and as I was backing in, someone cut me off and pulled in, and it was Kevin Costner. And so I said, Hey Kevin, I said, dude, you just stole my parking spot. And he goes, Oh, sorry, sorry. You know, I said, No, no, you just have it. So, long story short, Kevin and I were going to the same deli, and he said, Hey, I'm gonna buy you a Coke. And I said, Dude, you don't have to buy me a Coke. I can form my own Coke. And he asked what I did, and I said, I'm a writer. And I said, Well, what do you do? No, I didn't say that. But so we go in the restaurant, and he's at one side of the deli, and I said, he was ordering, I said, I yelled out, and a Coke. And he said, you know, he went and got a Coke out of the refrigerator and he handed it to me. I said, No, I don't really want a Coke. I said, But I'll take a ginger ale. He said, Well, go get it and come sit down and we'll have some lunch. So I sat down and had lunch with Kevin Costner, and it was basically all about Kevin Costner. And I was, I'm a musician, he's a musician, I was an actor, he's right. I had I was able to go with Kevin, but the the gist of it is that I wrote a pickleball article called something like The Tao of Kevin Costner, and I related it to pickleball. So I can't tell you how I did that, but it's in that book. I love that. It's got another something is like Vin Diesel pickleball, 20 tips from Vin Diesel on pickleball, which I made up. Like, so there's a lot of fun, there's a lot of pickleball cartoons. I do like these New Yorker style pickleball cartoons. So it's really a grab bag collage of uh all my stuff thrown into one.

SPEAKER_02: 8:57

So you didn't invite Kevin to play a game?

SPEAKER_00: 9:00

Kevin, from what I hear, does not play pickleball, but uh but one of his local friends does, and that's a good story, Mr. Kenny Loggins. So I I was coaching Kenny Loggins for a little while and uh playing with him a lot. And uh one day he and I were playing against his girlfriend at the time, now his wife, and someone else, and his girlfriend loves to beat Kenny, like they can't play on the same team. And if Kenny and Lisa are watching this, I'm just telling the truth. What can I say? And uh so they beat us, and I was, you know, I'm kind of polite. I'm a super aggressive poacher, I'm a pretty advanced pickball player, and I was kind of letting Kenny do his thing, and so I turned to Kenny at the middle of the game and I said, Hey Kenny, this is it. Make no mistake this time. I said, Do you want me to play or not? And he goes, Hey, that could be a that could be a hit hit song right there. So Kenny gave me license to play, and we beat him. Um I have done some videos with Kenny. If you want to see funny, very comedy videos with Kenny and pickleball videos, you can find them on YouTube at the bite-sized pickleball page. There's like four videos with Kenny and I, and I don't want to spoil them, but they're super fun, and Kenny was a great sport. And and Kenny used to play at our public courts. We have 18 courts. Like I first I didn't know him originally. I was like, he was there all the time and I'd seen him, and someone said that's Kenny Longins. And I went over to him, I go, hey, I gotta tell you that Danny's song was the song of my parents' divorce. He goes, he goes, he goes, wow, heavy. And I go, Yeah, it was pretty heavy. And he invited me to come play with him. So we became friends, played on the public courts for a while. But Kenny, I once said, Why don't you have your own court? He's like, I'm not gonna pay 20 grand for my own court. Kenny now has his own court, and I don't see him anymore.

SPEAKER_02: 10:56

So no. Great idea.

SPEAKER_03: 11:02

I love listening to Kenny Loggins. Wow.

SPEAKER_02: 11:05

Yeah, yeah. Me too. Me too. So share some of the mindfulness parts about pickleball.

SPEAKER_00: 11:11

So I'll tell you from my own experience, what what it what pickleball did for me um personally was it cracked. I think I think pickleball is attractive, and this will this will address your beginners watching this. I think pickleball is blown up for two reasons. One, the ease of the sport. I can take anyone on any street corner and get them out there having fun in five minutes. And two is the dopamine. I have played every sport in my life. And there has never been a dopamine rush like pickleball. And that's because we're being so physical and we're opening ourselves up, we're cracking ourselves open, right? The the conscious brain, when you're right, it's gone. It's out the door. So when that happens, of course, when when we don't have a lid on our feelings and emotions, as you've seen, as anyone who's watching this has seen, in themselves and others, stuff comes up.

SPEAKER_02: 12:09

Doesn't it?

SPEAKER_00: 12:10

Like lots of stuff. It's very much like being on the grade school playground in many instances, right? And there's everyone's like yeah, there's the clicks, there's I don't like that guy, that guy does this, you know what I mean? There's all that little. So I use that to explore my own self. And how did I do that? So one day I smacked a paddle on the rail. And I always, when I when I acted out like that, I'd go home and I just think I go, Wow, what was that all about?

unknown: 12:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 12:43

And that's just really simple. I didn't win, I didn't get my way, I was kicking and screaming like a little baby, right? And then I always used to make excuses. Like when I'd start out, you know, people typically when I play, hit it to my partner. And I used to make the big excuse, which was, oh, why don't they hit me? Right. And I just learned get over that because that's gonna be you're gonna hit to my partner. And I learned to play very aggressively, and I call it controlled chaos, where my opponents never know where I'm going to be. I could poach at any time. So it doesn't give them a free pass to just keep hitting my partner. So another, another young man who's in his 40s, I was playing with the other day, and he says this to me after the game. He's like, You should hit it to me more. This is this is rec play. This is I said, I said, I said, first of all, I said, first of all, we did hit it to you. And second of all, you guys never hit it to me. Like, what are you saying? So all these excuses we come up with, and as I said, I'm not perfect, we're not perfect, none of us are perfect. No, I still come up with excuses, but I catch myself. I catch myself in these excuses, and I examine those excuses. The one thing it just boils down to I didn't win. And are you going to be a sore little baby loser or are you going to accept that loss? And so one of the things that pickleball enabled me to do was respect others and just be gracious when I lose and say, hey, you play great. Like I got, we got I played today, played like five games. We went like three and two, but the last game, these guys kicked our butts. And you know what? There was no excuse. It was you guys played great. And it's taken me several years to get to that point where I could just look at someone in the eye and go, you, and I didn't need to make an excuse, the ball wasn't screwed up, the weather wasn't too windy, and all this stuff. So I that's to me, mindfulness is is awareness. So mindfulness starts with self-awareness. And the other huge thing is the self-critic. So Kenny Loggins, the self-critic.

SPEAKER_02: 14:45

Critic.

SPEAKER_00: 14:46

Kenny Loggins had a quote in one of my articles. He's like, I don't want to tell myself how much I suck. I want to see what I need to do to fix the problem. And I 90% of the pickleball players I see are so hard on themselves. And they're right. And whenever you're tensing, you can't flow, you can't be in the zone, especially pickleball. Each pickleball point comes very rapidly. And if you're holding on to the shot you just missed, you're limiting your potential for the next point. So one of the things I really like to teach is just letting the breathing or having a mantra. Like that's the other thing that people don't do on the pick. Go look tomorrow when you go out to the pickleball court, look around and see how many people are actually breathing. Very few. And and so I'm really I'm really proud now. And on my local courts, I've taught so many people to just breathe. Breathe. When before you serve it, when you have a moment before someone else serves it, it's just resetting yourself. It's so vital. So that to me, that simple act of just between points, just breathing and resetting is huge. And so the self-critic, and and that I like to encourage people to change, change the conversation you have with yourself. We all have this running conversation with ourselves. And a lot of it stems from our past. Maybe our parents were super hard on us or coaches were super hard on us. And whenever here you hear someone go, oh, Rick, you know, tell talk about themselves in the third person, you know there was something there. Like someone telling them when they were a kid that they weren't too good. So that conversation that we have with ourselves when we play is vital to change. And it's you're never going to change it overnight, but you're going to change it by recognizing it when you smack yourself too hard and you talk back down yourself. And there's a fine line between improving and being intense about it, but being positive with yourself. So I really like to teach being positive with yourself because then I think that opens us up to flow. And to me, everything in life is flow. So pickleball has also told me, taught me how to flow as well.

SPEAKER_02: 17:05

I love it. And what's fascinating to me is just today, while I was playing, I realized I hold my breath when I'm hitting the bone. Not I I do the breathing, I have my little mantra when I'm serving. That's all good. But as soon as the the play begins, I'm holding my breath. And I have never two and a half years been playing. And today was the very first day I noticed. What the heck? And so I must have perceived that you were going to talk about breathing.

SPEAKER_00: 17:35

I was I was going to talk about it. And one of the reasons we hold the breath is a lot of us play from a position I like to call that it's like primitive, kill or be killed.

SPEAKER_02: 17:44

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00: 17:45

Right. And so it's, I better kill them before they kill me. And that causes us tension. So to me, I like to say instead of being intimidated by the experience, uh, allowing the challenge in, accepting the challenge rather than, oh my God, I gotta get this point. I'm gonna lose, right? I don't want to lose to this person, right? It's letting that challenge in. And that's an important distinction, distinction because if we're playing not to get killed, like the like a caveman, then we're going to be tense and holding our breath at times. So going it's tough.

SPEAKER_03: 18:21

Yeah, when you when you attack a ball like that, you go up to it like that, you always hit it out of the air. In the net or hit it, or in the net, or you can go up to it calm, like you're not being killed, calm. You can get a good shot. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 18:35

And I think that's with like any athletics. Any to me, the zone is about learning our what we do, right? So it's practice to me, pickleball. Like I started pickleball, and my athletic skills were here, my pickleball was here. And I knew when I crept up to my there, and that took a lot of work and a lot of practice on the court and a lot of hours. And I think in any sport, whether you're anything, cooking, music, you have to work at your craft and work at it and work at it and work at it. And pickleball, that would be your strokes, your dinks, your drives, your serves, right? And work at it to the point where you don't have to think about it, and you can just react from the moment. That's the zone, that's pickleball. And when you're reacting from the moment, you're not you don't have time to, you're not thinking, you're just doing. And that to me is the place that I like to get to. Do I get there all the time? No. But there are moments where I get there, and it's just there's to me peak performance. There's nothing like peak performance in life in any respect.

SPEAKER_02: 19:34

So talk about flow. So, what's the difference that you've experienced, or has there been any difference between your basketball playing and pickleball play?

SPEAKER_00: 19:45

Well, one of the things I like about pickleball is I'm responsible for my own injuries. In basketball, you know, you got might get a guy who, you know, undercuts you and you, you know, goes up, you go up for a rebound, and he's you fall over him, or you might sprain your ankle. I was playing with a lot of excuse me, a lot of younger men when I was playing, and I I played, I played and held my own, but all of a sudden I get an elbow to the right here to the Beatles to Paul walking like right in here. By the way, get this shirt, bite size pickleball.com.

SPEAKER_04: 20:21

Bite size.

SPEAKER_00: 20:23

I would be out for months. So I really like that difference in pickleball. I I like that I was a point guard in basketball, so I was always controlling the ball, so it wasn't like I wasn't touching the ball. But in pickleball, you there's there's only two two partners, so you gotta be aware at all times of what's going on and be ready at the slip shot. You know what I mean? So I think the main difference for me though is I I'm in charge of my own injury when I play pickleball. And no one can come across the net and get under me or trip me up or hit me. It's like it's a I I like to call pickleball. I play with these guys, a lot of guys, and it's like I like to call it cage match with wiffle balls. And the the guys I play with, I play with like some of these six, five basketball players, former college basketball players, and it's it's violent. But it it's a it's a wonderful dopamine rush. And we all really respect each other and love each other, but it's a fast-moving, hard banging game a lot of times. And I really like the fact that we're not in, you know, that we don't when I'm younger. I love I love doing that, but as I gotten older, it's like I don't you don't need that.

SPEAKER_03: 21:39

Well, you made reference to that awesome shirt you're wearing.

SPEAKER_02: 21:43

So tell us about those who aren't watching, but they're just listening, describe what you're wearing there.

SPEAKER_00: 21:50

So there is a famous band, the greatest famous band, and I happened to see one of them in concert two weeks ago, and his name was Paul McCartney. And uh so there's a famous band called the Beatles, and there's a famous cover called Abbey Road. Yeah, and I have a pickleball shirt with the Beatles crossing Abbey Road with pickleball paddles in their hands, and a little sign that says uh music studios one way, pickleball courts the other way. And I have a lot of shirts and hats and pickleball stuff on my website and on um Etsy. And this is about the only one that sells, and it sells a lot. And so it's neat to see the Beatles and pickleball converge.

SPEAKER_03: 22:32

Why did you why did you start bite-sized pickleball? What's the history?

SPEAKER_00: 22:37

Um, honestly, why it's why I started everything. And in I was when when I started pickleball, everything was kind of antiquated, including the writing, including the pickleball shirts, the pickleball hats. And I went, you know what? I could, I could I'm a colorful person. I can come in and do some, I can do better than what they're doing, right? I looked at some of the stuff, I'm like, I wouldn't wear that. I wouldn't wear it, you know. When I first came, I'm like, I wouldn't be caught dead in that shirt, you know. And so I that was, you know, it was a reason for me to start my own uh pickleball brand.

SPEAKER_02: 23:11

Did you Photoshop it yourself?

SPEAKER_00: 23:13

I had an artist who used who lived in the Philippines who did my work for me. Now I have an artist called Chat GPT.

SPEAKER_02: 23:24

Yes, we've met.

SPEAKER_00: 23:25

Yes. In fact, the project I'm working on right now, the the docuseries, ChatGPT has been invaluable to me. Like I've saved, it's you know, I I let's say I went off to Washington this summer and I needed to know the regulations of filming in the streets. Like previously you'd have to go to a lawyer. Like, so anyway, it's been super we don't we don't need to go down the AI rabbit hole right now, but it has been super helpful to me in in my process as a writer, as a creator.

SPEAKER_02: 23:54

Tell us about your docu-series.

SPEAKER_00: 23:57

Uh, my docu series is about former NBA players and their sons, and we're gonna hopefully do a WNBA episode too, because a couple of former NBA players have girls in the WNBA. So it's about just trying to emerge from the shadow of a famous parent and the pressure uh to do that. And um it's been wonderful. We've got like five episodes shot. Um, it's being um financed by the general manager of Philadelphia, Philadelphia 76ers. His name's Elton Brand. He was the first pick out of college, used to play for the Clippers and uh got all kinds of famous basketball players in it. And I'm traveling all over the country, filming them and talking to them and facilitating this conversation between fathers and sons. And uh mainly I feel like a therapist in a good way. I bet because I find that these men haven't had a lot of time to discuss or even go into these things, especially the kids. So um, so each episode has a separate theme. Um, I'll just give you an example. There's a famous basketball player called Gary Payton, and Gary was a Hall of Famer, and his son had dyslexia growing up.

SPEAKER_04: 25:08

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_00: 25:09

And he was picked on by everybody because you're never going to be your father and you're stupid, and blah, blah, blah. So his mother Googled uh celebrities with dyslexia. And so Gary Payton II is his name, says, said he says to me while I'm interviewing him, but my life was changed when my mom took me to meet this famous actor who had dyslexia. And this famous actor showed me that I can do anything. He introduced me to my superpowers, and I said, Well, who's that famous actor? And he goes, His name was Harry Winkler.

SPEAKER_01: 25:40

Oh, I'm like, Do you mean Henry?

SPEAKER_00: 25:45

I said, Do you mean the fawns? He's like, and we both go, yeah. So that was on film, right? So I'm getting amazing uh stories like that that are coming out, and then some really serious stories about um men now, fathers who grew up in, let's say, in North Philly and you know, couldn't leave their home for fear of their lives, and they found basketball as an avenue, as a passport, they like to say, to a greater life. So it's been it's been wonderful. Hopefully, it'll be on something like next Netflix next year. It's called Full Court Shadow, and uh it's actually, to tell you the truth, it's given me a chance to get away from the pickleball creative side for a while. I can get back to my first love, which is basketball. I'm playing pickleball almost every day, but it's it's like I was in, I was just I'm always was always getting a little burned out on the pickleball newsletter, podcast, books, pickleball magazine, etc. etc. And so um that's where it's at now.

SPEAKER_03: 26:46

I was on your Facebook last night looking and I saw the fun clip where you were in San Francisco hanging up your green.

SPEAKER_00: 26:54

Oh, the one with the taping?

SPEAKER_03: 26:56

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 26:56

Yeah, that was right. Yeah, I tried, yeah, yeah. In the in the in the morning. So for your viewers and readers, so we um I got called to San Francisco by this Gary Payton II, and some his assistant said, How quickly can you be in San Francisco? And I go, Tomorrow. So we rented a suite in San Francisco, and we were gonna film in that suite, and I've been shooting everything with a green screen behind us because then when I come in, I can change that into anything. So she's talking about the I was hanging a green screen at like 6 30 in the morning, trying not to ruin the walls of this fancy hotel we were at. And so I just like that fun.

SPEAKER_02: 27:36

So that was just a fun little are you your own videographer?

SPEAKER_00: 27:41

Uh I actually am a one-man band usually, but I do have a director of photography on my crew. I have a couple co-producers, uh, have some production assistants, but we're a super small crew and uh saves money. And and I don't like big crews because then you can't people can't be vulnerable because you know there's 10, 20 people around them, you know, and the subject is super vulnerable. So I wanted them to feel safe in this, in this place, in this, in this place I facilitate for us all. So um, so yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 28:17

It sounds beautiful. I am looking forward to watching that. And so please do keep us in the loop on when it hits Netflix and goes to the festivals and gets the award. So we want, yeah, that sounds really awesome. So, in all these adventures you've had, Rick, on the basketball court, on the pickleball court, when you're writing, when you're filming, uh, what are some life lessons that you can share?

SPEAKER_00: 28:48

Uh to me, the main life lesson is to treat people with respect and care and kindness. And to me, pickleball has allowed me to be a part of a community. And it's I there's probably everywhere I go in Santa Barbara now, I run into a pick a pickleball person that I know, and they've I've gotten help from real estate help, financial advisors, and so you know to me, especially in where we're at right now, going out of our way to be nice to people. So, and recognizing that we're all we all have our own agendas in our lives, and everyone's going to have their own agenda, but you have to be aware of others' agendas and how to flow within that. So, when I went to New York this summer, I went with one word. I said, because it's New York, it's 10 million people. I was born there, but it was like I said, flow. And so I'm in the subway Friday at five o'clock, and there's thousands of people, everybody has a different agenda. And how can you flow? Can you not be pissed off? My I'll Just close with this one analogy. You're in a inner tube floating down the river and you're relaxed and you're enjoying, and all of a sudden someone comes and they bump you like a bumper car, and you go, hey, you know, and you want it and you get back, and then someone else bumps you, and then someone else bumps you, and then someone flips you. Most of us in life will swim to the shore and cry about it for a long period of time. Whatever's happened in my life, I like to get back on my inner tube and flow as quickly as possible. I'm not saying I don't have the reaction, the initial reaction. Um same thing trying to flip someone off in your car. That's never going to get through to that person. It's ever. So be kind, learn to flow, and learn that everyone has their own agenda and enjoy, enjoy your life because I don't know, whatever you believe in, you're here right now. And you got to utilize that time that we have together to help each other and lift each other up, not tear each other down.

SPEAKER_02: 31:07

Wow. I mean, there's nothing more that one can say beyond that. That is fantastic. Very touching, actually, and very sweet how your whole life seems to be dedicated to this inviting awareness and for us to go inside, discover who we really are, why are we here, and how can we make this world a better place because we are here. I love that.

SPEAKER_00: 31:32

The power I have is to be kind to people on a daily basis, whether I'm going to my coffee, barista, you know what I mean? I pride myself on knowing every barista's name. And it's funny, this coffee place I go to, there's like a turnover, like it's insane. And I'm like, oh God, here's four new young women. I have to remember their names or young men. I'm like, nope, nope, do it. Just do it so you can walk in and you can respect people.

SPEAKER_02: 31:59

That's a good one. Okay, everybody. Be sure to find learn the names of your barisho.

SPEAKER_00: 32:05

Learn that it's not only about your agenda. We're all here with agendas and we need to make them fit. And the pickleball court is is no different there. Where everybody comes out to that pickleball court with a different agenda every day. And so you might be playing, and someone walks across in the, you know, they open the gate when you're playing. It's like, hey, you know what I mean? It's like there's so many agendas on the pickleball court. And so it's kind of um, it's a it's a microcosm of life, is learning to get along right with each other. And it's really great that it's happened at this age of our life that we have pickleball to grow into and learn about and to force us into examining, hopefully, ourselves in these moments. So that's what I try to do. And I don't, you know, and I write about it, and but at the end of the day, all I can do is also flow. And if someone wants my help or someone wants to learn how to play better, uh I'm always there for it. So um, so that's kind of been my philosophy, the zen of pickleball.

SPEAKER_02: 33:13

The zen of pickleball. That's beautiful. So our agenda is to be sure that everybody knows how to find you and follow you. So tell us.

SPEAKER_00: 33:24

Um, well, I live, uh, the coordinates I live at are no, I'm kidding. Um you can find bite-sized pickable, bite-size pickable. You could just Google that and that will link you to the Facebook group, which has about 9,000 people, which I built up organically, which I I I you know, I didn't pay for anybody to get to that, right? It's just over the years. Um, so the Facebook group, um, the newsletter is at substack.com. So you can go to bite sizepickleball.substack.com. You can find the newsletter there. You can find the podcast on any podcast server, which is called Bite Size Pickleball. And you can find the the shirt. The shirt at www.bitesizepickleball.com and the books at Amazon.

SPEAKER_02: 34:17

My goodness.

SPEAKER_00: 34:18

You can type my name Rick C I P E S at Amazon, and it'll come up. And thanks for letting me shell all my products.

SPEAKER_02: 34:25

Hopefully, I'll make a couple sales and uh we'll see how you have a lot to offer. What was that last?

SPEAKER_00: 34:33

And we'll see what happens.

SPEAKER_02: 34:35

We'll see what happens. Yeah, well, and also your documentary docuseries. So, I mean, yeah, lots, lots to follow and lots to learn. And thank you. Thank you very much for being our team.

SPEAKER_00: 34:47

Appreciate you guys doing this show and having me on. I'm glad we found some time to be together in this.

SPEAKER_02: 34:52

Your humor is terrific. Yeah, thank you. Very, very fun. You did bring color and humor to pickleball. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_00: 34:59

That's what I'm trying to do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 35:01

Yeah. And thanks for sharing all your heart.

SPEAKER_02: 35:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 35:06

Sure, Shelly. My pleasure.

SPEAKER_02: 35:09

And thank you all so much for tuning in. And yeah, you saw all those places where you can find Rick and follow him and read his books and buy his shirts and read his Substack. I mean, lots of options.

SPEAKER_00: 35:22

And if you don't, I won't be offended.

SPEAKER_02: 35:26

They will. We will. Thank you all. And uh, we look forward to a new conversation next week. Bye-bye.

SPEAKER_03: 35:34

Bye-bye. If you love our podcast, we'd be so grateful if you'd take a few seconds to follow or subscribe to Life Lessons from Pickleball. This ensures you'll never miss an episode and helps us continue these wonderful conversations.

SPEAKER_02: 35:48

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