Meet Mike Branon

SPEAKER_04 0:00

Hi, I'm Shelly Mauer. And I'm Cher Emmerich. 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. Welcome everyone to Life Lessons from Pickleball. Today we are so happy to have with us Mike Brannon. Mike, you have lived one of the most intentional and fascinating paths we've come across. At 40, you stepped away from a very successful business career to go find what makes life worth living. And that quest led you into nonprofit work, teaching high school, launching a microbrewery, becoming a massage therapist, and eventually into a late life love affair with pickleball.

SPEAKER_03 0:47

And that love affair has turned into something truly special. You're now the best-selling author of Pickleball and the Art of Living and the Joy of Pickleball, which has become a guide for senior players everywhere who want to play better or feel better and live with more meaning.

SPEAKER_04 1:06

And being seniors ourselves, what we love about your work is that you don't just talk about shots and strategy, you talk about joy or connection or aging well or gratitude and how the way we show up on the court reflects how we show up in life.

SPEAKER_03 1:22

Mike, before we dive into your philosophy and the life lessons woven through your writing, take us back. What was happening in your life when you started playing pickleball?

SPEAKER_00 1:34

Well, it's uh first of all, thank you for that nice introduction. I I I wish you guys could just follow me around and introduce me to people. That was pretty good. Um But uh yeah, what led me to it was

From Basketball To Pickleball

SPEAKER_00 1:45

complete chance. Um I was uh uh like most people, I was getting my oil changed. And instead of sitting around the uh the the place and looking at the at the reruns on TV or whatever, I decided to go for a run. And I on my run I ended up at a near a gym that I used to play basketball at, with basketball as my first love. And I I ran inside just to kind of relive old times, and there was all these people playing this very strange game. And to let you know how long ago, it was wooden paddles. Uh so uh yeah, it was the local senior center. And uh so uh, you know, I was watching it, probably took about 15 seconds for them to notice me and invite me to play with them. Uh so that's just one more example of how welcoming people are in this world. And so I started and I never stopped. And that was uh probably about 10 years ago, and uh it's been a great ride.

SPEAKER_04 2:34

So basketball was your first love. Is it still a part of your life?

SPEAKER_00 2:39

No, I actually um re retired uh from from basketball at age 50 um after having my uh face rearranged too many times and uh and and because I I that's one you can never play basketball halfway. And uh and so I I finally reached that point where I said I better find myself a more uh gentlemanly pursuit in my elder years. So uh so I went I went from from there I went to tennis, and from there I went to pickleball.

SPEAKER_04 3:06

And pickleball is not necessarily a gentle sport, but you're not getting your face rearranged unless you get tagged by the ball, right?

SPEAKER_00 3:13

Yeah, yeah. I I have taken some facial uh face shots before, as most people have who play it at my level. You know, you're gonna get hit some. Um, but uh it definitely not quite as intense as basketball and uh sure a heck of a lot more enjoyable and less uh less hardcore. Let me put it that way. The people I play with, I love to play with.

SPEAKER_04 3:32

Oh, that's so cool. You have changed careers so many times. Do you have all these chapters in your life? Um,

Careers, Change, And Flexibility

SPEAKER_04 3:40

how has the shifting and changing of your own career path been has it influenced at all the way you experience pickleball?

SPEAKER_00 3:49

It really has. It um it really almost starts from the time I was a kid, a Navy brat, uh actually Navy and Marines. So we were moving all over the place. I can't remember how many schools I went to by the time I got to high school, but you had to learn to adjust and be flexible and be resilient. And those are all qualities I think that helped me moving along. And uh, and so as as I went on in life, um, you know, some people call it ADHD. I call it, you know, kind of looking around and seeing, looking what your options are. But uh I I'm a real very very project-driven person. And so when I throw myself into something, I really try to um throw myself into it completely, and then if something else comes up, I I go that direction. I'm not I try not to get caught up in momentum. Um, and so and the same thing applies for your the pickleball listeners out there is that sometimes you play at a certain place or with a certain group, and that's great. Yeah, I think it's wonderful to have friends, but always be looking for new opportunities because uh you never know where that might take you.

SPEAKER_03 4:50

Oh, I really like that, yeah. And I was thinking, you know, I feel like all of it we all have that in common where you said we look for something deeper. We all go and play pickleball, and here you've written two books and we're doing a podcast.

SPEAKER_00 5:05

Kindred spirits, I think.

SPEAKER_03 5:07

That's something that we share. Um in pickleball and the art of living, you use pickleball as a metaphor for how to live well, right? Can you share the first moment? How did when did you first

The Cruise That Sparked A Book

SPEAKER_03 5:20

realize that about pickleball, that it held deeper lessons?

SPEAKER_00 5:24

Well, like with a lot of things in in life, it was completely accidental. Um, the the uh book was born on a cruise that uh in the middle of the South Pacific. Um we happened to be, it was in February of 2020, and COVID broke out uh two days after we got on the ship. Um it was supposed to be a 21-day cruise and to go to all these incredible places, and it turned out we ended up spending 20-some days uh zigzagging across the Pacific trying to find a country that would let us off the ship. And um, and and so I was about, you know, day five or six into this thing, and uh I thought, well, I've I finished my workout at about 7:30 in the morning, and I got two options. I can try to do something constructive or I could head to the bar. Um, so I ended up uh doing both. No, yeah, I ended up writing the book. I went to the bar later. But uh so I started to write this book. I just thought, you know, here I am, um, you know, trapped in a nice place, of course, but trapped. And what can I do? Um, so again, learning to think on your feet, I started writing. I thought, you know, I'd always wanted to write a bit about life or my view on life, uh, mainly for my kids or whoever might be interested. The book and started out having it was completely it was completed uh in the two weeks before we even got off the ship. Oh and it had nothing, almost nothing whatsoever to do with pickleball. It was your generic um, you know, the art of living in the first book is more about it was my idea on what makes a life well lived. I did have one paragraph in there where I use pickleball as an as an analogy. And when I got home, I sent my manuscript off to two people I know in the book business. Um they both said, hey, love your book. It's funny, we you know, it's great. Unfortunately, in this genre, you have to be famous first and then write your book. You can't write your book and do it the other way. That's kind of the way the world works. But each of them independently of each other said, you know, that paragraph on pickleball, that could be your niche. I couldn't believe it. They both said the same thing, so the universe didn't have to tell me three times. So I completely tailored the book to pickleball and thought, I can write all this stuff that's meaningful to me, but I equate it with something that, you know, that gives people a lot of meaning as well. It shows you that anything that you do and you do well and you do with passion can inform your life, and vice versa.

SPEAKER_04 7:43

Oh my gosh, I remember your ship being on the news every night.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

It may not have been our ship. There were many out there actually. We were keeping track of them on the internet. But the very the fortunate thing is our ship did not have people that were sick. Um they just just nobody would let us off. And um, and you and the in the ship, the people on the ship kind of divided into two camps. One was abject panic, and the other one was, hey, we're on a ship in the middle of the

Positive Dinking And Mindset

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Pacific. Let's keep enjoying life, let's let's connect, let's support each other. Um, so it was a very interesting study in psychology, um, which is a much longer story than than we have today. But it was very interesting, and the book was born from it.

SPEAKER_04 8:23

That's very cool. That and I love how you utilized your time. That alone is a wonderful model for us. When you're stuck, you there's nothing else you can do. How do you want to make this a meaningful experience and not just blow it, you know, go get drunk every night and try to pretend like it's not happening?

SPEAKER_03 8:43

Because that would have been easy.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

Yes, that was an option. But uh, you know, it it's it is funny how life turns out sometimes. You know, the I I I I look back on my life and I think that some of the negative things that happened were the I mean it sounds trite, they were the best things that happened to me because it shook me out of my um my rut, my my habit that wasn't working for me, and into something that was much more rewarding. So it's been that way all along, and I think a lot of people have that kind of story as well.

SPEAKER_04 9:11

I do too. It's very it's about positive thinking. And I and you have a term positive dinking. Say more about that.

SPEAKER_00 9:20

Yes, the uh it was I was trying to think of a uh a subtitle or a tagline for my second for my first book, Pickleball and the Art of Living. And I've and I think, well, that sounds like a self-help book, and you know, there's that Norman Vincent Peel, the power of positive thinking. Thinking rhymes with dinking. Like, okay, we'll go with that. So I the power of positive thinking is the is the tag. And a lot of people that take a quick glance at the book, they'll go, there's a theme here, the power of positive drinking. And then they so it's it's uh, you know, it it gets people on the line anyway. But uh yeah, but positive thinking is is not a bad idea if you if you use you know substitute dinking for pickleball. The the whole idea is if you if you play pickleball or do anything in life with that innate positivity, um, you attract so many great people. Um you use you just attract positivity if you if you put it out there. And uh uh I again, you know, I I I fight the sometimes I kind of am self-conscious about the idea of self-help, but it's out there for a reason because there's a lot of truth to it. And it's in this that common sense uh attitude, I think, that really uh makes makes you operate life on a deeper level. Uh not necessarily more serious, but just more a full experience.

SPEAKER_04 10:39

In fact, before we got started, you mentioned that you listened to our episode with Anna Glotova from Ukraine.

Welcoming New Players

SPEAKER_04 10:45

And you told us a really fun, uh, very sweet story of your own experience. Can you share that?

SPEAKER_00 10:51

Yeah, that episode really touched my heart. And and and while I have a second, I thank you guys for doing what you do because um we're we're really on the same mission. It's to help people live um better, more positive, more aware lives, more vibrant lives. And pick a ball just happens to be our medium. Um and it turned out to be that way with this woman I met, her name's Nina, and um I was going to the local courts to give lessons. I've been coaching for many years, and uh, walking away and she seemed a little sad, and I just said, Hey, how's it going? And she she kind of stopped and instead of just saying fine, she goes, Well, I just played pickleball for the first time, and I that was not fun at all. I go, I'm sorry. And so we started to talk a little bit, and she says, Yeah, I I'd never played before, so I just went out there and wanted to see how to play, and everyone else had experience, and I felt like they were just, you know, were not very welcoming. And I said, Well, you know what it is, is that you can't you can't use this one experience and color the whole world with that. Let me tell you what, let's get together. Let me show you how to play the game and see what you think about it. Years later, she's one of my best friends, uh, wonderful woman from Ukraine. Um, so she's she reminds me a lot of of that that wonderful woman that you spoke to a couple of podcasts ago who is who manages to live with a full and a broken heart at the same time. It's just so inspiring, and she's such a beautiful person. And uh I hope she doesn't mind me talking about her. But uh but no, it's in it's and it just it it it lights me up to see how much um you know I engendered a spark of joy in her, and she has spread that to so many people. She and my wife play, which is great, you know, because my wife has another great pickleball story. Um, she's your your basic introvert CPA, um, you know, technical person, not sports-minded at all. Took several years for her to finally, if I kind of like nudged her gently to get out there and try it, and now her life has just blossomed. She has so many great friends, they travel together, they play together. It's it's an incredible thing, whether it's whether it's Nina or my wife or so many other people that I've been able to coach or meet, and the same with you guys, I think that's a lot of our life's work right now. Um, and I think that's that's there's a lot

Community, Laughter, And Belonging

SPEAKER_00 13:10

less noble things you can do in this world than that.

SPEAKER_03 13:12

And that is just the sweetest story. You know, we had another guest that was a pickleball coach, Brian Ashworth, and he his life lesson was you don't ever want to be the reason that someone never comes back to the pickleball court. And I think about that all the time. And then here, that's I think of your story. Not only do I not want to be the reason, but I want to make sure that I help people like you did and invite, make sure they feel welcome to come back because it is a you meet the best people, just like your wife's story. It's just uh incredible.

SPEAKER_00 13:46

It's a great thing. I mean, I it's so nice, it's it's it's very fulfilling. I I think of the uh the the guys I'm gonna go out there and play with here as soon as we finish with this. And um, you know, my my and my best friend Rob Rob Cameron is out there, and I know he's already out there hitting serves and and and half an hour ahead of time, and and we're just gonna have the best time. We're very competitive, but I'll guarantee you ain't nobody laughs more than we do when we're on the court. I mean, we send goofy pictures and text to each other. It's just a non-stop fun thing. So you kind of hit, you know how it is, you get you've you hit all, you check all those boxes, you know, competition, connection, laughter. Um uh it's just a fantastic thing.

SPEAKER_03 14:28

So and and you meet people that I don't know how I would have ever met them before, right? The different all different walks of life, different yeah, it's just incredible.

unknown 14:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:38

I even like um uh you know, I'm not always on a cruise ship, but I happen to be on one. We actually uh three years after the fact, we finally got to try this cruise again. And we just came back from about about a month ago. So we did the South Pacific and it was magical, you know, Tahiti, Morea, Bora Bora, all those areas. And uh, and sure enough, you know,

Writing For Senior Players

SPEAKER_00 15:00

on the ship, I ran into this one guy, and and it's the conversation comes out, and he was he's so excited to play pickleball. He's sending me text, and he he he got my he got my second book, which is more of the instructional book. He sends me this text like two weeks later. I read the book and it worked, and he's on the gold medal stand at his at his pickleball club. So, yes, yes. So very very cool stuff out there.

SPEAKER_04 15:25

So that's the joy of pickleball?

SPEAKER_00 15:27

That's the joy of pickleball.

SPEAKER_04 15:28

And so what inspired you to write for those of us who are seniors?

SPEAKER_00 15:34

Well, yes, yes. Um, the joy of pickleball. It it's it was a follow-up to the first book because the first book has a little bit of instruction at the end in the postscript, but I didn't want to throw off readers that I wanted to just find out more about life in general. So I was very judicious about not to just hit them over the head with too much pickleball. But of course, the people that love the first book who are pickleheads said, okay, that's really nice. You know, you know, we're gonna live a happy, wonderful, meaningful life. I want to beat the hell out of that couple that keeps keep crushing us and it kind of moonwalks off the court. I want to take those people down. So we need more instruction. So uh so I went ahead and wrote the second book for them. And I wrote it specifically for the senior player because I did some research, and as I said before about having a niche when you write, um, there were no books out there at the time that specifically address the needs of the senior player. So not only is it is it instructive, but it has to do a lot with your health. The the tagline again is the or the motive of the book is play better, play healthier, play happier. And if you don't have all three of those, something's missing missing from your game. You know, if you're not playing well enough, the you kind of know what you feel. I'm not really reaching my potential. I'm not, gosh, I want to be just a little bit better so I enjoy it more. But again, if you don't have your health, I mean, as we all know, it's it's so sad to sit there and watch everybody else playing because you didn't stretch or you did something silly on the court you shouldn't have done, or you didn't have the proper core strength or whatever it is, balance. So I talk a lot about that too, how important it is to have your body in good shape to play this game, to warm up properly, to stretch before and after. I've always been really big into the physical life. So that's something I actually knew about.

Mindset Over Mechanics

SPEAKER_00 17:20

And then the happier part, of course, ties it all together. You know, if you're not having a good time, it doesn't matter how good you are, how great you feel physically. If you aren't having a good time, you're losing. So, and if you are, you're winning. And so that's what I that's what I gravitated toward. So all of those things are in the book, and it's wrapped up in the I in the idea too, what what means more as you get older. Um, I refer to it in my final chapter as the autumn of your life, and it it's a time when um I could look it up real quick, but it's a time when uh the the flowering is the leaves, the the leaves of autumn. You know, it's it it there's a there's a blossoming that's still there's colors that still happen as you get older. And uh and and again, pickleball is one more avenue to realizing that that joy that you can have of being alive and and and feeling community and and um and just moving through your world. So that's why I wrote the book and people seem to enjoy it.

SPEAKER_04 18:16

Fantastic. And that's the mindset over mechanics concept?

SPEAKER_00 18:21

Very much so. I mean, you as we all know, if you're gonna play pickleball, there's certain things. I have the um the pickleball ten commandments in one of my books that um I you know, just because a lot of times there's so much information out there, you can go on YouTube and have your head spinning in no time. Um, you know, half an hour videos on on how to hit a slice backhand dink. And really, I try to, in my coaching and in my book, I try to consolidate that information so it's usable. I always felt like when you're gonna do something well, you can you can really only hold one, maybe two concepts in your head at a time. So I want to narrow it down, keep keep the focus on these really important fundamentals. And then when you do that, then your play tends to blossom from there because your foundation's in a good place.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

Brilliant.

SPEAKER_00 19:05

And so, and so mindset mindset is is one of the biggest ones. I'm sorry. Mindset is so important. Again, it goes back to the playing happier. Um, and and and that comes through with life too. If you have a growth mindset, um, you might even start a podcast, you might uh do all kinds of things in life.

SPEAKER_01 19:19

You might

Small Habits For Longevity

SPEAKER_01 19:20

write a book while you're stuck on a ship.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

You never know.

SPEAKER_03 19:26

So, what are some small habits that make the biggest difference that you can share with us that we could start incorporating so we can have longevity on the court?

SPEAKER_00 19:38

Okay, so that's what you say small habits, there's many um many headings for that. You know, small habits um uh in the in the way of playing uh better pickleball fundamentally, there's there's habits though, and also in the way of your mindset and your attitude. Um there's also the the health part of it. So there's really each one of those has those underpinnings to it that you need to have. So which which of those would you like to talk about?

SPEAKER_03 20:05

What do you think is the most important?

SPEAKER_00 20:08

I I think the happiness is the most important. Yeah, the that you come into it with exactly come in there with the right attitude and and be you know, be excited to learn. I think that's one of the things sometimes it's so sad when when people get older, we we fall into habits and we we we lose that spark of learning, that joy of learning. And um, you know, I see it when I'm I was just with my grandkids a couple of weeks ago up in Northern California, and you see that when they can when they learn something, just the eyes light up and the excitement, they can barely stand it. And and that's what we want to keep as we get older. We want to keep that spark alive. Um, so pickleball is a wonderful laboratory for that because you know, the old line that it's easy to learn but uh hard to master. Even me, I'm I was out literally out in my driveway half an hour before we came on here, and I set up a little court there for my wife and I to practice, and I was working on my two-handed backhand, which I'm trying to incorporate. There's always something to learn, you know. So uh uh it's a big laboratory that you can enjoy yourself in and tinker

Who You Are On The Court

SPEAKER_00 21:10

and and have a good time with.

SPEAKER_04 21:12

What did you mean that the way we find ourselves what present ourselves on the court is the way we present ourselves in life?

SPEAKER_00 21:21

Very much so. I I think that you have to you there is uh with most people, every now and then you'll meet you'll run to someone who's very different off the court than they are on the court. They may be super hyper competitive on the court and almost kind of a pain to be with, but off the court they might be the sweetest person you've ever seen. And I must say that usually applies to men that I've met because we tend to have a little we're we're a little testosterone addled. But uh, but in general, I think that the if you bring if you're if you're a kind person off the court and you endeavor to bring that to the pickleball court, it's like you guys were saying earlier, you want to be the reason that people come back. You want to, as I've said before, it's it's not so much people don't remember exactly how you played, but they remember who you were when you played.

SPEAKER_02 22:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:07

What you're how they felt about themselves playing with you.

SPEAKER_00 22:11

Exactly. And and that's and that's the thing, too, with the like the group I'm gonna go out and play with now. We're just almost as excited when someone else hits a great shot. We go, man, that was how'd you do that? That's incredible. You know, we're high five and stuff. So it's a real positive experience when you're I always talk about also find your tribe. Um, you know, sometimes we get into groups, and after a certain amount of time, that may not be the right group for you anymore. You don't have to, you know, write a big dramatic breakup letter, but you know, start looking for different groups that might fit you better, you know, or you know, just you know, test the waters. It's uh I've found some of my best friends by being open to playing with new people, and it's just a blessing.

SPEAKER_04 22:52

It really is. So we we have that same attitude. We just love celebrating each other's wonderful shots.

Habit Beats Willpower

SPEAKER_04 23:00

I want to be you when I grow up kind of thing.

SPEAKER_00 23:03

I love it. I love it.

SPEAKER_04 23:05

Well, so with all this amazing sorry, Shelly, go ahead. One more.

SPEAKER_03 23:16

That's what you remember.

SPEAKER_00 23:18

Exactly right. And that's that's one aspect I I should have uh I did bring it up. I should have brought it up more in my book about older people playing pickleball. It's like sometimes we'll finish the game and I go, Well, I got my butt kicked today, but it's a good thing, but you know, come Tuesday, I'll have no idea what happened.

SPEAKER_04 23:36

I don't even have to wait till Tuesday. I'm I'm immediately unaware. I have no idea.

SPEAKER_00 23:42

We're gonna call it a tie. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:46

Oh man, you are a delight to talk to, Mike, honestly. And with all these amazing journeys you've been on and continue to be on, what are some life lessons you can share? Either that you've learned in life, you shared some already, but you've learned in life that you find yourself using on the court. Or while you were on the court, you thought, whoa, that is one good life lesson. I'm gonna apply that. So what can you share?

SPEAKER_00 24:11

Yeah, that's boy, there are so many things. Um one of the things that pops into my head immediately is the concept of habit versus willpower. Um so when you're living your life, and and your habits can be good habits, they can be bad habits or whatever, but if you're relying on willpower, let's just use an example. Um let's let's use health. If you if you you know you should be eating better, you know you should be stretching and doing resistance training, especially as you get older, and you're relying on willpower to do that, you'll probably fail. Um, it's hard. There's a lot of distractions in life. There's a lot of things, especially as we get older, telling us, you know, that couch actually looks better than the that gym floor right now. I think I'll just head over there. But if you enshrine virtuous habits into your life, if you say, you know what, I'm going to do resistance training on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, I'm going to do stretching every morning before I go downstairs, which is what

Hardwiring Happiness

SPEAKER_00 25:10

I do. I spend 10 minutes with my dog and he waits patiently while I do my stretches. And I will not go downstairs to my house until I've done it. It's a habit. And it's the same thing with your pickleball game strategically. Um, if you find yourself seeing, you know, geez, I really should be more patient and and and just keep the ball low at their feet until I get a good opportunity. But ooh, I'm thinking I'm gonna hit this one really hard. That's gonna be fun. You know, it that's no, there's your willpower failing again. So you just have to get into these habits, whether it's health or or strategy, or even the idea of happiness. There's a a book that I quote that's made an impact in my life. It's called Hardwiring Happiness. And I talk about it at length in the in the in one of my books. And the idea is that we are the descendants of people who evolved because they're always looking for trouble. Those are the ones that were on the lookout. Okay, what could get me? You know, they're kind of neurotic. And we're descended from these people because the real happy, well-adjusted guy got eaten. You know, he's just looking at, whoa, what a pretty cloud. And of course, you know, the saber-toothed tiger gets him. So as you see in life, you know, we've got all of the news cycle, which completely inundates you with negativity because they know that gets your attention. And so, my the idea of hardwiring happiness is to create new neural pathways. The concept is neuroplasticity that you can create, literally create new pathways. So when you experience things in life, you experience them in a more positive light because you give that positivity a chance to breathe. You notice when things go right. And I think that's the thing that we often forget. You can drive 10,000 miles, you get back, you survived all this traffic and everything, and you're back home, and you notice, oh my gosh, there's a scratch on my car. And you can't wait to tell everybody how some son of a gun scratch your car. Take it easy. Look for the positive in life. Notice when the milk doesn't spill. I mean, on and on. It there's a lot of, and some people think that's Pollyannish, but I tell you what, it's uh the risk of going on too much. I'm I tend toward Buddhism a bit. And there's a story um about uh

Where To Find Mike

SPEAKER_00 27:20

a woman who's entering a monastery and she's got the grimmest look on her face, and finally the the woman who's running the monastery says, Okay, here's your instructions. You need to smile all the time. And she's going, That's ridiculous. Just do it. And by smiling all the time, and she eventually there's a habit. She started to see the world differently. Literally, that physical sensation changed the way she looked at things. So fake it till you make it, stay positive, look, look, look on the bright side. There's a lot of things that we can be sorrowful about in this world. It doesn't mean we ignore them, but there's a lot of beauty and love out there too. And let's let's let's focus on that and gravitate toward it because it's there for us.

SPEAKER_04 28:00

Oh my gosh, my what a lovely conclusion to this amazing conversation. That was so beautiful. And your books, we've got to get them out there. We'll have links for your books to for people to buy. Oh my gosh, and joy of pickleball, especially for those of us who are seniors and oh, the art of living. Oh my gosh, very, very cool. So, how can people find you?

SPEAKER_00 28:25

Um, they can go to mikebrandon.com and it's M-I-K-E-B-R-A-N-O-N. Very strange spelling, but that's what I that's what I was given. It was uh mikebrandon.com. You can also find me on Amazon. Um, and uh you'll you'll you know that there's it's funny, I'm not really out there pushing the books too much. I have never really worked that hard at that. I figure that um, you know, it it it just happens and it has and it's been wonderful and fulfilling. So if you want to find me, you can find me. Um and I hope you enjoy the books and the spirit they were written in. Um the um by the way, I wanted to mention too that in the second book, The Joy of Pickleball, there's also a video series included in the book. So on the instruction part of it, some people are more visual learners. So after I write it, say I'll write a section about the volley, and then after that, I'll show I'll have a link to my website, and you can watch a quick five-minute video um that gives you the basics of that. So with a lot, I have actually I know other coaches that I've helped get into the business who they use my my book as a textbook for their students. So all they

Closing And Listener Support

SPEAKER_00 29:30

so they have that video reference as well. So uh I hope I encourage anyone who wants to learn more about the game to enjoy that book. And but if not, um I just hope you enjoy life and enjoy your game, no matter where where you are and how you play.

SPEAKER_04 29:43

That is so lovely. Yeah, you're already a bestseller, so but we're just delighted that you chat chatted with us and our audience gets more exposure to what you do and who you are and how you've shared yourself with us in these books. Thank you, Mike. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_00 29:58

It's been a real pleasure and keep doing Doing your good work.

SPEAKER_04 30:01

You too.

SPEAKER_00 30:02

Yeah. You too.

SPEAKER_04 30:03

Thank you all. Oh my gosh. Yeah, go get those books. Especially if you're senior. Come on, let's stay healthy, happy, and play forever. And thanks all. We'll look forward to a new conversation next week. Bye-bye.

SPEAKER_03 30:18

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_04 30:33

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.