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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.

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Before we get started, we have something really exciting to share.

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Thank you for being a part of Growing the Game We All Love. Now let's jump into today's episode. Welcome everyone to Life Lessons from Pickleball. We are truly excited to have with us today Audrey Phillips. Audrey, you are someone who blends psychology, pickleball, and adventure in the most beautiful way.

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You've spent more than five decades helping people understand themselves better as a psychotherapist, educator, and a lifelong learner. And along the way, you've created incredible communities, both on and off the court.

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Audrey, you've taken the love of connection far beyond the therapy room. Through pickleball and travel, you bring hundreds of people together each year in joyful, meaningful ways.

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And you're not just building community, you're still very much in the game. You continue to play tournaments, you've earned multiple national titles alongside some fantastic partners, and you serve as an ambassador for both USA Pickleball and USSP, the National Senior Pickleball Association.

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And we're so happy you're here with us today. And before we talk about the pickleball adventures and travel, let's go back to the beginning of your career. You always knew you wanted to be a psychologist. What sparked that so early?

SPEAKER_00: 1:53

I always had people coming to me when I was a little child, and I was very shy as a child and an only child, but people always came to me and told me their problems. And so it just evolved. I always knew that I wanted to be a psychologist.

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Do you think being an only child had an effect on that? Why people felt like they should could come to you?

SPEAKER_00: 2:22

Was it you were comfortable with adults or up until the fifth grade, I was very shy, incredibly shy. I wouldn't eat cookies at my aunt and uncle's homes. And we moved in the fifth grade and we got a dog, and something happened to me. It was like a switch was turned. And since that time, I am just very outgoing. So too outgoing sometimes. I really love people and I love to ask questions and have fun with people, but that's the only explanation that I could give.

SPEAKER_03: 3:01

There's something very magical about pets, don't you think? My oh, especially dogs. I'm sorry, I have a very special place in my heart for dogs. And they're just uh they're amazing companions that don't have any judgment, and they're really good listeners.

SPEAKER_00: 3:19

Unconditional love. And we've always had rescue mutts, my husband and I. And I'm sure you might hear Watson. He might even jump up and try to kiss you on the screen. Continue to just love our pets.

SPEAKER_03: 3:33

We'll be happy to have them join the show. So if they happen to show up, that's great. Did you meet your husband in tennis or pickleball or what?

SPEAKER_00: 3:43

No, I didn't play pickleball in 1974, but my husband was a marine lieutenant at Camp Pendleton, and I was running a mental health center. He had been living in an apartment on the beach in Del Mar, and I moved in. And within about three days, we met, and our first date was playing tennis at UCSD, and that began our love affair. And in 2026, it'll be 50 years.

SPEAKER_03: 4:21

Oh, congratulations!

SPEAKER_00: 4:25

Yes, we're excited. So, what was going on in your life when you discovered pickleball 19 years ago? Life was great. I was very busy with my practice and um taking people on vacation. Life was perfect. But I was playing softball, co-ed senior softball, and my manager saw an article in the paper and said to me, I think this is the sport for you. I had been playing a lot of tennis, a lot of competitive table tennis, and he said, I think that you will love the sport. And I said, I'm really busy, Leroy. Why don't you go and check it out? So he did, and he loved it. And six months later, I started, and that was the end of my tennis, and still play ping pong whenever I can, but just for fun. And I just fell in love within one day. I was hooked. Where were you living at the time? Always in San Diego. Oh, in this little town in San Diego. San Diego, even though it's not Washington State, had many venues for pickleball very early and some amazing mentors who started pickleball and continue to this day. We now have about 55 venues in San Diego, mainly outside, of course.

SPEAKER_03: 5:49

In San Diego, not in California, in San Diego. 55. Incredible. Y'all are way ahead of us than in Washington. We're up in the Seattle area. We should have the most being near Bainbridge, where it all started, but we're way behind on that. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00: 6:06

Don't forget the weather in San Diego.

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Yeah, good point.

SPEAKER_00: 6:10

It's a big part. We are sporty people who like to be outside. The irony is our USAP nationals was in San Diego in November. And it never rains in San Diego. So there we were all very excited. Had a bunch of people staying in my home because that's the best part of pickleball, the people. And it rained almost the whole time. We were rained out, one complete day. In fact, that day had the most rain of any day in San Diego history. 1.85 inches. So, you know, we can't control everything in our life. So we have a lot of outside venues. We have a few indoor venues as well.

SPEAKER_03: 6:58

I suspect that is a lesson you have to teach a lot of your patients that we can't control everything in our lives.

SPEAKER_00: 7:06

We want to, don't we?

SPEAKER_03: 7:08

We do, yes, we do. And we think we know what's best if we could only just control everything.

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Absolutely.

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What you have found a way to combine your therapy with people and pickleball. Can you tell us about that? How did that get started?

SPEAKER_00: 7:27

Well, I'm not sure that I really do that intentionally. My pickleball trips have nothing to do with my clients, but you know, every time we interact with someone, it's a it's a life lesson. And so I just naturally began um taking people on vacation about 32 years ago because it was the yin and yang of my life. My little son said, Mommy, do you can you plan a trip for our friends and their parents? And I said, Okay, I had been traveling a lot. My children knew that. They love to travel. So I started doing a trip. I thought it would be a one-time shot. And then the people, there were about five families, said, Where are we going next year? And that began what I called Audrey's Adventures. So I took families, it got to I think 370. We would take over a resort. It had nothing to do in those days with pickleball, but it had to do with the same concept of pickleball, and that is sharing joy with a variety of people. And this was multi-generational. So for me, the yin and yang of being a therapist and helping people who have problems, and then introducing a way to bring joy to my friends and fellow picklers has just been a natural for me.

SPEAKER_03: 9:04

So when did you start incorporating pickleball in these adventures?

SPEAKER_00: 9:09

In about 2010, is my recollection. Wow. Uh, we were all back to our house after a tournament in Carlsbad, which is a town in San Diego. I invited my husband was on a golf trip, but he was always welcoming to everyone. And there were about 20 or 30 people at our home after the tournament, just having fun together. And that's really the essence, as you know, both of you, love pickleball. And one of my friends, Chris Thomas, said to me, you know, I know you do all these vacations, and I know you love pickleball. And what do you think about the idea of doing a pickleball trip? And this was long before anyone else was doing pickleball trips. In fact, there were clinics locally, but there were no national, international vacation/slash uh pickleball trips. So I said, Oh, I love that idea. That's exciting. I love a challenge. And so our first trip was in 2011, and I've never advertised. In those days, USAPA had a monthly newsletter, and Chris was on the board. He said, Can I write a paragraph? I said, Of course, whatever. And he wrote about this future pickleball trip. But then about five days, we had it was sold out. And that was a long time ago. That was before the rush and the excitement and the popularity of it. The first trip, believe it or not, was a cruise, Holland America cruise, to Bermuda. And we had pickleball courts. There were 70 of us. We had them on the ship, and we got to Bermuda, and we had the International Tennis Center. We invited all their tennis pros and a bunch of kids and adults. And the 70 of us taught pickleball and just had a wonderful time. And that was the beginning. Wow. Oh my fantastic idea. And then when you imagine the logistics uh planning all that, Audrey.

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How do you do that?

SPEAKER_00: 11:31

Well, we don't have to talk about that because I don't want to think about all the logistics. But um what was funny is they all said, not all for sure, but a group of them said, Well, where are we going next year? Very similar to when I started with the family trips. So from that time on, um, I have been doing these trips. I've done, I think, 12 or 13. Every year is to a different resort, all inclusive, that have pickleball. And I'm really sensitive to these trips. They're very important to me because it's an opportunity for people to get together. It's not a clinic. We have 24 courts, we have two one-week segments, nine and ten night segments. They're always economical, although it's hard. It's a big challenge. So we have open play day and night. And you, if you're a we have lots of national champs, and we have lots of very beginners. We have one gentleman, John Apgar, who spends every morning teaching the beginners, and we invite the staff and the other residents who are enjoying the resort. We have cocktail parties and we have special parties, and it's just you could tell I'm emotional about it because the friendships have been fantastic. So I was pretty busy around 2024, and it was time for me to retire from doing these pickleboat trips. So I decided, okay, I'm gonna retire. And everyone knew this was we were at Club Med Turks and Caicos, which is a magical resort with the most beautiful water. And it was very emotional. And basically, what happened was the people ganged up on me and said, You really can't stop these trips. I said, Oh, I really can stop these trips. Because I'm, you know, in those days, I think I was 75 years old, and I have other fun stuff to do, new adventures. But what happened is a lot of people wanted to take over the trips. And I would say about 15 people I interviewed, but most of them had an ulterior motive. They wanted to make a lot of money, uh, they wanted to turn them into clinics, they only wanted certain skill levels to go. And I wasn't about to change the beauty of this is for everyone. And then along came Susan Neely and Linda Ross, who had been friends for about 12 years, who were the I Dink girls. They were the clothing people, one of the first clothing people. They have have the most beautiful outlook on life, and it's very similar to mine. So we joined forces in the end of 2024, and now we're doing picklepaw trips. We're the three amigas adventures, and we're doing exactly the same with some modifications. They're much better with Susan and Linda because they're great with technology and they have wonderful senses of humor. They're ethical, and so it's very exciting. I'm very blessed. So is the Three Amigas Adventures is that a website or not have a website, but we communicate, you know, just directly. We've been so blessed. I have, because we put up, we don't tell anyone we're going where we're going the next year until our Astolu party. And everyone always, oh, some of my friends in Boise, and people come from all over the country and Canada and the UK. Some of my friends in Boise have tried to give me too many cocktails to find out where we're going next year. Oh, I did have too many cocktails, and I I slipped and told them. But um, you know, we we make the announcement then and we put out the brochure and registration form, and then usually within about two or three weeks, we're sold out. It's like amazing.

SPEAKER_03: 16:12

Oh my goodness. And is it open to those who are listening and watching this podcast?

SPEAKER_00: 16:18

Or is it we love new people coming? It is not a set group, it is not an quote in crowd. It is whoever wants to come. We usually have, I would say maybe 50-50, our past picklers and our new picklers. And um, everyone's certainly welcome to come. We'd love to have them.

SPEAKER_03: 16:41

So your next trip, it's already sold out, I imagine.

SPEAKER_00: 16:45

Well, our next trip, and this has never happened in 32 years of doing vacations for people. Our next trip wasn't, it's always in January. You were going to an all-inclusive resort, ClubMad. And about two months ago, we were, and yes, it was sold out. The trip was sold out to answer your question by February of this year. We announced it in January. It was sold out in February. We were told by our wonderful group representative that two hurricanes, it's in Mexico on the West Coast, had come through in the summer and pretty much destroyed the resort. And they were giving us a heads up. They thought they could fix it, but we had Zoom meetings and it was clear that it wasn't going to be able to be prepared in time for us. And so sadly, our wonderful picklers we had to cancel. Oh, you know, Club Med was fabulous. They gave everyone their money back with a little extra to say thank you. But uh, we're very sad because we're always together in January. Yeah. But we're signing a contract for 2027 and 2028 very soon, but we'll not tell anyone until the brochure comes out, which will be the first week in January.

SPEAKER_03: 18:17

Can we offer you a cocktail?

SPEAKER_00: 18:20

One will not do it. Where do people see the brochure? Um, well, it's just, you know, at this point, we really do not have a website, but I think it's an excellent idea. You know, we haven't needed a website.

SPEAKER_03: 18:37

Yeah, word of mouth.

SPEAKER_00: 18:38

We have never marketed or advertised. But what I would say is if you can, if you're comfortable in sharing my email, um, you can email me and I will promise that you will get a brochure as soon as it comes out. Uh, you two would be great to have you on the trip.

SPEAKER_03: 18:58

We would love it. Yeah, we would. Yeah, that just sounds amazing. Well, I'm speak, I'm speaking for you too, Shelly, but I have a feeling you would love it too. I know I would.

SPEAKER_00: 19:08

We do have a lot of couples. We do have a lot of singles. I'm single.

SPEAKER_03: 19:13

Shelly's married, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 19:15

And so we have and we have friends who leave their spouses at home if they don't play pickleball. Although most of the couples, oftentimes one of the spouses will not play, but their resorts are so great with so much to do. Yeah, we're all there. We have nightly cocktail parties, it's one big happy family. So it's not just for couples, and it's certainly not just for great pickleball players.

SPEAKER_03: 19:43

So cool. I love the intergenerational part of it, the the mix and of all the levels that people play or not play at all, or just starting. I just think that is so lovely, and it speaks to the heart that you bring. That you've brought to your work as a therapist, certainly, and then to the world. I'm fascinated on two levels. One is that you grew up as an only child and you surround yourself with people. You surround yourself with people. I just love that. And I'm thanking that dog that was your pet that turned the corner for you to be able to feel comfortable with your own voice and your presence. That is really cool.

SPEAKER_00: 20:27

I think you're right about that. And my poor husband, because I do, I really love to be with people. Um, and he's so great that he just for the most part welcomes everyone in, and we just have a really wonderful time.

SPEAKER_03: 20:43

So, as a therapist, have you noticed psychological emotional impact that this sport brings?

SPEAKER_00: 20:53

Yes. There's pickleball is very different than other sports. I've competed and played a lot of sports.

SPEAKER_03: 21:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 21:02

And here's what I noticed. When we play pickleball, and it doesn't matter if we're beginners, advanced, we get on the court, we connect with each other, we have a wonderful time, and then we leave the court. And it doesn't matter what we did for what we have done for a living, how much money we have, the size of our homes, if we're on food stamps, the sport encompasses such passion that none of that is important. So we really get to connect with people at a very primary level. And wouldn't it be nice if the world was like that?

SPEAKER_03: 21:42

Wouldn't it indeed? Wouldn't it? Happily, the Global Pickleball Federation and other every nation now, it seems, has its own pickleball organization, and it is just spreading like wildfire, but in a good way, around the world and changing lives, changing communities.

SPEAKER_00: 22:05

It's wonderful. Um, my husband and I travel a lot, and wherever I go, of course, I bring my paddle, one or two, and and some balls. And I've really been so blessed to be able to play with people literally all over the world. And then, and on we do a lot of cruising and on cruise ships now, you know, they have pickleball courts. And I always, when I get on a ship, I say to the person and reception and the cruise manager, could you put in the daily schedule that we have pickleball at 10 o'clock? Yes. And then people come, and by the end of the cruise, we're fast friends. We see each other, they come on the trips, and we go to each other's homes around the globe. It's just again, pickleball is such a game changer for emotionally for all of us, I think.

SPEAKER_03: 23:01

Yeah, that is so beautiful.

SPEAKER_01: 23:02

Well, and think about how has pickleball shaped the way you think about aging and staying vibrant. Aging.

SPEAKER_03: 23:11

When you said, wait a minute, I just have to interrupt, Audrey, because you already mentioned that you you mentioned yourself being in your 70s at one point.

SPEAKER_00: 23:20

Yes, I am 78. Come on. I know you never get the funny.

SPEAKER_03: 23:25

If anybody's watching YouTube, they're not gonna believe it. I know that's a pickleball.

SPEAKER_00: 23:30

Incredible, yeah. So there's people, there's a woman, and you've probably heard of Joyce Jones, who's 96, who's experiment with her beautiful jewelry always, and her energy, and she's inspirational. So it's uh it's so great. The multi-generational. I love hitting the pickleball with my six-year-old grandson and the whole family playing. And it's it's it's good for those of us, it's an easy sport to learn, as you know. Yep, it's a quick learn. As my husband says, it's sneaky exercise. You don't even know that it's good for our bodies. We're having so much fun, and people are playing certainly into their 80s and their 90s. The national tournaments have categories for everyone, and it just makes it very special.

SPEAKER_03: 24:30

Are you pretty competitive, would you say? Because you've been doing so many sports.

SPEAKER_00: 24:36

I would say I'm pretty competitive. Do you still do tournaments? Pickleball tournaments? I just got back from the US Senior Pickleball Nationals, and I've just done USAP nationals. I do a lot of tournaments. Um I love the the mental piece of concentrating. I love seeing the people, and I love we always try to do adventures as as part of it. So it's it's mentally healthy for me, and it's socially wonderful to see all these people who have been on the trips and just friends, and it's not just um comrades, it's our opponents and and a stabulous and and supporting the sport. I so yes, I continue to play and compete.

SPEAKER_03: 25:30

I am so glad. I am so glad. So, Audrey, you have had quite a remarkable life and a remarkable career, and the way you have brought so many people together around the world. Uh, what are some life lessons that you've gleaned that you can share with us?

SPEAKER_00: 25:51

Whoa, so many thoughts come to mind. You know, the first is stay positive and be open to learning regardless of your age. And that brings me to an issue that about health and pickleball. And for those of you who might be listening and you're considering playing pickleball, I think the most important life lesson is go out and be open and be positive. Use humor to laugh at yourself. No one is judging you. We hope no one that you're not judging anyone. But oftentimes people say to me, I don't, I'm a I want to play pickleball, but I'm afraid I'm gonna get injured. Oh, and those people, this is so critical, those people who have that thought that they might get injured go out on the pickleball court and tend to get injured. You know, there's a joke now that how much all the orthopedic surgeons love us because of injuries. But I think the most important life lesson is don't go out with negativity, stay positive and say, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna have fun, I'm gonna learn something, I'm gonna make friends, but don't go out by with fears, you know. We're only controlled by love or by fear. And so those people at this point, and it just happened a couple days ago, said, I'm afraid I'm gonna fall and break something. And I said, then don't go and play. Find something else that you could really embrace that makes you comfortable and happy. Yes, it's not for everyone.

SPEAKER_03: 27:39

Yes. So if you're gonna step on the court, step on it with love. You got it. Well, you certainly have expressed just a whole lot of love to us, Audrey. What a sweet heart you are, and how wonderful the way you are bringing all these people together. I'm very excited about your trips and all that you are providing in 2027 and 2028. Yes, just sounds amazing. And thank you. Thank you for being on our show and thank you for everything.

SPEAKER_00: 28:14

Wonderful time.

SPEAKER_03: 28:16

Thank you, Stuart. Thank you. Thank you. And we want to thank our audience. Thank you all for tuning in. Oh my gosh. And hey, if you can't do Audrey's trip, what an awesome thought to just get people from all walks of life to all come together and have an experience around the pickleball court and adventures around the world and take your paddle with you everywhere you go because you never know. And thank you all for your supporting us and just supporting this amazing, silly, wonderful game. Thank you all, and we look forward to a new conversation next week. Bye-bye.

SPEAKER_01: 28:56

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_03: 29:11

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.