SPEAKER_02: 0:00

Hi, I'm Shelly Mauer. And I'm Cher Emmerich.

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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. Our book, Life Lessons from Pickleball, is now available on Amazon, and a portion of every sale is donated to Operation PaddleLift.

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Your purchase helps deliver paddles, nets, and resources to underserved communities around the world.

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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. Oh, today we are honored to welcome Coach Andy from Africa. Andy, your story reminds us why this game matters far beyond the lines of the court.

SPEAKER_01: 0:54

You are a pickleball player and coach from Uganda and the founder of Pickleball Kids Uganda, a community-based organization serving children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Through pickleball, you're creating safety, belonging, and possibility where there was very little before.

SPEAKER_02: 1:14

You're also deeply involved with the organization called Growing the Game for Girls Uganda, using Pickleball to support girls from poor families and help create pathways for them to return to school.

SPEAKER_01: 1:27

Andy, we're so grateful you're here. Thank you so much. Before we talk about programs and impact, we want to start with you. Take us back. What was happening in your life when Pickleball first entered it?

SPEAKER_00: 1:42

Thank you so much for hosting me. My name is Andy. I'm a Picobo coach from Picobo Kids, Uganda. And I'm the man behind growing the game for girls. Pickobo, there's a lot for me to say about Pickleball. Before I used to play tennis, so when Picobo came in, I really loved it because it was easier for us to adapt with this because we don't have a lot of space, especially and even building the facility of the loan tennis. So when Picobo came in, it was very easy for us to adapt. We could have any space in the community to start up with the kids, with the girls. So we found it as something that was uh that was very easy for the Africans, for the Chicaya community uh to adapt because it uh it was uh it needed a little space uh uh to to start up a game. Uh so so that's how we started uh pickleball and uh left lone tennis and uh we went with pickleball.

SPEAKER_02: 3:09

You left tennis behind and started pickleball. So you you were playing pickleball for fun. When did it change so that it became something more than just a fun game to play?

SPEAKER_00: 3:22

Um one, we are living in a community of uh that is disadvantaged, um, where we have girls who are struggling to go to school, where we have girls who are abused, where we have girls who need help, who need uh uh who need to be helped. So when Picobo came in, it was uh something that I saw as uh an opportunity uh to bridge the uh the gap between the disadvantaged and uh and the other side of the community. So when Keep Picobo came in, uh we used it to break into the disadvantaged because there was a the there was a gap between uh the disadvantaged and uh the advantaged. So we used Pickobo to reach out, we used it as a tool to reach out to the disadvantaged community, change the lives of the girls, take them back to school, skill them, and uh and so forth and so on, so on and so forth.

SPEAKER_02: 4:41

How did pickleball help them return to school? What was the what was the bridge for that?

SPEAKER_00: 4:49

Uh actually we we have a program of uh integrating pickobo into vocational education because we thought most of these girls had given birth at a young age, so we wanted to use PICOBO to connect them to go back to have a skill, learn a skill in their lives, like tailoring, like hairdressing, like electrical installation, like um nursery teaching, like uh plumbing, like metal fabrication and welding. So this is our vision to use Picobo to change lives of the disadvantaged of the girls in the community that got pregnant and thought it was all it was over for them. So we used it to integrate. We used pickobo to integrate pickable into vocational scaling. So we have a community of girls and uh we brought them to play, then after we taught them a skill.

SPEAKER_02: 6:12

Oh, I see.

SPEAKER_01: 6:13

So the pickleball was what enticed them and got them to the lost hope.

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And then pickleball gives them a sense of community, it gives them a sense of confidence and a new sense of purpose, and then they are open to learning new things and realizing, oh, I don't have to give up on life. I have a I my being here has meaning and purpose, and you help bring that out. What's your background, Andy? How did you were you a teacher? What were you doing to have this be an inspiration for you?

SPEAKER_00: 6:55

Um I grew up in a community that was uh that had so many people, disadvantaged community, uh, but lucky enough, I grew up in a good family. So we were next to uh people who were suffering, especially girls. So I I felt I could do something, do something for the community. I thought I could I could change a life, give hope to someone who had lost it all. Because some of them have uh have dropped out of school and we thought we could do something for them. So that is why um we we went into integrating Picobo with vocational education.

SPEAKER_01: 7:52

Could you help us understand what barriers do girls face in your community?

SPEAKER_00: 7:56

Um early pregnancies, dropping out of school because uh parents could cannot manage to pay for school fees. Um of them grow up with uh step moms. So there's that there's that life that they face where they have to either run out of the home or be harassed. So these are the girls that we always keep around, and uh because honestly, we don't have these girls that have made it in life, that have grown up well. So we are looking for those girls, we are looking for those kids that have failed. People have think that they have failed in life. So these are the girls that we are looking for, and so much as we want them to become professional pickleball players, but we want them to learn a skill. We want them to have something that they can have in their lives, even if they don't make it to be professional pickable players, they can support their lives, they can have uh take care of the children, they can take care of their moms and dads and and and whatever and the siblings. So we went ahead and thought pickable is a tool to reach and change lives.

SPEAKER_02: 9:25

What has the response been of the parents of these girls? Have they been supportive?

SPEAKER_00: 9:31

Um some of them have been supportive, but um of them saw it as a game in the first place. It was like they're playing, they are enjoying, but with time, when time went on, they saw the girls learning how to sew sewing machines, they're learning how to weld, so they were like, oh, pickobo. Can change lives, pickobo can give hope. So some of them are supportive, some of them cannot support because um honestly they are they are disadvantaged. But um we thank the Pikobo community. Uh they have always supported us, especially in the equipment that has kept the girls around the court all the time. Then the rest, we believe with time, it will uh it will be okay with us.

SPEAKER_02: 10:38

You have said the word we. We have created this. Who are you working with to create and support this um girl's project?

SPEAKER_00: 10:48

Uh right now we have um a woman called Medissa Segal raised uh uh uh something like two thousand US dollars to support the girls. Then we have Katy Randall from California. She has been supportive in the equipment, uh in the gears for the girls, and everything she has she has really supported us. So those are the two people who have uh stood with us. Uh, then we have another person from Florida. Um, one person is called Canso from Florida. He has supported us with uh hosting and organizing a tournament for the girls.

SPEAKER_02: 11:32

How long has this program been running? When did it begin?

SPEAKER_00: 11:36

It began uh because we started playing after COVID 2021. 2020.

SPEAKER_02: 11:42

So almost six five, six years it's been going. And how many girls have been in the program? Are you keeping track of that number?

SPEAKER_00: 11:52

We have, we have, and it will be it will be good if uh I would maybe send you everything off air because I have a lot that tracking the girls, their names, the courses that they are doing, their training uh programs, where they come from, uh the parents, um, how they have graduated, Delhi and Sha. It's been amazing. Sacrificing uh all your time and uh serving the community. It's really a blessing.

SPEAKER_01: 12:27

Is there one special story you can share with us that comes to mind? One special girl.

SPEAKER_00: 12:33

Yeah, we uh uh I would do two. I'll do two stories.

SPEAKER_01: 12:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 12:40

Yeah, good. So we um uh we have a girl, uh, she's called Patience Namsoke. We started with her in the journey of uh growing the game for girls. It started as a game. Uh we pushed her till uh she has done her UCE, it's Uganda Certificate of Education exams. And uh she did a level one and level two in Plan B. Then um another girl is called uh Trinity Nachintu. Uh those are the best girls on court. And trust me, they can they can compete, they can beat anyone on this continent. Um uh Trinity uh was also disadvantaged, uh but the program uh really stood with her uh so that she completed her course in electrical installation. Wow. She's now um I would say a junior engineer, electrical engineer. Completed her level one and level two, a directorate of industrial training exam.

SPEAKER_02: 13:58

And these are girls who otherwise had maybe decided their lives didn't have purpose or meaning, and they were just going to try to survive. And now they have a whole new vision for their lives, and they're inspiring others around them and other girls who are wondering if they have any purpose or meaning, they're watching these girls and all the other girls in your program find new sense of purpose and confidence and value. I know that many countries, um, even in our own sometimes, uh, don't value the female the way they value the male. And it's so wonderful that you are providing this focus for the girls to say, hey, you are equal and you have value and purpose. And here's this wonderful, funny game to help bring that about. I mean, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_00: 15:00

It is, it is, it is. And um, another story I would love to share is about uh uh the young girls that uh we are grooming up in the community that are also disadvantaged. Uh some of the some of them are in uh primary one, primary two, primary three. Uh they're around six, seven, eight years.

SPEAKER_02: 15:24

Six, seven, or eight years old?

SPEAKER_00: 15:25

Yeah, the girls. Uh so these are girls who have been um uh some of them are uh with single mothers, uh the father, the fathers left, others died, and uh uh we brought them on board and uh told them the sport can change their mentality uh to become better girls. They can change their mentality to become uh uh better women. Uh so uh the time that we spend on court and the time that we we talk to them in the in our talk sessions uh has really changed them, especially when they go back in the communities. Uh they make sure that they bring other girls. The next day or three days that we have the session, they always come and bring other girls on board who are going through the same thing that they're going through. So we have seen that the community is uh we are trying to build something in a community that is going to help one to prevent crime, uh, to prevent um uh um more young ladies uh giving birth uh to irresponsible men, um and and uh trying to teach them a skill to support their mothers who are there, who cannot help themselves, to support their siblings who cannot go to kindergartens. So them coming here and giving us the three hours that we have, because we always divide the three hours and say we are having one hour and a half for the sport, then one hour and a half for the skill to learn. These other vocational skills that we say, but also craft making is uh is also part of us, that if they have that time with us and learn something, then we bring mentors, we bring uh people in the field of health to talk to them, that early pregnancy will lead them into deep shit that the parents went into. So if they hold on and uh and push on, using PICOBO as a sport to play, train and enjoy, but learning a skill here, like tailing, like catering, like electrical installation, like metal fabrication and welding, like uh uh motor vehicle engineering, like BCP building and bricklaying and construction. So this is what we are trying to help the girl because we think it is what we can afford for now. We cannot uh take them to university and uh they they they go for public administration. We cannot do that. Because what we can afford is to have this skill for them. Even if uh they stop there, they can move on. And even if they move on with the sport, they will have something to have. That if I get money from Bicobo, I can invest in I can invest in my community. Teach something that I learned that was taught from Coach Andy. So we are trying to build ambassadors, to spread ambassadors all over the country who can help communities that are disadvantaged. For us, we are not looking at people who have made it in life, we are looking at people who are left behind. That is why we use the sport pickobo because we can play it, we can use it anywhere. Even at the roadside, we can make a court. We teach, we train the basics of the sport. Then later we gather the children around, we talk to them, we tell them there's hope for you to make it, even if you've not gone to school, even if you've not gone to university, but we can teach you a skill in a few years, then you make it in life. So this is what we are doing in the community, and uh it's a great privilege that uh we are doing it with all our hearts. We don't end it, we don't need anything like people to pay us. We are doing it because we feel it's our calling.

unknown: 20:13

Wow.

SPEAKER_01: 20:14

The girls are so lucky to have you, Andy.

SPEAKER_00: 20:17

It's a pleasure.

SPEAKER_02: 20:18

And so is the community. I mean, you're changing all these individual lives, and as you say, that ripples out to changing the perspective of all the other adults, and then that changes the community and that lifts everybody up. So I'm I'm very moved by the impact this program is having, and especially I have a special place for my for the girls in the world, and I think the fact that you have focused on the disadvantaged girls and giving them this new life is just incredible. And the way these girls then are changing the community. I just love that. So, Coach Andy, you have had quite a journey in your own life, and so what life lessons have you learned? Maybe you learned them in life and you find yourself using that life lesson when you're playing pickleball or you're teaching the girls, or when you were playing pickleball, you came up with, oh my goodness, that's a good life lesson. I want to be sure to remember that off the court, too. Can you share with us a life lesson that you've learned?

SPEAKER_00: 21:29

Um, actually, um, there's something that uh it's like a motto, it's like um something that we always use when we we are with the kids, with the girls. Um that we are all winners. It doesn't matter which position you are, it doesn't matter where you are, it doesn't matter how far you've gone in education, it doesn't matter. What you're going through. So we always teach these girls that we are winners. Even if we have a tournament, we are winners. You lose. The last would say she has gotten a medal, but we are all winners. So something that we have done, the girls have adapted, and it has helped them through the coach. And they move on in the world with it. Every time you go and check on them, they are coach. We are all winners. So it is it is something that they are spreading in the community to empower other girls. That it doesn't matter where you're born. It doesn't matter how far you've gone. It doesn't matter what you have, how how your parents are, we are all winners. So it is something that are both community. It's a life lesson that the girls have learned from me. And they're taking it over, spreading it over to other communities.

SPEAKER_02: 23:12

Well, I know our our viewers and our listeners are going to want to follow you on your journey with these girls, your amazing program. How can people find you and follow you?

SPEAKER_00: 23:30

Instagram, I'm there, Coach Andy, Picobo. Instagram, Coach Andy Picobo. You can always search Coach Andy. I know there are many coach Andes, but African coach Andy, Ugandan coach Andy. Online, then we have uh TikTok. I don't know how many people use that. Uh not so many.

SPEAKER_02: 23:53

TikTok, oh yeah. Are you coach Andy on TikTok?

SPEAKER_00: 23:57

Yeah, yeah. Coach Andy Pickleball. Coach Andy Pickleball Coach Andy on their um Facebook and there. They can also contact Sha and Shelly.

SPEAKER_02: 24:11

Cher and Shelly. Yeah, contact life lessons from Pickleball and we can help connect. And do you accept donations? And if so, how do you do that?

SPEAKER_00: 24:21

It's how we are surviving. Because uh one um we love the sport to be uh promoted, to be spread all over the community. The only way that we could uh do that is getting pedals because uh we always have a saying with the girls, each time I coach and train a girl, she becomes a coach to another girl in the community, another community. So when we move in a community with uh with enough equipment, it means we are going uh to develop another coach in another community that will spread uh uh the uh the the gospel of growing the game for girls and uh play like a girl because that is one way that you are play like a girl. So we grow the sport for girls in all communities, but we play like girls. So it is one thing that has helped us. I'm not the only coach, everyone is a coach, everyone is a coach.

SPEAKER_02: 25:30

Well, we are so delighted. Shelly, do you want to say one thing before we say goodbye to Coach Andy? Do you want to share with your thoughts?

SPEAKER_01: 25:40

I'm just in awe at all the work you're doing and how you're bringing so much hope to your community. And um, you're such an inspiration to all of us to look around ourselves and see how we can do the same in our own communities.

SPEAKER_02: 25:58

Thank you. And and to be reminded, we are all winners. Thank you for that. Thank you all so much for tuning in. Uh, we are really grateful to Coach Andy for everything he's doing to help change the world with this wonderful game. And we look forward to a new conversation next week. Thank you so much. Bye-bye.

SPEAKER_01: 26:20

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SPEAKER_02: 26:34

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