April 1, 2025 • 32 mins
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How does pickleball help firefighters manage stress, build teamwork, and improve relationships—both on and off the court? Find out in Part 2 of Brent Kelley’s inspiring story!
In this episode of Pickleball and Partnership, host Charlotte Jukes welcomes back Brent Kelley, a 17-year firefighter, who shares how pickleball became a lifeline for him and his fellow first responders while battling the intense Los Angeles wildfires.
🏓 What You’ll Learn:
✅ How pickleball supports mental health and stress relief for firefighters
✅ Why the sport’s low barrier to entry makes it accessible to anyone
✅ How first responders use pickleball to strengthen team connections
✅ The importance of performing under pressure—both in emergencies and on the court
✅ How couples can use pickleball to build stronger relationships
Whether you're a first responder, pickleball enthusiast, or looking to deepen your connections, this episode is packed with insights on teamwork, resilience, and the power of play.
Listen now and discover how pickleball is more than just a game—it’s a tool for connection, growth, and partnership!
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Music: Purple Planet Music
Thanks to Purple Planet Music for Pickleball & Partnership Intro and Outro music Purple Planet Music is a collection of music written and performed by Chris Martyn and Geoff Harvey.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Charlotte Jukes (00:10):
This the pickleball and partnership
podcast, the place to talk.
Talk about building betterconnections with your partner.
Learning how to communicate witheach other and how to inject
fun.
Into your relationship allthrough the game of pickleball.
If that sounds like your cup oftea.
Pull up a chair grab your paddleand join me.
(00:32):
Your host, Charlotte Jukes.
For pickleball and partnership.
Hey pickleball partners.
If you miss last week's episode,go back and listen because Brent
Kelly's story is one you do notwant to miss.
(00:54):
A 17 year firefighter who spent12 days battling the Los Angeles
fires, Brent shared a rawunfiltered look into the life of
a first responder.
But here's the twist.
How does pickleball fit intothis intense world of
firefighting?
In part two, we're uncoveringthe surprising ways.
(01:15):
Pickleball became a lifeline forBrent and his fellow
firefighters.
How does a simple paddle sporthelp first responders process
trauma?
Build team connection and staymentally sharp.
You'll hear about fire stationparking lot, pickleball courts,
why pickleball is now almostmandatory for firefighters and
(01:39):
how this game is about so muchmore than just winning points.
If you haven't listened to partone, no worries.
Jump back and catch up or diveright into this episode.
Trust me, this is a story youwon't want to miss.
Here we go.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
One of the things that makes pickleball so cool is
there's a very low barrier toentry.
Like someone could show up who'snever played pickleball in their
life and within a few minutesthey're playing pickleball and
they're actually likecontributing.
You know what I mean?
I played tennis in high schooland I think I might've been the
(02:16):
worst player on the team.
Like I was not a good tennisplayer, but I did play tennis.
And one thing that I found withtennis is if you don't hit the
ball, like exactly right, if youdon't have the tennis racket
angle at the right angle, youwill just launch it.
Completely out of the courtwithout even trying you don't
have to hit the ball very hardwhere it's gone.
So if you get a bunch of nontennis players together and try
(02:40):
to play tennis, the chances ofsomeone hitting the ball and it
actually being in bounds, andthen the opponents actually
hitting the ball back to you,like slim to none chance.
You know what I mean?
So it's one of those thingswhere if everyone tried to play
tennis instead of pickleball,nobody would get a workout
because they would just be like,I just, I can't play this game.
(03:01):
You know what I mean?
But pickleball is somethingwhere even if you have no
experience, just the paddle andthe wiffle ball nature of the
pickle ball itself it really itlends itself to being able to
play even if you've never playedbefore.
Which is really good in our jobbecause a lot of times one guy
or girl is not there.
(03:21):
So there's an overtime person.
So somebody shows up who doesn'tnormally work with us, and maybe
they've played pickleballbefore, maybe they haven't.
So because of the nature ofpickleball and that low barrier
to entry, you can get a completenovice and it's okay, no
problem.
We'll just go out, we'll justrally a little bit.
We'll hit the ball back andforth so you get the feel of the
(03:42):
racket, of the paddle, and thenwe'll play.
So it's a small hindrance.
It's easily overcome as opposedto, trying to play like ice
hockey or something where it'sif you've never ice skated, like
you're not gonna be playing icehockey on day one.
Speaker (03:58):
That's not going to work out well.
That's a great point, isn't it?
That yes, if you have a bat andthat crazy little wiffle ball
you can actually, feel like youhave really got involved with
the game if you've never playedbefore.
One of our favorites, if we areplaying with somebody who's.
Perhaps not quite at in the samelevel or, they've just picked up
(04:22):
the battle, what have you, asthe kitchen game.
So, it's a smaller court anyway,but let's shrink it even more
and let's just dink in thekitchen back and forth.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Yeah.
Speaker (04:33):
It's very easy for, I would say most people, if not,
yeah, 99%.
In fact, that's funny.
I saw a video,'cause of courseall these pickleball videos come
up now when I'm looking.
But there was actually somebodyon the court was playing, he was
playing with his wife, and hiswife was the other side of the
(04:53):
net in a wheelchair and theywere dinking back and forth,
Speaker 2 (04:57):
yeah, totally doable.
Speaker (04:59):
How would you say, if at all, pickleball has helped
you to become more self-awareand how has it improved your
ability to perform underpressure
Speaker 2 (05:12):
that's a big one too in our job.
One of the things that whenpeople get into the fire service
and they're not successful, sothey either they don't pass the
fire academy or during theirfirst year as a firefighter
you're on probation they callit.
Which means that you're under amicroscope for your first year
and they can fire you at anytime.
(05:33):
It's actually it's a verystressful year and a half
process.
'cause you have a few months inthe academy and then a year on
probation where if you do notperform or if they feel like you
are not performing, then theycan just fire you at any moment.
In fact, that happened to me inmy first fire department that I
worked for.
I got let go in my 12th month ofprobation.
(05:56):
So I was almost done.
And they were just like, we'refiring you, They don't even have
to have a reason.
They can just be like, we don'tthink that you belong here.
We don't think that you can dothe job.
We don't think that you canperform under pressure, like you
said.
And I think that is one of thebiggest challenges for people
getting into the fire service isyou have to find a way to be
(06:17):
able to perform under pressure.
So even if it's a simple taskyou have to be able to do it
with, these guys watching you,waiting for you to make a
mistake.
And if you do, just knowing thatthey can fire you, so that, that
puts a tremendous amount ofpressure on you, and it really
is difficult.
(06:37):
I can remember in the academy,they had a Ropes and Knots
section, which you'd think thatwould be the mellow part because
you're not physically, you'rejust tying knots with rope, but
they make you wear these big,clunky gloves and it's hard to,
it's hard to tie these knots,but what makes it really hard is
they would time you and eachparticular knot had a certain
(06:58):
amount of time.
So if you're tying a figureeight on a bite or a fire
department bowling, or a clovehitch or whatever, like each of
these knots had a certain amountof time where maybe you get 30
seconds, maybe you get 15seconds, maybe you get a minute.
But if you go over the time,they would give you one chance
to do it again.
But if you failed again, youwould literally, you would lose
(07:19):
your job.
A knot.
Speaker (07:21):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah.
So it's the knot itself, maybeyou've tied it a hundred times,
a thousand times, but on thatday, when it's test day and you
have a group of people watchingyou with a stopwatch and you
know that they have the power tofire you.
And if you get all up in yourhead and you're like, oh, no, I
(07:42):
hope I don't make'em.
Oh, I hope I, oh man, I made amistake.
That could be it.
You could lose your job.
There are people who have beenfired because of a knot, which
is horrible.
Just because considering howlong it takes you to get hired
in the fires, at least here inSouthern California, it's a very
popular job.
So even just getting hired isreally hard because if they're
(08:04):
gonna put an Academy of 30people through, like 2000 people
will interview for it.
And if you are one of the onesselected, it is really something
to be celebrated.
But that's actually that's notthe hard part.
What's hard is keeping it onceyou get it, because you have to
go through, that's
Speaker (08:22):
acceptable pressure.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
It's insane.
I have never felt the amount ofpressure that I have in the fire
service and even not to relate,special forces military to the
fire service.
I'm sure that it is way harderto be in the special forces of
the military.
But I was talking to someone whohad been in special forces in
the Navy and he was with theSEAL teams and so I was talking
(08:47):
to him and I was just like,gosh, this must be just, a
cakewalk for you being afirefighter after what you've
gone through.
'cause he was brand new, so hehad just gone through the
academy and he just finishedprobation.
So I was like, yeah I canremember being really stressed
out.
In the academy and on probation.
But you must not have beenstressed out at all because
you've already done this thing,which is way harder.
(09:07):
And he was just, his response,I'll never forget it, he was
just like, believe it or not, itactually was really difficult,
but in a different way.
Because in the military, for themost part, you don't have that
constant pressure of gettingkicked out in the military, it's
almost the opposite.
It's like you can't get out, ifyou fail this, then we'll find a
(09:28):
place for you somewhere else,but you're not leaving.
You're not going home.
But with us it's that constantthreat of getting kicked out.
So that's one thing that heshared with me that I really
took to heart because, and alsohe said that when he was in the
military, he was single, so itwas just like it.
He just had to worry abouthimself.
But he said in the fire academyand probation, now he has a wife
(09:50):
and multiple kids.
So he can't blow this because ifhe does, what's he gonna do?
So there was a pressure, adifferent kind of pressure and a
lot of it boils down to thepressure to be able to perform
un under pressure, like you weresaying.
So, yeah, I think that, goingback to your original question
of does pickleball help?
(10:10):
Yeah, I think it does becausethere are a lot of times when
you're on the pickle ball court,and if it's a high stakes game
hey, we've already played, thisis the seventh game and it's
tied.
So whoever gets this next pointis gonna win the whole thing.
And the ball's coming to you.
It's okay, now this is my timeto perform under pressure.
(10:31):
And a lot of times it's not thatbig a deal'cause you're playing
with just mellow people whodon't care.
But in the fire service there'sa lot of, there alpha, there
mentalities, there's a lot oftype A people who.
Just thrive on winning.
Maybe they were the captain oftheir football team 20 years
(10:51):
ago, and now they're taking thatsame championship mentality to
the pickleball court at the firestation.
And if that guy is your partnerand the ball's coming to you and
if you blow it, you lose, likemaybe you don't really care that
(11:12):
much, but you definitely feelthe pressure.
'cause it's I do not want thisguy to be mad and he's gonna be
pretty mad if I hit the ballinto the net right now.
So really, he's
Speaker (11:22):
not gonna let you forget that, is he?
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Yeah.
I've definitely played withthose types of personalities
before
Speaker (11:29):
how do you find the best way to handle that
situation?
Speaker 2 (11:34):
I think that just doing whatever you can do to
just stay present and just be inthe moment and not think, just
try to get back to that flowstate because when you think too
much, you're gonna hit the ballinto the net.
It's I can remember getting mymotorcycle license years ago,
and I remember I was in theclassroom and it was like, okay,
(11:55):
if you're on the motorcycle andyou're coming around a turn and
you see a big rock in the roadand you don't wanna hit the
rock, don't focus on the rock.
'cause if you are gonna gowherever you're focusing on.
So if you focus on not hittingthe rock, you're gonna ride
right into the rock.
So what you do is you see therock, you acknowledge that it's
(12:15):
there, and then you focus onwhere you wanna go and that's
where you're gonna go.
So in the same way, if theball's coming at you and you're
just like.
Do not hit it into the net.
Do not hit it into, this guy'sgonna be really mad at me.
If I hit it into the net, you'regonna hit it into the net.
So whatever you can do to justlet go of thinking, just get
(12:37):
beyond that analytical mind oftrying to process everything and
think, and just let go and justplay and just be in that present
moment.
Then you're gonna hit the ballover the net, hopefully.
Speaker (12:49):
What an amazing analogy for life as well, right?
Yes.
What an amazing mindset to havefor life.
And I think, this is anotherreason I love pickleball so
much, is because you can equateso many situations on the court.
Like in that moment, get out ofyour head, get into your body,
(13:11):
let it flow.
Don't focus on the awful thingthat you're anticipating is
going to happen.
You're right where your focusgoes, your energy flows.
So focus on getting it over thenet and into a space where your
opponents aren't.
And then yes and then sort oftranscribing that into life as
(13:35):
well.
What an amazing lesson for us toall hang onto every day, yeah.
Totally.
I love that.
Thank you.
Yeah, that's amazing.
So what advice would you give tocouples because you play, it
sounds like, you probably playwith lots of different partners
and I don't know if your wifeAshley plays and if you ever
(13:56):
play with her, but what advicewould you give to couples or
partners looking to usepickleball as a way to
strengthen their relationship?
Speaker 2 (14:07):
So Ashley, I think she has played she doesn't play
very much, but right now we havetwo daughters.
They're seven and four yearsold, and we got them some
pickleball stuff for Christmas.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
Oh, love it.
So
Speaker 2 (14:18):
we now have four paddles and a few balls.
So, we might start playing oneof these days, like as a family.
I would say the biggest advicewould be just make it fun.
Basically don't be that guywho's just what are you doing?
You have to hit it over the net,not into the net, make it a good
time.
That's one thing I've found,especially with kids.
You have to make things fun orelse they're not gonna want to
(14:40):
do it, so just have fun with itand yeah, I think o only good
things can come of it for sure.
Speaker (14:46):
Tell my husband that one all the time.
Don't be that guy.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
It's hard, especially if you're predisposed to that.
Because that is a personalitytype where it's hey, we're gonna
win.
And there, there's a benefit tothat.
You see people who winchampionships and they usually
have that type of I don't know,maybe I'm wrong, but personality
types like me, I don't know ifthey're the ones who, win the
(15:11):
World Series.
'cause I'm more just ah, maybewe win, maybe we won't.
It's all good.
No problem.
I don't know if you can havethat mentality and go win a gold
medal in the Olympics.
But I think that.
For the most part, like if youcan just be mellow about it and
hey, we're just having a goodtime, no big deal.
You hit the ball into the net asmany times as you want.
It's okay.
Speaker (15:32):
Oh, okay.
I want to come and play with younow.
And I'm curious, do you playoutside of the fire service as
well?
Have you found that pickleballhas translated into your life
outside of that, or not really?
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Not too much, to be honest.
Really it's just hitting theball around with the kids, but
no, I think I get enough of itat work to where, there's almost
too much of it at work.
If that.
Possible.
I know that sounds crazy'causewe're not supposed to be playing
pickleball.
We're, we're getting paid to doa job.
But the reality is there's a lotof downtime.
(16:08):
There's a lot of time where wedon't have downtime and there's
a lot of crazy things thathappen.
Our job is less like a marathonand more like a CrossFit
workout.
Are you familiar with CrossFit?
Just like intense circuittraining, so that's how,'cause
my wife and I talk about thisall the time, like being a mom
for little kids is just arelentless never ending, slow
(16:32):
burn of, at no point are youever doing something for the
most part, like super crazy.
But it is like a 16 hour daywhere then you get to sleep and
then it starts all over again,and there's very few breaks.
Whereas our job is.
Not like that at all.
Our job is we might have fivehours where we don't even have a
(16:54):
call.
We might have eight hourswithout a call where you're
just, there are points where I'mjust like, I forgot I was at
work.
The tones go off and I'm like,oh yeah, that's right.
I'm a firefighter and I'm at,I'm on duty right now.
I have to go respond to, Iforgot'cause I've been just
doing my own thing.
But then maybe you go to justthe craziest thing you've ever
seen.
So it's more like a CrossFitworkout where it's 20 minutes of
(17:18):
really intense stuff followed bya.
Taking a really long break asopposed to a marathon where
you're just like, just sort ofrunning.
At no point are you ever doing asuper crazy, sprint, but you're
running the entire time andthere's no break.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
So,
Speaker 2 (17:34):
yeah.
I think that our job is likethat.
So getting back to what you saidthere's enough downtime on a
given 48 hour shift to where youcan get all the pickleball you
want outta your system.
So for me at least, like it's Idon't really play outside of
work.
Like it, honestly, you almosthave to be careful where you
work these days because if youdon't want to play a lot of
(17:57):
pickleball, there are certainstations where you probably
shouldn't go there.
Speaker (18:01):
Oh, interesting.
Because they play so much,they're so intense and addicted
to pickleball that it has anydowntime.
That's what you're doing.
Totally.
They
Speaker 2 (18:13):
exact And it's never been a thing before, but,'cause
we can choose where we work.
Like I work in Los Alamitosright now, but I could change
stations if I wanted to.
It's a bid system where a fewtimes a year it's up for grabs
and any station that's open formy position, which is I'm the
engineer, so I drive the engine.
(18:34):
If there is an engineer positionopen at another station, I can
put a bid in for it.
And as long as I have theseniority, if I have the highest
seniority out of everyone elsethat did it, I'm gonna get it.
And that will be my new home forat least a year.
And then however long beyondthat I want.
But, so there's a lot of thingsto consider.
(18:55):
When you're thinking of changingstations, like you wanna
consider the call volume.
Like, all right, is this areally busy station or is this a
slow station?
And there are benefits to both,do I want to be busy?
'cause that helps the day go byfast.
And I also get a lot ofexperience, but I'm also waking
up a lot at night.
You don't get a lot of sleep.
It's really di it's physicallytaxing.
(19:15):
So there are stations you can goto that, typically don't run as
many calls.
So you have to make thatdecision.
And then one of the biggestthings is what's the crew?
Who are the people that I'mgonna be working with?
Do I know these people?
Are they my friends?
Do I get along with them?
And then there's a whole bunchof like, how far away from my
house is this station?
Am I gonna be driving?
What am I doing to my commute inthe morning?
But one of the things that youhave to consider is how into
(19:40):
pickleball are these peoplebecause.
If you show up and you'replanning on maybe I'm starting a
podcast, and it's okay, I'mgonna try to do all the work for
starting my podcast while I'm onduty.
If I can, obviously I have to gorun the calls and we have to
train, we have to doinspections, we have to do all
(20:01):
the things that come with thejob.
But when you have a 48 hourshift, you're just gonna have
downtime.
It just you can't work for 48hours straight.
So if you show up and you'relike, okay, I'm gonna plan out
my podcast.
I'm gonna do all that at work.
And then you show up to your newstation and they're like, we're
so glad you're here.
All we do is play pickleball andyou're the fourth guy.
It's oh my gosh.
(20:22):
There went all my free time.
Because any time where we're notrunning calls or training or
doing whatever we have to do,we're playing pickleball.
And it could be the oppositetoo.
If you are just an avidpickleball addict and you show
up to a station where they donot play pickleball, you're
bummed because now you're outthere just hitting the ball
against the wall by yourself,That.
Am I going to a station where wego work out in the gym and then
(20:46):
every day for 20 minutes we playa couple games of pickleball?
Is, if that's the amount ofpickleball you're going for,
then choose your stationaccordingly.
But if you wanna play eighthours of pickleball a day, or if
you don't wanna play pickleballat all, like you, you have to
think about it.
Speaker (21:01):
Giving back to your question, become one of the
criteria then for picking whereyou work.
That's incredible.
That's fascinating to me.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Yeah and I don't know if there are Canadian
firefighters out there who arelistening to this right now.
Maybe they're saying like, Idon't know what you're talking
about, man.
We're not even allowed to play apickleball.
That might be the case.
But in our department, forwhatever reason, this is another
benefit of pickleball ismanagement has not squashed it
(21:30):
like they are allowing us toplay pickle ball.
This is like the first teamsport where they're actually
allowing people to play becauseall those other sports like
basketball and soccer, too manypeople were getting hurt.
'cause you, again, the type Apersonality, you get a bunch of
40-year-old type A guys who 25years ago were just.
(21:52):
Like the captain of their teamand they're used to just going
hard and winning.
You get a bunch of those peopleout on a basketball court and
now maybe they don't work out asmuch.
They're not in like tip topphysical shape and they try to
just go hard with this sport.
If you're management, you'rejust like, how do we have 200
people on work comp because of asprained ankle?
(22:14):
Right now it's be, it's'causeeveryone's playing basketball.
Okay, guess what?
No more basketball.
So they shut it down entirely.
So that's what was happening toall the team sports, they just
kept getting shut down becausepeople were hurting themselves.
That pickleball is the one thingwhere people, it, it's just more
of a gentle game.
Like you're not as predisposedto getting hurt playing
(22:36):
pickleball.
So because of that, managementhas allowed, our department has
allowed us to play.
So that's another benefit ofpickleball is you're actually
allowed to play.
But I don't know, maybe there'slisteners who are just like, we
don't play pickleball.
What do you, what kind ofprogram are you guys doing in
Southern California playingpickleball?
They're
Speaker (22:55):
all going to want to move there, aren't they?
The pickleball addicts, that'sfor sure.
Yes.
And that's interesting.
I don't know if that's the sameup here in Canada or if it's the
same in the UK or, anywherearound the world.
That's something I would have toLook into.
And maybe I'll contact our localfire station, see what their
(23:15):
take is on it.
But and I would imagine, yourclimate is very different from
ours.
We're a lot further north.
Yeah.
It would be a lot morechallenging because we have so
much snow and ice on the groundfor so many months, I would
imagine.
Yeah.
Being in Southern California,you can probably play outside
(23:37):
every day.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Yeah there's two weeks outta the year where it's
like a little bit cold andraining.
For the most part it's almostlike summer here all year round.
It just gets a little colder inwinter.
But yeah, you can, my wifealways laughs what do you mean
winter?
This is not winter.
'cause she's from Alabama, likenorthern Alabama and so she's
used to like actual seasons andI'm like, yeah, of course we
(23:59):
have seasons.
Like it's winter now.
It's a little, it's 10 degreescolder.
It rains a few times and it's 50degrees instead of 65 degrees.
That's funny.
Speaker (24:09):
So Brent what advice would you give to anybody who
has never picked up a pickleballpaddle and they're thinking
about it and they're just notsure whether it's for them or
not.
What would you say to them?
Yeah,
Speaker 2 (24:21):
I would give it a try because it's not a it's not a
massive investment of time ormoney.
Like I mentioned, we just gotour kids some pickleball stuff.
For Christmas, it was 20 bucks.
On Amazon, I bought a pack of,it was four paddles and like two
balls, and it was like$19.
So it's really not much money.
(24:43):
You don't even need a net.
Just get a few paddles, get acouple balls, and just get out
there on your driveway or someflat piece of concrete and just
hit the ball back and forth andjust see if you like it or not,
and then from there, maybe youcan get a net or maybe like a
local rec center near, near youguys or, there maybe there's
some type of place where you cango and actually play, but it
(25:06):
really doesn't take much.
As opposed to, like I mentionedlike ice hockey earlier.
Like I used to play ice hockeyin high school too.
And my goodness.
What an investment of money tobegin with.
Just the gear, the amount ofgear that you need to play and
then you have to go learn how toice skate.
Which is not easy.
That just gets you ready tolearn how to play the game.
(25:29):
And in order to play ice hockey,at least in Southern California,
it is prohibitively expensive'cause you're paying for ice
time in a desert community, adesert climate, like ice time is
not very prevalent.
It's not like up in Canada, Iassume, where you can in the
winter go out and it's probablynot very hard to find a piece of
ice to play ice hockey on.
(25:50):
But in California it's veryhard.
So you're paying a lot of moneyto play, but pickleball is not
that at all.
Again, low barrier to entry onevery level, It's something that
you can pick up in an afternoonand be playing.
And for$20 on Amazon, you canoutfit your entire family with
gear.
(26:10):
And then just decide from thereis this something we wanna play
or not?
So for 20 bucks and a little bitof time, I would say just give
it a try.
If you don't like it, then nobig deal at all.
Exactly.
Speaker (26:21):
Yeah.
Yeah.
But go and give it a go.
You never know.
It looks crazy.
It sounds even more crazy whenall you can hear is that pop.
And then laughter.
But yeah, go and give it a go.
Yeah.
I have one more question foryou.
Yeah.
It's been so great chatting withyou, but just curious if there
(26:41):
was a future episode ofPickleball and Partnership
podcast, what would you like tosee it about?
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Oh man, that's a good
Speaker 2 (26:50):
question.
I'm really fascinated with theapproach that you've taken
playing with your husband andthen.
Relating it to your marriage andhaving it actually strengthen
your marriage.
I think there's a lot there thatI didn't really even think about
that.
I was more thinking like, okay,the benefits of firefighters
(27:10):
playing pickleball together, butlike a couple who are trying to
strengthen their relationship,like taking the experiences from
pickleball and talking aboutthat and how it strengthens your
relationship.
I think that's something thateverybody could really benefit
from.
I think that's really cool.
So I would love to learn moreabout that.
Speaker (27:28):
Thank you for that.
Yeah, absolutely.
We've sort of touched on thatin, in previous episodes.
It's challenging for me to getNeil to jump on with me, so I've
done some single episodes too,but I think we've learned so
much from playing together.
And I think, I have a friend,actually she and her husband
(27:49):
just took it up because theyheard a couple of our episodes
and thought, okay, we are goingto get off the couch and we are
going to go and play.
And I'm like, oh my gosh, thatis amazing.
And I think, that's what I loveabout pickleball.
Like you say, it's so easy, it'sso cheap.
It's go buy Yeah.
(28:09):
A 10$20 pad or go out there andtry it,
Speaker 3 (28:13):
yeah.
Speaker (28:13):
I did look up, actually I just had a quick look'cause I
wanted to see where Los Alamitoswas, and I noticed that you have
an open house?
Speaker 3 (28:24):
We do have open h
Speaker (28:25):
Yes.
Participate in juniorfirefighter activities, watch
live demos, ride in a fireengine and more.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Yeah, they do.
So our department, every year,they have an open house and
usually what they do is I thinkthere's a big to-do over at our
headquarters, which is inIrvine.
And that's probably where likethe junior firefighter stuff and
all those things happen, Ithink.
And then some stations will havean open house.
So you can go to your localstation if you're in Orange
(28:59):
County and chances are they'rehaving the open house.
And if not, like you just, youcan always just knock on the
door of a fire station andunless they're on a call or
training or something there'sprobably someone there so just
head down there and then you cango in and you can see the fire
engine and you can talk to thepeople and it.
(29:19):
It's really a cool thing becauseour job, a lot of people don't
know much about it.
Like they think, what time isyour break?
And it's I don't know if youunderstand, like there's no
break.
Like we do have downtime, but atno point am I gonna be leaving
on like a clock out lunch breaktype of thing.
This is just not that type ofjob.
(29:41):
So the cool thing about an openhouse is you can go and you can
see the engine, you can see theliving area, you can see the
kitchen.
It's Hey, look at this.
Like we, we cook together.
We're like a family that's likea second family, and you can
really expose yourself to that.
And it's an education tool forus to just be like, all right,
yeah, this is not a normal job.
If you see us cooking and yousay to yourself like, oh, that's
(30:05):
so cool that you get to cook atyour job.
It's no, this is a differenttype of job.
We don't work eight hours andthen go home.
Like we work 48 hours, sometimes96 hours, sometimes 120 hours.
So it's a totally different typeof job.
And the open house is really agood tool for exposing people to
that.
So definitely go down.
Or just go down any day and justknock on the door and just be
(30:26):
like, Hey, I just wanna say hi,firefighters are friendly,
they're friendly people.
Speaker (30:31):
Super friendly.
I, would contest to that.
Oh, they are absolutely.
I know, our son is 21 now, buthe was little and we took him to
the fire station and it was sucha cool experience.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
And if you wanna win them over, just show up with a
little thing of ice cream.
Okay.
Just be like, Hey, I waswondering if I could just check
out the fire engine.
I've got my son here.
he just wants to see the engine.
I brought you guys some icecream.
Speaker (30:57):
Thank you so much Brent.
It was absolute pleasure talkingto you.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Thank you so much for having me on your podcast.
Like I said, this is my firstpodcast, so I am really stoked
to be a part of it.
Thank you.
Speaker (31:10):
Thanks so much for listening today.
I hope you enjoyed thatconversation as much as I did.
Anything mentioned, includinglinks, notes, and a full episode
list, will be over on ourwebsite at
pickleballandpartnership.
buzzsprout.
com.
Com.
If you got something outta thisepisode, be sure to follow or
(31:31):
subscribe to Pickleball andPartnership on Apple Podcasts,
Spotify, or wherever you listenso that you are notified of new
and upcoming episodes.
And if you're finding value inthis podcast, a free way to
support us is to leave a five.
It truly means the world to us.
(31:53):
This will help more peopleaccess these real conversations.
And if you haven't connectedwith myself or Neil personally,
we would love to meet you andsay hi over on our Facebook
page.
Thanks again for listening.
Please tune in next week foranother exciting episode of
Pickleball and partnership.
(32:15):
Remember, we're all learning,growing, and showing up in our
own ways.
And that's what matters most.
This the pickleball and partnership
podcast, the place to talk.
Talk about building betterconnections with your partner.
Learning how to communicate witheach other and how to inject
fun.
Into your relationship allthrough the game of pickleball.
If that sounds like your cup oftea.
Pull up a chair grab your paddleand join me.
(00:32):
Your host, Charlotte Jukes.
For pickleball and partnership.
Hey pickleball partners.
If you miss last week's episode,go back and listen because Brent
Kelly's story is one you do notwant to miss.
(00:54):
A 17 year firefighter who spent12 days battling the Los Angeles
fires, Brent shared a rawunfiltered look into the life of
a first responder.
But here's the twist.
How does pickleball fit intothis intense world of
firefighting?
In part two, we're uncoveringthe surprising ways.
(01:15):
Pickleball became a lifeline forBrent and his fellow
firefighters.
How does a simple paddle sporthelp first responders process
trauma?
Build team connection and staymentally sharp.
You'll hear about fire stationparking lot, pickleball courts,
why pickleball is now almostmandatory for firefighters and
(01:39):
how this game is about so muchmore than just winning points.
If you haven't listened to partone, no worries.
Jump back and catch up or diveright into this episode.
Trust me, this is a story youwon't want to miss.
Here we go.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
One of the things that makes pickleball so cool is
there's a very low barrier toentry.
Like someone could show up who'snever played pickleball in their
life and within a few minutesthey're playing pickleball and
they're actually likecontributing.
You know what I mean?
I played tennis in high schooland I think I might've been the
(02:16):
worst player on the team.
Like I was not a good tennisplayer, but I did play tennis.
And one thing that I found withtennis is if you don't hit the
ball, like exactly right, if youdon't have the tennis racket
angle at the right angle, youwill just launch it.
Completely out of the courtwithout even trying you don't
have to hit the ball very hardwhere it's gone.
So if you get a bunch of nontennis players together and try
(02:40):
to play tennis, the chances ofsomeone hitting the ball and it
actually being in bounds, andthen the opponents actually
hitting the ball back to you,like slim to none chance.
You know what I mean?
So it's one of those thingswhere if everyone tried to play
tennis instead of pickleball,nobody would get a workout
because they would just be like,I just, I can't play this game.
(03:01):
You know what I mean?
But pickleball is somethingwhere even if you have no
experience, just the paddle andthe wiffle ball nature of the
pickle ball itself it really itlends itself to being able to
play even if you've never playedbefore.
Which is really good in our jobbecause a lot of times one guy
or girl is not there.
(03:21):
So there's an overtime person.
So somebody shows up who doesn'tnormally work with us, and maybe
they've played pickleballbefore, maybe they haven't.
So because of the nature ofpickleball and that low barrier
to entry, you can get a completenovice and it's okay, no
problem.
We'll just go out, we'll justrally a little bit.
We'll hit the ball back andforth so you get the feel of the
(03:42):
racket, of the paddle, and thenwe'll play.
So it's a small hindrance.
It's easily overcome as opposedto, trying to play like ice
hockey or something where it'sif you've never ice skated, like
you're not gonna be playing icehockey on day one.
Speaker (03:58):
That's not going to work out well.
That's a great point, isn't it?
That yes, if you have a bat andthat crazy little wiffle ball
you can actually, feel like youhave really got involved with
the game if you've never playedbefore.
One of our favorites, if we areplaying with somebody who's.
Perhaps not quite at in the samelevel or, they've just picked up
(04:22):
the battle, what have you, asthe kitchen game.
So, it's a smaller court anyway,but let's shrink it even more
and let's just dink in thekitchen back and forth.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Yeah.
Speaker (04:33):
It's very easy for, I would say most people, if not,
yeah, 99%.
In fact, that's funny.
I saw a video,'cause of courseall these pickleball videos come
up now when I'm looking.
But there was actually somebodyon the court was playing, he was
playing with his wife, and hiswife was the other side of the
(04:53):
net in a wheelchair and theywere dinking back and forth,
Speaker 2 (04:57):
yeah, totally doable.
Speaker (04:59):
How would you say, if at all, pickleball has helped
you to become more self-awareand how has it improved your
ability to perform underpressure
Speaker 2 (05:12):
that's a big one too in our job.
One of the things that whenpeople get into the fire service
and they're not successful, sothey either they don't pass the
fire academy or during theirfirst year as a firefighter
you're on probation they callit.
Which means that you're under amicroscope for your first year
and they can fire you at anytime.
(05:33):
It's actually it's a verystressful year and a half
process.
'cause you have a few months inthe academy and then a year on
probation where if you do notperform or if they feel like you
are not performing, then theycan just fire you at any moment.
In fact, that happened to me inmy first fire department that I
worked for.
I got let go in my 12th month ofprobation.
(05:56):
So I was almost done.
And they were just like, we'refiring you, They don't even have
to have a reason.
They can just be like, we don'tthink that you belong here.
We don't think that you can dothe job.
We don't think that you canperform under pressure, like you
said.
And I think that is one of thebiggest challenges for people
getting into the fire service isyou have to find a way to be
(06:17):
able to perform under pressure.
So even if it's a simple taskyou have to be able to do it
with, these guys watching you,waiting for you to make a
mistake.
And if you do, just knowing thatthey can fire you, so that, that
puts a tremendous amount ofpressure on you, and it really
is difficult.
(06:37):
I can remember in the academy,they had a Ropes and Knots
section, which you'd think thatwould be the mellow part because
you're not physically, you'rejust tying knots with rope, but
they make you wear these big,clunky gloves and it's hard to,
it's hard to tie these knots,but what makes it really hard is
they would time you and eachparticular knot had a certain
(06:58):
amount of time.
So if you're tying a figureeight on a bite or a fire
department bowling, or a clovehitch or whatever, like each of
these knots had a certain amountof time where maybe you get 30
seconds, maybe you get 15seconds, maybe you get a minute.
But if you go over the time,they would give you one chance
to do it again.
But if you failed again, youwould literally, you would lose
(07:19):
your job.
A knot.
Speaker (07:21):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah.
So it's the knot itself, maybeyou've tied it a hundred times,
a thousand times, but on thatday, when it's test day and you
have a group of people watchingyou with a stopwatch and you
know that they have the power tofire you.
And if you get all up in yourhead and you're like, oh, no, I
(07:42):
hope I don't make'em.
Oh, I hope I, oh man, I made amistake.
That could be it.
You could lose your job.
There are people who have beenfired because of a knot, which
is horrible.
Just because considering howlong it takes you to get hired
in the fires, at least here inSouthern California, it's a very
popular job.
So even just getting hired isreally hard because if they're
(08:04):
gonna put an Academy of 30people through, like 2000 people
will interview for it.
And if you are one of the onesselected, it is really something
to be celebrated.
But that's actually that's notthe hard part.
What's hard is keeping it onceyou get it, because you have to
go through, that's
Speaker (08:22):
acceptable pressure.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
It's insane.
I have never felt the amount ofpressure that I have in the fire
service and even not to relate,special forces military to the
fire service.
I'm sure that it is way harderto be in the special forces of
the military.
But I was talking to someone whohad been in special forces in
the Navy and he was with theSEAL teams and so I was talking
(08:47):
to him and I was just like,gosh, this must be just, a
cakewalk for you being afirefighter after what you've
gone through.
'cause he was brand new, so hehad just gone through the
academy and he just finishedprobation.
So I was like, yeah I canremember being really stressed
out.
In the academy and on probation.
But you must not have beenstressed out at all because
you've already done this thing,which is way harder.
(09:07):
And he was just, his response,I'll never forget it, he was
just like, believe it or not, itactually was really difficult,
but in a different way.
Because in the military, for themost part, you don't have that
constant pressure of gettingkicked out in the military, it's
almost the opposite.
It's like you can't get out, ifyou fail this, then we'll find a
(09:28):
place for you somewhere else,but you're not leaving.
You're not going home.
But with us it's that constantthreat of getting kicked out.
So that's one thing that heshared with me that I really
took to heart because, and alsohe said that when he was in the
military, he was single, so itwas just like it.
He just had to worry abouthimself.
But he said in the fire academyand probation, now he has a wife
(09:50):
and multiple kids.
So he can't blow this because ifhe does, what's he gonna do?
So there was a pressure, adifferent kind of pressure and a
lot of it boils down to thepressure to be able to perform
un under pressure, like you weresaying.
So, yeah, I think that, goingback to your original question
of does pickleball help?
(10:10):
Yeah, I think it does becausethere are a lot of times when
you're on the pickle ball court,and if it's a high stakes game
hey, we've already played, thisis the seventh game and it's
tied.
So whoever gets this next pointis gonna win the whole thing.
And the ball's coming to you.
It's okay, now this is my timeto perform under pressure.
(10:31):
And a lot of times it's not thatbig a deal'cause you're playing
with just mellow people whodon't care.
But in the fire service there'sa lot of, there alpha, there
mentalities, there's a lot oftype A people who.
Just thrive on winning.
Maybe they were the captain oftheir football team 20 years
(10:51):
ago, and now they're taking thatsame championship mentality to
the pickleball court at the firestation.
And if that guy is your partnerand the ball's coming to you and
if you blow it, you lose, likemaybe you don't really care that
(11:12):
much, but you definitely feelthe pressure.
'cause it's I do not want thisguy to be mad and he's gonna be
pretty mad if I hit the ballinto the net right now.
So really, he's
Speaker (11:22):
not gonna let you forget that, is he?
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Yeah.
I've definitely played withthose types of personalities
before
Speaker (11:29):
how do you find the best way to handle that
situation?
Speaker 2 (11:34):
I think that just doing whatever you can do to
just stay present and just be inthe moment and not think, just
try to get back to that flowstate because when you think too
much, you're gonna hit the ballinto the net.
It's I can remember getting mymotorcycle license years ago,
and I remember I was in theclassroom and it was like, okay,
(11:55):
if you're on the motorcycle andyou're coming around a turn and
you see a big rock in the roadand you don't wanna hit the
rock, don't focus on the rock.
'cause if you are gonna gowherever you're focusing on.
So if you focus on not hittingthe rock, you're gonna ride
right into the rock.
So what you do is you see therock, you acknowledge that it's
(12:15):
there, and then you focus onwhere you wanna go and that's
where you're gonna go.
So in the same way, if theball's coming at you and you're
just like.
Do not hit it into the net.
Do not hit it into, this guy'sgonna be really mad at me.
If I hit it into the net, you'regonna hit it into the net.
So whatever you can do to justlet go of thinking, just get
(12:37):
beyond that analytical mind oftrying to process everything and
think, and just let go and justplay and just be in that present
moment.
Then you're gonna hit the ballover the net, hopefully.
Speaker (12:49):
What an amazing analogy for life as well, right?
Yes.
What an amazing mindset to havefor life.
And I think, this is anotherreason I love pickleball so
much, is because you can equateso many situations on the court.
Like in that moment, get out ofyour head, get into your body,
(13:11):
let it flow.
Don't focus on the awful thingthat you're anticipating is
going to happen.
You're right where your focusgoes, your energy flows.
So focus on getting it over thenet and into a space where your
opponents aren't.
And then yes and then sort oftranscribing that into life as
(13:35):
well.
What an amazing lesson for us toall hang onto every day, yeah.
Totally.
I love that.
Thank you.
Yeah, that's amazing.
So what advice would you give tocouples because you play, it
sounds like, you probably playwith lots of different partners
and I don't know if your wifeAshley plays and if you ever
(13:56):
play with her, but what advicewould you give to couples or
partners looking to usepickleball as a way to
strengthen their relationship?
Speaker 2 (14:07):
So Ashley, I think she has played she doesn't play
very much, but right now we havetwo daughters.
They're seven and four yearsold, and we got them some
pickleball stuff for Christmas.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
Oh, love it.
So
Speaker 2 (14:18):
we now have four paddles and a few balls.
So, we might start playing oneof these days, like as a family.
I would say the biggest advicewould be just make it fun.
Basically don't be that guywho's just what are you doing?
You have to hit it over the net,not into the net, make it a good
time.
That's one thing I've found,especially with kids.
You have to make things fun orelse they're not gonna want to
(14:40):
do it, so just have fun with itand yeah, I think o only good
things can come of it for sure.
Speaker (14:46):
Tell my husband that one all the time.
Don't be that guy.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
It's hard, especially if you're predisposed to that.
Because that is a personalitytype where it's hey, we're gonna
win.
And there, there's a benefit tothat.
You see people who winchampionships and they usually
have that type of I don't know,maybe I'm wrong, but personality
types like me, I don't know ifthey're the ones who, win the
(15:11):
World Series.
'cause I'm more just ah, maybewe win, maybe we won't.
It's all good.
No problem.
I don't know if you can havethat mentality and go win a gold
medal in the Olympics.
But I think that.
For the most part, like if youcan just be mellow about it and
hey, we're just having a goodtime, no big deal.
You hit the ball into the net asmany times as you want.
It's okay.
Speaker (15:32):
Oh, okay.
I want to come and play with younow.
And I'm curious, do you playoutside of the fire service as
well?
Have you found that pickleballhas translated into your life
outside of that, or not really?
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Not too much, to be honest.
Really it's just hitting theball around with the kids, but
no, I think I get enough of itat work to where, there's almost
too much of it at work.
If that.
Possible.
I know that sounds crazy'causewe're not supposed to be playing
pickleball.
We're, we're getting paid to doa job.
But the reality is there's a lotof downtime.
(16:08):
There's a lot of time where wedon't have downtime and there's
a lot of crazy things thathappen.
Our job is less like a marathonand more like a CrossFit
workout.
Are you familiar with CrossFit?
Just like intense circuittraining, so that's how,'cause
my wife and I talk about thisall the time, like being a mom
for little kids is just arelentless never ending, slow
(16:32):
burn of, at no point are youever doing something for the
most part, like super crazy.
But it is like a 16 hour daywhere then you get to sleep and
then it starts all over again,and there's very few breaks.
Whereas our job is.
Not like that at all.
Our job is we might have fivehours where we don't even have a
(16:54):
call.
We might have eight hourswithout a call where you're
just, there are points where I'mjust like, I forgot I was at
work.
The tones go off and I'm like,oh yeah, that's right.
I'm a firefighter and I'm at,I'm on duty right now.
I have to go respond to, Iforgot'cause I've been just
doing my own thing.
But then maybe you go to justthe craziest thing you've ever
seen.
So it's more like a CrossFitworkout where it's 20 minutes of
(17:18):
really intense stuff followed bya.
Taking a really long break asopposed to a marathon where
you're just like, just sort ofrunning.
At no point are you ever doing asuper crazy, sprint, but you're
running the entire time andthere's no break.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
So,
Speaker 2 (17:34):
yeah.
I think that our job is likethat.
So getting back to what you saidthere's enough downtime on a
given 48 hour shift to where youcan get all the pickleball you
want outta your system.
So for me at least, like it's Idon't really play outside of
work.
Like it, honestly, you almosthave to be careful where you
work these days because if youdon't want to play a lot of
(17:57):
pickleball, there are certainstations where you probably
shouldn't go there.
Speaker (18:01):
Oh, interesting.
Because they play so much,they're so intense and addicted
to pickleball that it has anydowntime.
That's what you're doing.
Totally.
They
Speaker 2 (18:13):
exact And it's never been a thing before, but,'cause
we can choose where we work.
Like I work in Los Alamitosright now, but I could change
stations if I wanted to.
It's a bid system where a fewtimes a year it's up for grabs
and any station that's open formy position, which is I'm the
engineer, so I drive the engine.
(18:34):
If there is an engineer positionopen at another station, I can
put a bid in for it.
And as long as I have theseniority, if I have the highest
seniority out of everyone elsethat did it, I'm gonna get it.
And that will be my new home forat least a year.
And then however long beyondthat I want.
But, so there's a lot of thingsto consider.
(18:55):
When you're thinking of changingstations, like you wanna
consider the call volume.
Like, all right, is this areally busy station or is this a
slow station?
And there are benefits to both,do I want to be busy?
'cause that helps the day go byfast.
And I also get a lot ofexperience, but I'm also waking
up a lot at night.
You don't get a lot of sleep.
It's really di it's physicallytaxing.
(19:15):
So there are stations you can goto that, typically don't run as
many calls.
So you have to make thatdecision.
And then one of the biggestthings is what's the crew?
Who are the people that I'mgonna be working with?
Do I know these people?
Are they my friends?
Do I get along with them?
And then there's a whole bunchof like, how far away from my
house is this station?
Am I gonna be driving?
What am I doing to my commute inthe morning?
But one of the things that youhave to consider is how into
(19:40):
pickleball are these peoplebecause.
If you show up and you'replanning on maybe I'm starting a
podcast, and it's okay, I'mgonna try to do all the work for
starting my podcast while I'm onduty.
If I can, obviously I have to gorun the calls and we have to
train, we have to doinspections, we have to do all
(20:01):
the things that come with thejob.
But when you have a 48 hourshift, you're just gonna have
downtime.
It just you can't work for 48hours straight.
So if you show up and you'relike, okay, I'm gonna plan out
my podcast.
I'm gonna do all that at work.
And then you show up to your newstation and they're like, we're
so glad you're here.
All we do is play pickleball andyou're the fourth guy.
It's oh my gosh.
(20:22):
There went all my free time.
Because any time where we're notrunning calls or training or
doing whatever we have to do,we're playing pickleball.
And it could be the oppositetoo.
If you are just an avidpickleball addict and you show
up to a station where they donot play pickleball, you're
bummed because now you're outthere just hitting the ball
against the wall by yourself,That.
Am I going to a station where wego work out in the gym and then
(20:46):
every day for 20 minutes we playa couple games of pickleball?
Is, if that's the amount ofpickleball you're going for,
then choose your stationaccordingly.
But if you wanna play eighthours of pickleball a day, or if
you don't wanna play pickleballat all, like you, you have to
think about it.
Speaker (21:01):
Giving back to your question, become one of the
criteria then for picking whereyou work.
That's incredible.
That's fascinating to me.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Yeah and I don't know if there are Canadian
firefighters out there who arelistening to this right now.
Maybe they're saying like, Idon't know what you're talking
about, man.
We're not even allowed to play apickleball.
That might be the case.
But in our department, forwhatever reason, this is another
benefit of pickleball ismanagement has not squashed it
(21:30):
like they are allowing us toplay pickle ball.
This is like the first teamsport where they're actually
allowing people to play becauseall those other sports like
basketball and soccer, too manypeople were getting hurt.
'cause you, again, the type Apersonality, you get a bunch of
40-year-old type A guys who 25years ago were just.
(21:52):
Like the captain of their teamand they're used to just going
hard and winning.
You get a bunch of those peopleout on a basketball court and
now maybe they don't work out asmuch.
They're not in like tip topphysical shape and they try to
just go hard with this sport.
If you're management, you'rejust like, how do we have 200
people on work comp because of asprained ankle?
(22:14):
Right now it's be, it's'causeeveryone's playing basketball.
Okay, guess what?
No more basketball.
So they shut it down entirely.
So that's what was happening toall the team sports, they just
kept getting shut down becausepeople were hurting themselves.
That pickleball is the one thingwhere people, it, it's just more
of a gentle game.
Like you're not as predisposedto getting hurt playing
(22:36):
pickleball.
So because of that, managementhas allowed, our department has
allowed us to play.
So that's another benefit ofpickleball is you're actually
allowed to play.
But I don't know, maybe there'slisteners who are just like, we
don't play pickleball.
What do you, what kind ofprogram are you guys doing in
Southern California playingpickleball?
They're
Speaker (22:55):
all going to want to move there, aren't they?
The pickleball addicts, that'sfor sure.
Yes.
And that's interesting.
I don't know if that's the sameup here in Canada or if it's the
same in the UK or, anywherearound the world.
That's something I would have toLook into.
And maybe I'll contact our localfire station, see what their
(23:15):
take is on it.
But and I would imagine, yourclimate is very different from
ours.
We're a lot further north.
Yeah.
It would be a lot morechallenging because we have so
much snow and ice on the groundfor so many months, I would
imagine.
Yeah.
Being in Southern California,you can probably play outside
(23:37):
every day.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Yeah there's two weeks outta the year where it's
like a little bit cold andraining.
For the most part it's almostlike summer here all year round.
It just gets a little colder inwinter.
But yeah, you can, my wifealways laughs what do you mean
winter?
This is not winter.
'cause she's from Alabama, likenorthern Alabama and so she's
used to like actual seasons andI'm like, yeah, of course we
(23:59):
have seasons.
Like it's winter now.
It's a little, it's 10 degreescolder.
It rains a few times and it's 50degrees instead of 65 degrees.
That's funny.
Speaker (24:09):
So Brent what advice would you give to anybody who
has never picked up a pickleballpaddle and they're thinking
about it and they're just notsure whether it's for them or
not.
What would you say to them?
Yeah,
Speaker 2 (24:21):
I would give it a try because it's not a it's not a
massive investment of time ormoney.
Like I mentioned, we just gotour kids some pickleball stuff.
For Christmas, it was 20 bucks.
On Amazon, I bought a pack of,it was four paddles and like two
balls, and it was like$19.
So it's really not much money.
(24:43):
You don't even need a net.
Just get a few paddles, get acouple balls, and just get out
there on your driveway or someflat piece of concrete and just
hit the ball back and forth andjust see if you like it or not,
and then from there, maybe youcan get a net or maybe like a
local rec center near, near youguys or, there maybe there's
some type of place where you cango and actually play, but it
(25:06):
really doesn't take much.
As opposed to, like I mentionedlike ice hockey earlier.
Like I used to play ice hockeyin high school too.
And my goodness.
What an investment of money tobegin with.
Just the gear, the amount ofgear that you need to play and
then you have to go learn how toice skate.
Which is not easy.
That just gets you ready tolearn how to play the game.
(25:29):
And in order to play ice hockey,at least in Southern California,
it is prohibitively expensive'cause you're paying for ice
time in a desert community, adesert climate, like ice time is
not very prevalent.
It's not like up in Canada, Iassume, where you can in the
winter go out and it's probablynot very hard to find a piece of
ice to play ice hockey on.
(25:50):
But in California it's veryhard.
So you're paying a lot of moneyto play, but pickleball is not
that at all.
Again, low barrier to entry onevery level, It's something that
you can pick up in an afternoonand be playing.
And for$20 on Amazon, you canoutfit your entire family with
gear.
(26:10):
And then just decide from thereis this something we wanna play
or not?
So for 20 bucks and a little bitof time, I would say just give
it a try.
If you don't like it, then nobig deal at all.
Exactly.
Speaker (26:21):
Yeah.
Yeah.
But go and give it a go.
You never know.
It looks crazy.
It sounds even more crazy whenall you can hear is that pop.
And then laughter.
But yeah, go and give it a go.
Yeah.
I have one more question foryou.
Yeah.
It's been so great chatting withyou, but just curious if there
(26:41):
was a future episode ofPickleball and Partnership
podcast, what would you like tosee it about?
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Oh man, that's a good
Speaker 2 (26:50):
question.
I'm really fascinated with theapproach that you've taken
playing with your husband andthen.
Relating it to your marriage andhaving it actually strengthen
your marriage.
I think there's a lot there thatI didn't really even think about
that.
I was more thinking like, okay,the benefits of firefighters
(27:10):
playing pickleball together, butlike a couple who are trying to
strengthen their relationship,like taking the experiences from
pickleball and talking aboutthat and how it strengthens your
relationship.
I think that's something thateverybody could really benefit
from.
I think that's really cool.
So I would love to learn moreabout that.
Speaker (27:28):
Thank you for that.
Yeah, absolutely.
We've sort of touched on thatin, in previous episodes.
It's challenging for me to getNeil to jump on with me, so I've
done some single episodes too,but I think we've learned so
much from playing together.
And I think, I have a friend,actually she and her husband
(27:49):
just took it up because theyheard a couple of our episodes
and thought, okay, we are goingto get off the couch and we are
going to go and play.
And I'm like, oh my gosh, thatis amazing.
And I think, that's what I loveabout pickleball.
Like you say, it's so easy, it'sso cheap.
It's go buy Yeah.
(28:09):
A 10$20 pad or go out there andtry it,
Speaker 3 (28:13):
yeah.
Speaker (28:13):
I did look up, actually I just had a quick look'cause I
wanted to see where Los Alamitoswas, and I noticed that you have
an open house?
Speaker 3 (28:24):
We do have open h
Speaker (28:25):
Yes.
Participate in juniorfirefighter activities, watch
live demos, ride in a fireengine and more.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Yeah, they do.
So our department, every year,they have an open house and
usually what they do is I thinkthere's a big to-do over at our
headquarters, which is inIrvine.
And that's probably where likethe junior firefighter stuff and
all those things happen, Ithink.
And then some stations will havean open house.
So you can go to your localstation if you're in Orange
(28:59):
County and chances are they'rehaving the open house.
And if not, like you just, youcan always just knock on the
door of a fire station andunless they're on a call or
training or something there'sprobably someone there so just
head down there and then you cango in and you can see the fire
engine and you can talk to thepeople and it.
(29:19):
It's really a cool thing becauseour job, a lot of people don't
know much about it.
Like they think, what time isyour break?
And it's I don't know if youunderstand, like there's no
break.
Like we do have downtime, but atno point am I gonna be leaving
on like a clock out lunch breaktype of thing.
This is just not that type ofjob.
(29:41):
So the cool thing about an openhouse is you can go and you can
see the engine, you can see theliving area, you can see the
kitchen.
It's Hey, look at this.
Like we, we cook together.
We're like a family that's likea second family, and you can
really expose yourself to that.
And it's an education tool forus to just be like, all right,
yeah, this is not a normal job.
If you see us cooking and yousay to yourself like, oh, that's
(30:05):
so cool that you get to cook atyour job.
It's no, this is a differenttype of job.
We don't work eight hours andthen go home.
Like we work 48 hours, sometimes96 hours, sometimes 120 hours.
So it's a totally different typeof job.
And the open house is really agood tool for exposing people to
that.
So definitely go down.
Or just go down any day and justknock on the door and just be
(30:26):
like, Hey, I just wanna say hi,firefighters are friendly,
they're friendly people.
Speaker (30:31):
Super friendly.
I, would contest to that.
Oh, they are absolutely.
I know, our son is 21 now, buthe was little and we took him to
the fire station and it was sucha cool experience.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
And if you wanna win them over, just show up with a
little thing of ice cream.
Okay.
Just be like, Hey, I waswondering if I could just check
out the fire engine.
I've got my son here.
he just wants to see the engine.
I brought you guys some icecream.
Speaker (30:57):
Thank you so much Brent.
It was absolute pleasure talkingto you.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Thank you so much for having me on your podcast.
Like I said, this is my firstpodcast, so I am really stoked
to be a part of it.
Thank you.
Speaker (31:10):
Thanks so much for listening today.
I hope you enjoyed thatconversation as much as I did.
Anything mentioned, includinglinks, notes, and a full episode
list, will be over on ourwebsite at
pickleballandpartnership.
buzzsprout.
com.
Com.
If you got something outta thisepisode, be sure to follow or
(31:31):
subscribe to Pickleball andPartnership on Apple Podcasts,
Spotify, or wherever you listenso that you are notified of new
and upcoming episodes.
And if you're finding value inthis podcast, a free way to
support us is to leave a five.
It truly means the world to us.
(31:53):
This will help more peopleaccess these real conversations.
And if you haven't connectedwith myself or Neil personally,
we would love to meet you andsay hi over on our Facebook
page.
Thanks again for listening.
Please tune in next week foranother exciting episode of
Pickleball and partnership.
(32:15):
Remember, we're all learning,growing, and showing up in our
own ways.
And that's what matters most.
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