April 22, 2025 • 35 mins
In this episode of the Pickleball and Partnership Podcast, host Charlotte Jukes sits down with Sumit and Rajan, a powerhouse duo who have found both purpose and partnership through the game of pickleball.
Sumit, a high-level player and coach, discusses his journey from competitive cycling to finding a new passion in pickleball, where he now runs Pickle Perfect Coaching and serves as the Program Co-ordinator and Head Coach at Mega Courts, Calgary's largest indoor pickleball facility.
Rajan shares her experience of learning the game under Sumit's guidance and how the sport has enriched their relationship. The conversation delves into the couple's dynamics on and off the court, the unique coaching programs at Mega Courts, and the social impact of pickleball. Whether you're a seasoned player or new to the game, this episode offers valuable insights into how pickleball can strengthen personal connections and foster a sense of community.
00:00 Welcome to the Pickleball and Partnership Podcast
00:47 Meet the Powerhouse Duo: Sumit and Rajan
02:15 Sumit's Journey to Pickle Perfect Coaching
07:16 The Rise of Mega Courts
11:30 The Benefits of Pickleball for Everyone
13:44 Playing Pickleball as a Couple
19:06 Advice for Aspiring Pickleball Players
27:10 Mega Courts: Upcoming Events and Vision
33:43 Final Thoughts and Farewell
Links mentioned in this episode:
https://www.instagram.com/megacourts.calgary?igsh=MTJ3aXY2dmY0MHgyMg==
https://www.pickleperfectcoaching.com
https://widgets.courtreserve.com/Online/Public/EmbedCode/13410/44861
Pickleball & Partnership Facebook Page
Please jump on over and say "Hi" - we would love to hear from you...
https://www.facebook.com/conejukes
https://www.facebook.com/groups/848118700833703
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pickleball-partnership/id1775742795
Pickleball & Partnership Email cejukes@gmail.com
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.
Mark as Played
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.
Charlotte J (00:44):
Today's episode is one you don't want to miss.
We are diving into the world ofhigh level pickleball with a
powerhouse duo who not onlyshare life off the court, but
have found purpose, play, andpartnership on it.
I'm joined today by Sumit, a toptier player and coach with a
serious.
Passion for the game.
(01:04):
He's the force behind PicklePerfect Coaching, and he's just
taken on an exciting new role asthe program coordinator and head
coach at Mega Courts in Calgary,Canada's largest and most
advanced indoor pickleball andtennis facility.
Yes, you heard that right?
(01:25):
Mega Courts is making majorwaves in the pickleball scene.
What makes this conversationeven more special is that Sumit
isn't joining us alone.
His wife, Rajan is here too.
Together, they've turned theirsearch for a fun fitness
friendly activity into a sharedlove for pickleball, and they're
(01:46):
here to talk about how it'sshaped their relationship, their
routines, and even their goals.
So whether you are a.
Seasoned player, a relationshipbuilder, or just curious about
what happens when passion andpartnership hit the court.
This one's for you.
I'm so excited to be joinedtoday by Sumit and Rajan.
Sumit (02:09):
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Awesome.
Really glad to be here.
Charlotte J (02:12):
It's so lovely to sit down and chat with you.
I'm curious about yourpickleball journey, of course,
and when you first discoveredpickleball and yeah.
Tell us about both of you, howyou met, how you found
pickleball.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Yeah.
Pickleball journey has beenreally exciting, Charlotte.
both of us started at the sametime about three years ago,
Rajan right?
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Two
Speaker 2 (02:36):
two and a half years ago.
So I was into competitivecycling before I discovered
pickleball and cycling was all Iused to do.
And then Raja would join mesometimes on our.
So we would go on a bike tour toJasper we even went to Vancouver
By bicycle.
So we would do like a four day,five day trip.
(02:56):
And that used to be like ourtime together.
And then I was also intocompetitive cycling.
Joining me for these tours andall, and we were.
Bike on weekends together.
And then unfortunately I gotinjured and I couldn't do
competitive biking anymore.
And I was just looking atdifferent avenues for us to, do
(03:16):
something together because bothof us are really active.
And Rajan would go to gym and Iwould go to gym separately.
I'm like, we should be doingsomething together.
So one of, one of these days atthe YMCA.
I saw a bunch of 50 year oldsplaying this funny sport called
pickleball, and I'm like thatsounds weird but interesting at
the same time.
So I'm like, Rajan, do you wantto just, try that and maybe this
(03:40):
is something we can do togetherand.
We both tried it, we bothenjoyed it.
And I come from an extensivetable tennis background.
I used to play table tenniscompetitively as a kid, as a
youth.
So I picked up the game fairlyquickly and Rajan is a natural.
So we both started enjoying it.
And then yeah within six months,Charlotte, I was already playing
(04:01):
at, pretty high level and likean advanced level.
And then I just I am a naturalcoach.
My previous jobs I've donecoaching and all that.
I like to break down technicalstuff into simple components and
just help people understand, thegame.
So I just started coachingfriends and family just for fun.
And then they're kind enough.
(04:22):
They said, maybe you should geta certification and, see where
it goes because you can helpmore people.
So I did the certification andI.
Opened my own pickleballcoaching company with a friend.
It's called Pickle PerfectCoaching.
I've coached more than 500students, so we just started
coaching one day a week.
(04:42):
Just to see how it goes.
And then within two or threemonths, we were doing it full
time.
So that's that.
I just for your listeners,pickleball is the, fastest
growing sport in North America.
Most of us know that.
And then Rajan would play withme and luckily we found a sport
where both of us could enjoytogether and spend time
together.
At the end of the day,pickleball is about fun and
(05:05):
spending time with your friendsand family, and we are lucky we
could do that.
Rajan (05:09):
Yeah, absolutely.
One thing I would add though hiscoaching skills is I would say
the primary reason that I couldpick up and learn and get better
at it because he is, he taughtme unlike him, I don't have any
like tennis or the racketbackground.
Of course, I've playedbadminton, like on the street,
(05:29):
Of course, I've hit few ballswith tennis too, but not nothing
like, oh, I've got a training.
You know how to hit a shot.
You just wing it, but when westarted playing pickleball, like
I noticed right away he was likewatching, he was spending so
much time watching things onYouTube, how to do this shot,
and he would just watch it andlearn it.
And I'm like, oh my God.
(05:50):
And then he taught me all ofthis.
So that I am not left behind.
And then of course, because hetaught me, he's such a difficult
student who doesn't have knowhow, who doesn't know the
difference between what's a topspin and a, what's a slice, then
he said, okay, then maybe I canteach others too, and then so
far we've been very lucky andblessed he found a very good
(06:11):
partner that he could start thiscompany with and we are here.
Sumit (06:14):
That's amazing.
I absolutely, I love your story.
That just, oh, Raja, that justwarmed my heart when you said,
and it's such a similar story tomine and Neil's, and, we talk
about this in previous episodesas well.
Where Neil was so gung-ho on, wehave to play pickleball.
And I was very resistant to itand thought it was for old
(06:38):
people, but I went along becauseI thought, yes, we need to do
something together.
And interestingly, we used toroad bike as well, but of
course, you know where we live,you can't do that year round.
Whereas pickleball, of course,now you can do it year round.
So I love that you've almostjust followed the breadcrumbs,
(07:00):
you've had an idea or an inklingI hear a passion from you as
well, and you've gone from,coaching friends and family.
To starting a coaching business,which I think is amazing.
So when did you first discovermega courts?
What's the story there?
(07:21):
Yeah, so just a bit of abackground, Charlotte.
Regarding Pickle PerfectCoaching, when me and my
business partner, her name isClara, she's also a coach at
Mega Coach the whole idea behindstarting our coaching business
was we felt there was a big gapin coaching where either you
have to go for private coaching.
Which is very expensive.
(07:41):
Or the other coaching system orstyles were, there were eight
students or 12 students to onecoach.
If you want to go a relativelycheaper route, and we thought
there's a big gap in between.
Private coaching, one-on-onecoaching is very expensive, and
a group lesson where you haveeight students or 12 students to
one coach is cheaper, but itactually doesn't get the job
(08:04):
done because.
You don't get the one-on-oneattention that you're seeking.
So the whole idea for usstarting this was that, hey, how
about we do lessons wheremaximum, there are four students
and there are two coaches, andthey can actually see us hitting
the shots properly, watch us doit, and then we can detect and
correct what they're doingwrong.
(08:26):
So I think that's resonated withour students a lot and, before
we knew it, right?
People were signing up for ourlessons and every day.
Even during the evening when wecouldn't even coach.
So I think that's where we foundthe gap.
And we were renting courts Fromdifferent facilities because we
wanted to be independent.
We both knew that if we.
Start working for a facilitythey would dictate how we can
(08:51):
coach, how many students arethere, because at the end of the
day unfortunately they have tolook at their bottom line,
right?
So we knew we would not be ableto have a smaller group size,
which was a niche so we werecoaching for two years, and then
as Mega Courts was opening Vlad,the owner of Mega Courts, he
reached out to me.
He was looking for somebody tojoin as the head coach and as
(09:12):
also as the pickleball programcoordinator.
And I thought, this is a greatopportunity where actually I can
have a facility, but also writemy programs on my own.
So my whole plan was to, thenjoining keep Vlad aside and
start my own thing where I canstill have that small group
size.
So if you look at the coachingprogram at Mega Courts, we have
(09:33):
apart from one or two programs,most of our programs have
maximum of four students.
We, we never want to go morethan that because I personally
don't think that's the rightmodel of having a lot of
students to one coach.
Individualized retention iswhere we improve.
And yeah.
And that's the whole idea behindbeing here at Mega Courts.
(09:54):
That's such a unique, it is aniche as you say, because you
are right I've been in so manylessons where you are one of a
group of many and.
Sometimes you feel like you getthe attention you need, you get
your questions answered andsometimes not.
Rajan, I can see how you wouldhave really picked up pickleball
(10:18):
quite quickly and maybe youcould speak to, people listening
who are on the fence.
Shall I try pickleball or not?
It sounds like this would be anideal.
Coaching program or ideallessons for them to jump into.
A
Rajan (10:34):
hundred percent.
So for example, I would say oneof the main reason I could learn
this sport relatively faster isbecause I had access to these
like coaches, right?
Like I have access to Sumit andeven Clara would drill together.
If you want to improve,definitely having that
personalized attention becausemy problem might be different
(10:58):
from the person who is standingnext to me or learning in that
same program.
'cause I might be doing X wrong,she might be doing Y wrong.
And then for one person to focuson eight of these people with
different set problems.
It's gonna be tough, right?
It's gonna be hard.
And versus me getting thatattention or like it's only two
(11:18):
of us or four of us getting thatindividualized attention.
Ideally, obviously we all wannado one-on-one, it gets
expensive, right?
So then this is the happymedium.
For all of us.
And another thing aboutpickleball is I cannot speak to
everyone in terms of whetherthey're gonna like it or not,
but all the people that I havespoken to or that I've met,
(11:40):
they've always told me, oh, whenafter they started playing
pickleball, they now cannot putthe paddle down.
They're like addicted.
So the problem has always beenthe opposite.
How do I not play pickleballthis much?
Speaker 3 (11:52):
You
Rajan (11:52):
know.
Oh, I love that.
Oh
Sumit (11:54):
my gosh.
I know.
For anybody who hasn't playedpickleball I know they're
thinking that can't be but itis.
It, Charlotte, when we read thenews that there is a loneliness
epidemic, I just feel so bad.
I'm like, just play pickleball.
Yeah.
Get on a court, you'll make somany friends.
I've never had these manyfriends in my life before.
(12:15):
It's a life changing sport,Charlotte.
It is.
It's it's a relatively smallcourt.
Four people are on the courtit's so easy to pick up the
game.
And the good thing aboutpickleball is that unlike some
of the other sports, even if thelevel is different between the
players who are on the court,they can still have a really
good time.
They can still have a.
Wonderful time and then, at theend of the day, what is life?
(12:37):
If it's not about fun and beingsocial and being, together with
somebody you want to enjoy with.
I love that you said that, andactually you gave me the chills
when you talked aboutloneliness.
Because that's actually nextweek's episode.
Neil and I sat down and westarted having a conversation
about predominantly men, I haveto say, because men are not that
(13:01):
great at socializing or sharingtheir feelings And so we sat
down and we started having aconversation about men and
loneliness.
And I said, oh my gosh, this isa podcast episode.
We need to talk about thisbecause look at how many friends
you make playing pickleball.
And I love that you've said thattoo.
You've confirmed my belief.
(13:24):
I've never made so many friendsexcept perhaps when.
The children were small and youwould take them to their groups,
and then you'd take them toschool organically.
You just met lots of people andas we get older, that gets
harder and harder.
So I love that you said thatabout pickleball too.
I'm curious, how do you findplaying together?
(13:47):
Do you play on the same side ofthe court and has that been
challenging at all?
Speaker 2 (13:54):
You wanna talk about that?
Rajan (13:55):
Yeah it is definitely challenging and because the
reason is we are.
Tough on ourselves, andsometimes we are tougher on our
partners, or I should say theopposite.
We are tough on our partners andwe are tougher on ourselves.
Why?
Because they are your ownextension, right?
(14:16):
Versus.
I cannot be tough on you,Charlotte.
Let's say you and me are playingtogether.
I'll be a little bit nicer toyou but I can be harshest to him
because, with us, the difficultyis.
He's also my coach.
He coaches me.
So then what happens in ourcases when we are playing
together, he's seeing all thesethings that I'm doing wrong and
(14:39):
that impacts his game.
He doesn't say anything to me,but I can read his body
language.
I've known him for 22, 23 years,right?
And he's in that moment he'strying to tell me you are doing
wrong.
But then he's impacting his ownshot, right?
Because think about it, like youhave so many things going on
(15:01):
then you are not playing loose.
If you are just watching yourpartner and which I'm thankful
for that he watches me.
Then he can help me.
Correct.
All those like small things,sometimes it gets tougher.
But having said that, we aretrying to.
Learn how to play with eachother.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
You're making it sound more serious than it is.
Sumit (15:22):
No, I and I, that resonates with me.
I get that.
Because Neil and I say that too.
And I don't know if you foundthis, but we stepped on the
court and suddenly realized thatactually we weren't
communicating that well.
And it wasn't until we weredoing that, I call it the dance,
and finding that rhythm on thecourt that we realized that a
(15:44):
lot of the way we weresupporting each other playing
pickleball, we could also bringinto our home life as well,
which was amazing,
Speaker 3 (15:54):
right?
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Yeah.
A friend of mine who playspickleball with us Steve Steve
and Lauren.
They're another couple who weplay pickleball with, and I had
a chat once with him, which kindof changed my thinking about
playing pickleball with yourspouse.
He said that Sumit, because Ialways see Steve and Lauren have
a really good time on the courteven if they're winning or
losing, doesn't matter, right?
(16:15):
They are competitive people.
But I always admire how theyhandle themselves on the court.
And I was actually talking tohim one day, we were having
dinner together.
I'm like, Steve, how do you andLauren manage to play so well
together and not get angry ateach other?
Because with spouses, things canheat up, as we all know.
And he said, Sumit, me andLauren we had a fight once on a
pickleball court in atournament, and we came back
(16:37):
home and we just had a chatthat.
If we are together, it's becausewe love each other the most.
So why shouldn't we be actuallythe nicest to the person we love
the most?
Rather than being the opposite.
And that actually changed theway I think.
And I'm now having said that, weare playing at 10:00 AM today in
an hour together.
(16:57):
So I think the most of theproblem was from my side.
I'm just too harsh on herbecause like she said, I'm her
coach too, so I get so criticalwhen I play with her, why are
you doing this?
Why are you doing that?
Because I'm like, I taught youhow to do that.
You're still doing that wrong.
But I'm really getting to apoint where I'm like, during the
time when we are on the court,we are playing together.
I'm not a coach anymore.
(17:17):
I'm just your partner, right?
And as a good partner, my job isto support you.
To create an environment wherewe are actually having fun on
the court.
And then I'm making mental notesthat once we are done, then I'm
gonna tell you what you whatwrong you did.
Sumit (17:33):
And for those of you listening, Sumit it wagged his
finger at Rajan
Speaker 5 (17:38):
at that point.
Sumit (17:40):
I love it.
But that's not an easy thing todo.
I'm sure yeah.
Take your coach hat off and Rajan I admire you because I know
it's difficult.
I think we've all been subjectto our partner, whether it's our
husband, our partner, somebodywe just met for the first time.
Perhaps they roll their eyes atus or, they make that
(18:01):
disgruntled noise and you'vedone something wrong and upset.
Rajan (18:05):
Charlotte, I wanna be very clear.
He does none of that.
Speaker 5 (18:08):
Thank
Speaker 3 (18:08):
you.
Yeah,
Rajan (18:09):
he does none of that.
It's not that, it's just that weboth are very competitive.
I am equally competitive.
I'm more competitive than him.
and problem is when I'm playingwith somebody else, they don't
know me internally and I caneasily put a face, but I cannot
put a face in front of him.
(18:30):
When I'm angry, it rubs on him.
Also, the same thing.
When he's angry, it rubs on metoo.
So we both know each other justso well.
That is sometimes hard to hideyour feelings.
So then, then it sometimes youjust like not able to play your
game.
That's all.
But having said that we all canget better.
I.
Sumit (18:49):
Absolutely.
And that's great awareness.
And I think, if we are all a bitmore aware of the face that we
are putting on, or our energy onthe court, I think we would all
play a better game and we'd allhave more fun.
More fun than we're having.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Yes.
Sumit (19:06):
So would there be a piece of advice that you would give to
anybody who's listening, andmaybe they're here in Calgary
and maybe they can come andcheck out mega courts, but maybe
they're somewhere else in theworld.
What advice would you give tosomebody who's sitting on the
couch, really wants to beactive, wants to try something
(19:30):
and thinks maybe pickleball isthe thing I should try.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Yeah, I think from my side, Charlotte, I'll just say,
just go for it.
It's the initial step is thetoughest one where we are just
sitting, we are like, we, wherewe feel like, oh, I don't know.
I've seen some pickleball on tv.
It doesn't look that easy topick up.
Trust me.
It's such an easy sport to pickup once you're on the court I
highly recommend people whodon't have a rack sport
background to do an introductionto pickleball whether it's with
(19:58):
us at Mega Courts or whereverthey are, because it just makes
it so easy for them to thenunderstand the rules of the
game, hold the paddle correctly,and.
You are on the court with threeor four other people who are
also at your level who are juststarting pickleball.
And within 15 minutes if youhave the right coach with you,
he or she's gonna make it easyfor you to understand the game.
(20:20):
So we do what we call a two hourcrash course, introduction to
Pickleball Crash Course at MegaCourts and it just brings a
smile on my face that within anhour, the first hour they
already now know the rules ofthe game, and the second hour
they're just playing games and.
At the end of the two hours,they're like, okay, what should
we do now?
Put me in some group where's mynext lesson?
(20:40):
I just wanna be on the court,right?
And most of them are people whohave actually played no sports
in their life before.
So anybody can pick up the sportat any time, at any age.
Please do not sit.
And think that you cannot,pickleball is something anybody
can do.
Just just find the nearestintroduction to pickleball
course near you.
(21:01):
Go to the facility, they'll giveyou a paddle.
They will provide you with theballs.
You are on the court, and yourlife will never be the same
again.
Sumit (21:09):
A lot of sense.
I love that.
Yeah, and I think I would add tothat any sort of ability, if
somebody is, feeling like theydon't move very quickly or they
don't move well, or perhaps,I've played people wearing knee
brace.
People with different injuriesor disabilities and it's still a
sport that people can play insome capacity,
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Definitely Charlotte.
I will actually add to that.
Sometimes on, on tv, we cannotappreciate the size of the court
the pickleball court is not thatbig.
It's not that big, and mainlythe game is played in doubles.
So even if you have somemobility issues, the court is
very small and you're onlycovering half of the court and.
(21:52):
You can get to the ball.
Just give it a try.
Please.
Just give it a try.
Sumit (21:56):
Definitely.
What's one thing that you bothpersonally want to accomplish
this year, whether that's on thecourt or off the court?
Maybe you could share that withlisteners.
Rajan (22:09):
I think for me, as far as pickleball is concerned I wanna
get better on my feet.
What I find is when the ballcomes at me, I just sometimes
feel like I'm frozen.
Like I'm not moving.
Like instead of instead of doingthat split step and then going
into the direction where theball's going, I just try to keep
(22:31):
my feet where I am and I'mmoving with my arm.
If I can accomplish that by theend of the year, I would be
like, so happy.
And you know that I can move myfeet, thinking about moving your
feet First
Speaker 2 (22:44):
feet first, paddle second.
Rajan (22:45):
Yes.
That's what Sumit always tellsme if I can do that would be
like amazing.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
The act of hitting the ball, Charlotte is actually
the last 10%.
What you do before that?
How do you prepare yourself?
You get behind the ball, you useyour feet.
That's the secret sauce ofpickleball.
Sumit (23:00):
I like that.
Yes.
And isn't it interesting how wedo feel Rajan, to what you said,
we do feel rooted to the spot.
I know I've done that myself.
You reach for the ball, andthink, how did I ever think I
was going to reach that?
But yes.
First paddle, second.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
from my side, I would say I have two goals.
First from Mega courts point ofview I really hope that by the
end of the year, more and morepeople know that here's this
facility in South Calgary, whichis the premier facility.
the biggest thing that I wannaaccomplish as far as mega courts
is concerned.
I want us to be that facilitywhich is welcoming.
(23:39):
Not just the higher levelplayers, but to anybody who's
just starting pickleball orwho's already playing pickleball
for five years at a competitivelevel, right?
We want to create an environmentwhere everybody's welcome.
Everybody can improve, everybodycan have fun.
Be more social.
I'm already thinking of a lot ofdifferent things where we can
make it more social, wherepeople at different levels can
(24:00):
actually connect.
What I've been seeing so far inour city, unfortunately,
Charlotte, is that a lot ofsilos have been created where
higher level players are notcommunicating with, let's say
intermediate level players andall.
Even when I was picking up myteam, the coaching team, we
have, we have three amazingfemale coaches at Mega courts
and a lot of our discussions ishow we can help bridge that gap
(24:25):
where.
People who are just startingpickleball or who have been
playing for a couple of years,but wanna improve but have, not
been able to improve that muchbecause they don't have access
to, let's say, higher levelplayers because they have not
been playing with them.
How to connect that and make ita big community where Calgary
can thrive as one of the bestpickle world communities in
(24:46):
Canada or.
Even in North America.
That's my goal.
As far as mega courts isconcerned.
Personally, I just wanna keep onimproving in pickleball.
I don't set myself a goal ofthat I want to be here or, I
want to be at this DUPR level orthis skill level.
But every time I get on thecourt, if I can improve on one
thing for example, right now I'mworking on my forehand counters
(25:08):
and.
Every time I get on the court, Ijust wanna feel that I've
improved a bit, or at least I'vetried to improve myself that
just hits the spot for me.
I just love that feeling and andjust enjoying being on the court
with friends.
And I just love making friendsand then hopefully the
friendship becomes in such a waythat, we are also going out for
(25:28):
dinners and lunches and all thattogether.
I'm a very social person andpickleball has been a life
changer for me.
Charlotte, honestly, not justfrom a livelihood point of view,
but also from a personal, mypsychological, my mental health
point of view.
Yeah.
Sumit (25:41):
The days I play pickleball, they're great days.
They're not just good days,they're great days.
And I love what you said aboutpersonal growth as well, because
honestly I've stopped comparingmyself to other people.
I now only compare myself to howI was yesterday and so
beautiful.
If I feel better and I'veimproved and I've done something
(26:04):
to move towards that growthtoday, And I think.
Pickleball is a great vessel tobe able to do that, like you
say.
One thing I have to say foranybody again wondering, shall I
go into mega court?
Shall I go and try pickleball orshall I perhaps go and do some
lessons or just even book acourt and play?
(26:26):
When I walked in the doors ofMega Courts, the welcome was
phenomenal.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
Thank you.
I was
Sumit (26:33):
greeted.
It was friendly.
It was very welcoming.
I love that you have showersthere because I don't think
there's one facility I've playedat except in Mexico where there
were showers and that's soimportant.
If you are not going straighthome or a group of us often will
(26:54):
play pickleball on a Saturdayafternoon and then we'll go out
for dinner.
I'd like to shower before I goout for dinner, so I love that
Mega Courts has those showerstoo.
But the welcome was phenomenal,What's coming up for mega
courts?
Are there any tournaments?
Any big events coming up that weshould know about?
Speaker 2 (27:16):
I wish I could tell more about tournaments, but I'll
just quickly say that we areplanning something mega as far
as tournament is concerned.
We're planning a grand openingtournament.
I can announce the date now.
It's on 24th of May.
And the details will come out inthree or four days.
And all I can say is that we arepartnering with a major.
US Pickleball organization it'sgoing to be big, it's going to
(27:40):
be a big tournament andhopefully a lot of people will
join us there at Mega Courts andit'll be lots of fun.
And we just recently launched acouple of ladies League and Mix
League and we are happy thatthey filled up relatively
quickly.
And apart from that, our,introduced what we are calling
Round robin Style Open play inCalgary.
Open play was not structuredbefore, before mega courts open
(28:04):
and, I can already see somefacilities copying us, so that
means we are doing somethinggood.
Apart from that, look out for,more leagues, ladders coming
soon to mega courts and if yougo to our website, a lot of our
clinics are already up.
We have amazing coaches at megacourts we have a pro player with
us who's coaching and she'sdoing an amazing job.
(28:24):
Clara.
Is doing a lot of coaching fornovice players.
We are doing introduction topickleball and yeah, we'll keep
on adding stuff.
We are always looking forfeedback.
That Charlotte, I am alwayslooking for feedback, especially
negative feedback so that we canimprove and keep on improving
and that's a goal.
Yeah.
Sumit (28:41):
Thank
Speaker 2 (28:41):
you.
Sumit (28:42):
I love that.
If you had to just sum up anddescribe the spirit of mega
courts in one sentence whatwould that be?
Speaker 2 (28:51):
I think I'll start with tagline.
Mega courts.
Mega fun like you said yourself,Charlotte.
We want to create an environmentof friendliness.
At the end of the day,pickleball should be fun.
Pickleball should be fun.
Pickleball should be social.
And that's our whole idea.
As soon as somebody comes,whether they have been playing
for five years, or this is thefirst time they're on pickleball
court, we want them to feelwelcome.
(29:13):
We want them to have a feelingof, this is their second home.
This is their home on a courtthat's what we want to achieve.
And if we do that I'm happy.
Charlotte J (29:21):
And I love that you said home because that really
resonates with me as well.
Any time I have stepped onto anycourt, it really feels like
you're coming home and you'repart of this big family.
And I know there are people outthere are going to be thinking,
there's no way a.
Sport makes you feel like that,but it's true.
(29:43):
And I'm very excited to watchand see how Mega Courts grows
over this first year.
You've done a phenomenal job andit's very exciting.
If you're in Calgary, go andcheck it out.
If you're not in Calgary, youneed to come and visit us.
And check it out.
Definitely.
So I always ask this question,and either of you or both of you
(30:07):
can answer.
What topic would you like to seea future episode of Pickleball
and Partnership Podcast?
Speaker 2 (30:16):
I have 10 different things in my mind right now.
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 5 (30:18):
I love it.
Go.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
I think when Rajan and me when we started talking
about, how couples play togetherand not, I think something
related to mixed doublepsychology, how we can improve
that, what should we be thinkingwhen.
Couples play together and how wecan help more couples to be more
friendly on the court with eachother, I think.
I think that can certainly beone topic, we can discuss.
(30:41):
Yeah.
Rajan (30:42):
Especially at some whenever I talk to like lot of
the couples sometimes thebiggest issue is that their
levels are different.
So then how to be able to stillplay together and have fun even
though you are at differentlevels,
Charlotte J (30:56):
that's a great point.
And I did actually put together,and it's available for anybody,
I put together a top 10 tips forplaying pickleball with your
partner and then transposingthat strategy and those.
Skills from the court into homelife.
So that is available if anybodywants to take a look at it, that
(31:17):
might be helpful.
That's awesome.
But I love your ideas.
Sumit (31:19):
Think another thing that comes to my mind, especially for
Alberta, how the differentfacilities can collaborate
together.
As far as leagues andcompetition is concerned I don't
see a lot of synergy right now.
I think we are all working insilos as more and more
facilities open because there'sdemand for pickleball.
I would love to see how thedifferent facilities can
(31:40):
actually come together and, wehave access to different
coaches.
Some coaches are good atsomething, so how we can
actually train youth together,how we can have competitions
together, which actually helps.
All of Alberta grow together asas competitively in pickleball.
I think that's another thingwhich I would love to see on the
podcast, that's a beautifulvision.
I love that idea.
(32:00):
And actually, Neil my husbandhad that idea as well, and I
think, we could run with this,is having the different leagues
in competition, so Yeah.
You could have a league at megacourts and we could, Calgary
Pickleball Center, or we couldplay YYC.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
I think if I could just say from a selfish point of
view at the level I play at,there are only a handful of
players, as you go up thepickleball ladder as far as
skills are concerned.
So I would love to have aninter-facility collaboration,
where I have access to playersfrom Edmonton or from St.
Albert, who are at a higherlevel.
And we can all compete togetherin some way.
And then also
Rajan (32:37):
drill together.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
Yeah.
And work together how we canimprove youth programs and,
coaching programs.
And we can all learn from eachother.
I think rather than pickleballis social.
It should be social Also at thelevel of facilities rather than
being competitors to each other,we should be thinking how we can
collaborate and, make pickleballmore successful in Alberta.
Yeah.
Sumit (32:57):
You're right.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
I think the connection needs tobe there for us all to move
forward.
So I love your vision and we'llkeep an eye out for.
What you are doing in the futurethere.
So where can people find megacourts and follow what
Speaker 2 (33:14):
you're doing?
If you would ask me thisquestion three months ago, I
would've said why are people onsocial media?
Just be on a pickleball courtbut yeah.
So mega courts we are onInstagram our page is
megacourts.calgary.
And if anybody wants to checkout me on Instagram I am sumit
(33:34):
pickleball, S-U-M-I-T dotpickleball.
Sumit (33:38):
We'll put the links in the show notes so that people
can find you as well.
Oh my gosh, thank you so much.
That was such an amazingconversation.
I love both of your energy.
Those of you listening couldn'tsee, but both Raja and Sumit
smiled all the way through that,so I love that.
(33:59):
And
Speaker 2 (34:00):
you did too.
Speaker (34:01):
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
(34:22):
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.
(34:45):
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.
(35:06):
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.
Charlotte J (00:44):
Today's episode is one you don't want to miss.
We are diving into the world ofhigh level pickleball with a
powerhouse duo who not onlyshare life off the court, but
have found purpose, play, andpartnership on it.
I'm joined today by Sumit, a toptier player and coach with a
serious.
Passion for the game.
(01:04):
He's the force behind PicklePerfect Coaching, and he's just
taken on an exciting new role asthe program coordinator and head
coach at Mega Courts in Calgary,Canada's largest and most
advanced indoor pickleball andtennis facility.
Yes, you heard that right?
(01:25):
Mega Courts is making majorwaves in the pickleball scene.
What makes this conversationeven more special is that Sumit
isn't joining us alone.
His wife, Rajan is here too.
Together, they've turned theirsearch for a fun fitness
friendly activity into a sharedlove for pickleball, and they're
(01:46):
here to talk about how it'sshaped their relationship, their
routines, and even their goals.
So whether you are a.
Seasoned player, a relationshipbuilder, or just curious about
what happens when passion andpartnership hit the court.
This one's for you.
I'm so excited to be joinedtoday by Sumit and Rajan.
Sumit (02:09):
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Awesome.
Really glad to be here.
Charlotte J (02:12):
It's so lovely to sit down and chat with you.
I'm curious about yourpickleball journey, of course,
and when you first discoveredpickleball and yeah.
Tell us about both of you, howyou met, how you found
pickleball.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Yeah.
Pickleball journey has beenreally exciting, Charlotte.
both of us started at the sametime about three years ago,
Rajan right?
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Two
Speaker 2 (02:36):
two and a half years ago.
So I was into competitivecycling before I discovered
pickleball and cycling was all Iused to do.
And then Raja would join mesometimes on our.
So we would go on a bike tour toJasper we even went to Vancouver
By bicycle.
So we would do like a four day,five day trip.
(02:56):
And that used to be like ourtime together.
And then I was also intocompetitive cycling.
Joining me for these tours andall, and we were.
Bike on weekends together.
And then unfortunately I gotinjured and I couldn't do
competitive biking anymore.
And I was just looking atdifferent avenues for us to, do
(03:16):
something together because bothof us are really active.
And Rajan would go to gym and Iwould go to gym separately.
I'm like, we should be doingsomething together.
So one of, one of these days atthe YMCA.
I saw a bunch of 50 year oldsplaying this funny sport called
pickleball, and I'm like thatsounds weird but interesting at
the same time.
So I'm like, Rajan, do you wantto just, try that and maybe this
(03:40):
is something we can do togetherand.
We both tried it, we bothenjoyed it.
And I come from an extensivetable tennis background.
I used to play table tenniscompetitively as a kid, as a
youth.
So I picked up the game fairlyquickly and Rajan is a natural.
So we both started enjoying it.
And then yeah within six months,Charlotte, I was already playing
(04:01):
at, pretty high level and likean advanced level.
And then I just I am a naturalcoach.
My previous jobs I've donecoaching and all that.
I like to break down technicalstuff into simple components and
just help people understand, thegame.
So I just started coachingfriends and family just for fun.
And then they're kind enough.
(04:22):
They said, maybe you should geta certification and, see where
it goes because you can helpmore people.
So I did the certification andI.
Opened my own pickleballcoaching company with a friend.
It's called Pickle PerfectCoaching.
I've coached more than 500students, so we just started
coaching one day a week.
(04:42):
Just to see how it goes.
And then within two or threemonths, we were doing it full
time.
So that's that.
I just for your listeners,pickleball is the, fastest
growing sport in North America.
Most of us know that.
And then Rajan would play withme and luckily we found a sport
where both of us could enjoytogether and spend time
together.
At the end of the day,pickleball is about fun and
(05:05):
spending time with your friendsand family, and we are lucky we
could do that.
Rajan (05:09):
Yeah, absolutely.
One thing I would add though hiscoaching skills is I would say
the primary reason that I couldpick up and learn and get better
at it because he is, he taughtme unlike him, I don't have any
like tennis or the racketbackground.
Of course, I've playedbadminton, like on the street,
(05:29):
Of course, I've hit few ballswith tennis too, but not nothing
like, oh, I've got a training.
You know how to hit a shot.
You just wing it, but when westarted playing pickleball, like
I noticed right away he was likewatching, he was spending so
much time watching things onYouTube, how to do this shot,
and he would just watch it andlearn it.
And I'm like, oh my God.
(05:50):
And then he taught me all ofthis.
So that I am not left behind.
And then of course, because hetaught me, he's such a difficult
student who doesn't have knowhow, who doesn't know the
difference between what's a topspin and a, what's a slice, then
he said, okay, then maybe I canteach others too, and then so
far we've been very lucky andblessed he found a very good
(06:11):
partner that he could start thiscompany with and we are here.
Sumit (06:14):
That's amazing.
I absolutely, I love your story.
That just, oh, Raja, that justwarmed my heart when you said,
and it's such a similar story tomine and Neil's, and, we talk
about this in previous episodesas well.
Where Neil was so gung-ho on, wehave to play pickleball.
And I was very resistant to itand thought it was for old
(06:38):
people, but I went along becauseI thought, yes, we need to do
something together.
And interestingly, we used toroad bike as well, but of
course, you know where we live,you can't do that year round.
Whereas pickleball, of course,now you can do it year round.
So I love that you've almostjust followed the breadcrumbs,
(07:00):
you've had an idea or an inklingI hear a passion from you as
well, and you've gone from,coaching friends and family.
To starting a coaching business,which I think is amazing.
So when did you first discovermega courts?
What's the story there?
(07:21):
Yeah, so just a bit of abackground, Charlotte.
Regarding Pickle PerfectCoaching, when me and my
business partner, her name isClara, she's also a coach at
Mega Coach the whole idea behindstarting our coaching business
was we felt there was a big gapin coaching where either you
have to go for private coaching.
Which is very expensive.
(07:41):
Or the other coaching system orstyles were, there were eight
students or 12 students to onecoach.
If you want to go a relativelycheaper route, and we thought
there's a big gap in between.
Private coaching, one-on-onecoaching is very expensive, and
a group lesson where you haveeight students or 12 students to
one coach is cheaper, but itactually doesn't get the job
(08:04):
done because.
You don't get the one-on-oneattention that you're seeking.
So the whole idea for usstarting this was that, hey, how
about we do lessons wheremaximum, there are four students
and there are two coaches, andthey can actually see us hitting
the shots properly, watch us doit, and then we can detect and
correct what they're doingwrong.
(08:26):
So I think that's resonated withour students a lot and, before
we knew it, right?
People were signing up for ourlessons and every day.
Even during the evening when wecouldn't even coach.
So I think that's where we foundthe gap.
And we were renting courts Fromdifferent facilities because we
wanted to be independent.
We both knew that if we.
Start working for a facilitythey would dictate how we can
(08:51):
coach, how many students arethere, because at the end of the
day unfortunately they have tolook at their bottom line,
right?
So we knew we would not be ableto have a smaller group size,
which was a niche so we werecoaching for two years, and then
as Mega Courts was opening Vlad,the owner of Mega Courts, he
reached out to me.
He was looking for somebody tojoin as the head coach and as
(09:12):
also as the pickleball programcoordinator.
And I thought, this is a greatopportunity where actually I can
have a facility, but also writemy programs on my own.
So my whole plan was to, thenjoining keep Vlad aside and
start my own thing where I canstill have that small group
size.
So if you look at the coachingprogram at Mega Courts, we have
(09:33):
apart from one or two programs,most of our programs have
maximum of four students.
We, we never want to go morethan that because I personally
don't think that's the rightmodel of having a lot of
students to one coach.
Individualized retention iswhere we improve.
And yeah.
And that's the whole idea behindbeing here at Mega Courts.
(09:54):
That's such a unique, it is aniche as you say, because you
are right I've been in so manylessons where you are one of a
group of many and.
Sometimes you feel like you getthe attention you need, you get
your questions answered andsometimes not.
Rajan, I can see how you wouldhave really picked up pickleball
(10:18):
quite quickly and maybe youcould speak to, people listening
who are on the fence.
Shall I try pickleball or not?
It sounds like this would be anideal.
Coaching program or ideallessons for them to jump into.
A
Rajan (10:34):
hundred percent.
So for example, I would say oneof the main reason I could learn
this sport relatively faster isbecause I had access to these
like coaches, right?
Like I have access to Sumit andeven Clara would drill together.
If you want to improve,definitely having that
personalized attention becausemy problem might be different
(10:58):
from the person who is standingnext to me or learning in that
same program.
'cause I might be doing X wrong,she might be doing Y wrong.
And then for one person to focuson eight of these people with
different set problems.
It's gonna be tough, right?
It's gonna be hard.
And versus me getting thatattention or like it's only two
(11:18):
of us or four of us getting thatindividualized attention.
Ideally, obviously we all wannado one-on-one, it gets
expensive, right?
So then this is the happymedium.
For all of us.
And another thing aboutpickleball is I cannot speak to
everyone in terms of whetherthey're gonna like it or not,
but all the people that I havespoken to or that I've met,
(11:40):
they've always told me, oh, whenafter they started playing
pickleball, they now cannot putthe paddle down.
They're like addicted.
So the problem has always beenthe opposite.
How do I not play pickleballthis much?
Speaker 3 (11:52):
You
Rajan (11:52):
know.
Oh, I love that.
Oh
Sumit (11:54):
my gosh.
I know.
For anybody who hasn't playedpickleball I know they're
thinking that can't be but itis.
It, Charlotte, when we read thenews that there is a loneliness
epidemic, I just feel so bad.
I'm like, just play pickleball.
Yeah.
Get on a court, you'll make somany friends.
I've never had these manyfriends in my life before.
(12:15):
It's a life changing sport,Charlotte.
It is.
It's it's a relatively smallcourt.
Four people are on the courtit's so easy to pick up the
game.
And the good thing aboutpickleball is that unlike some
of the other sports, even if thelevel is different between the
players who are on the court,they can still have a really
good time.
They can still have a.
Wonderful time and then, at theend of the day, what is life?
(12:37):
If it's not about fun and beingsocial and being, together with
somebody you want to enjoy with.
I love that you said that, andactually you gave me the chills
when you talked aboutloneliness.
Because that's actually nextweek's episode.
Neil and I sat down and westarted having a conversation
about predominantly men, I haveto say, because men are not that
(13:01):
great at socializing or sharingtheir feelings And so we sat
down and we started having aconversation about men and
loneliness.
And I said, oh my gosh, this isa podcast episode.
We need to talk about thisbecause look at how many friends
you make playing pickleball.
And I love that you've said thattoo.
You've confirmed my belief.
(13:24):
I've never made so many friendsexcept perhaps when.
The children were small and youwould take them to their groups,
and then you'd take them toschool organically.
You just met lots of people andas we get older, that gets
harder and harder.
So I love that you said thatabout pickleball too.
I'm curious, how do you findplaying together?
(13:47):
Do you play on the same side ofthe court and has that been
challenging at all?
Speaker 2 (13:54):
You wanna talk about that?
Rajan (13:55):
Yeah it is definitely challenging and because the
reason is we are.
Tough on ourselves, andsometimes we are tougher on our
partners, or I should say theopposite.
We are tough on our partners andwe are tougher on ourselves.
Why?
Because they are your ownextension, right?
(14:16):
Versus.
I cannot be tough on you,Charlotte.
Let's say you and me are playingtogether.
I'll be a little bit nicer toyou but I can be harshest to him
because, with us, the difficultyis.
He's also my coach.
He coaches me.
So then what happens in ourcases when we are playing
together, he's seeing all thesethings that I'm doing wrong and
(14:39):
that impacts his game.
He doesn't say anything to me,but I can read his body
language.
I've known him for 22, 23 years,right?
And he's in that moment he'strying to tell me you are doing
wrong.
But then he's impacting his ownshot, right?
Because think about it, like youhave so many things going on
(15:01):
then you are not playing loose.
If you are just watching yourpartner and which I'm thankful
for that he watches me.
Then he can help me.
Correct.
All those like small things,sometimes it gets tougher.
But having said that, we aretrying to.
Learn how to play with eachother.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
You're making it sound more serious than it is.
Sumit (15:22):
No, I and I, that resonates with me.
I get that.
Because Neil and I say that too.
And I don't know if you foundthis, but we stepped on the
court and suddenly realized thatactually we weren't
communicating that well.
And it wasn't until we weredoing that, I call it the dance,
and finding that rhythm on thecourt that we realized that a
(15:44):
lot of the way we weresupporting each other playing
pickleball, we could also bringinto our home life as well,
which was amazing,
Speaker 3 (15:54):
right?
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Yeah.
A friend of mine who playspickleball with us Steve Steve
and Lauren.
They're another couple who weplay pickleball with, and I had
a chat once with him, which kindof changed my thinking about
playing pickleball with yourspouse.
He said that Sumit, because Ialways see Steve and Lauren have
a really good time on the courteven if they're winning or
losing, doesn't matter, right?
(16:15):
They are competitive people.
But I always admire how theyhandle themselves on the court.
And I was actually talking tohim one day, we were having
dinner together.
I'm like, Steve, how do you andLauren manage to play so well
together and not get angry ateach other?
Because with spouses, things canheat up, as we all know.
And he said, Sumit, me andLauren we had a fight once on a
pickleball court in atournament, and we came back
(16:37):
home and we just had a chatthat.
If we are together, it's becausewe love each other the most.
So why shouldn't we be actuallythe nicest to the person we love
the most?
Rather than being the opposite.
And that actually changed theway I think.
And I'm now having said that, weare playing at 10:00 AM today in
an hour together.
(16:57):
So I think the most of theproblem was from my side.
I'm just too harsh on herbecause like she said, I'm her
coach too, so I get so criticalwhen I play with her, why are
you doing this?
Why are you doing that?
Because I'm like, I taught youhow to do that.
You're still doing that wrong.
But I'm really getting to apoint where I'm like, during the
time when we are on the court,we are playing together.
I'm not a coach anymore.
(17:17):
I'm just your partner, right?
And as a good partner, my job isto support you.
To create an environment wherewe are actually having fun on
the court.
And then I'm making mental notesthat once we are done, then I'm
gonna tell you what you whatwrong you did.
Sumit (17:33):
And for those of you listening, Sumit it wagged his
finger at Rajan
Speaker 5 (17:38):
at that point.
Sumit (17:40):
I love it.
But that's not an easy thing todo.
I'm sure yeah.
Take your coach hat off and Rajan I admire you because I know
it's difficult.
I think we've all been subjectto our partner, whether it's our
husband, our partner, somebodywe just met for the first time.
Perhaps they roll their eyes atus or, they make that
(18:01):
disgruntled noise and you'vedone something wrong and upset.
Rajan (18:05):
Charlotte, I wanna be very clear.
He does none of that.
Speaker 5 (18:08):
Thank
Speaker 3 (18:08):
you.
Yeah,
Rajan (18:09):
he does none of that.
It's not that, it's just that weboth are very competitive.
I am equally competitive.
I'm more competitive than him.
and problem is when I'm playingwith somebody else, they don't
know me internally and I caneasily put a face, but I cannot
put a face in front of him.
(18:30):
When I'm angry, it rubs on him.
Also, the same thing.
When he's angry, it rubs on metoo.
So we both know each other justso well.
That is sometimes hard to hideyour feelings.
So then, then it sometimes youjust like not able to play your
game.
That's all.
But having said that we all canget better.
I.
Sumit (18:49):
Absolutely.
And that's great awareness.
And I think, if we are all a bitmore aware of the face that we
are putting on, or our energy onthe court, I think we would all
play a better game and we'd allhave more fun.
More fun than we're having.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Yes.
Sumit (19:06):
So would there be a piece of advice that you would give to
anybody who's listening, andmaybe they're here in Calgary
and maybe they can come andcheck out mega courts, but maybe
they're somewhere else in theworld.
What advice would you give tosomebody who's sitting on the
couch, really wants to beactive, wants to try something
(19:30):
and thinks maybe pickleball isthe thing I should try.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Yeah, I think from my side, Charlotte, I'll just say,
just go for it.
It's the initial step is thetoughest one where we are just
sitting, we are like, we, wherewe feel like, oh, I don't know.
I've seen some pickleball on tv.
It doesn't look that easy topick up.
Trust me.
It's such an easy sport to pickup once you're on the court I
highly recommend people whodon't have a rack sport
background to do an introductionto pickleball whether it's with
(19:58):
us at Mega Courts or whereverthey are, because it just makes
it so easy for them to thenunderstand the rules of the
game, hold the paddle correctly,and.
You are on the court with threeor four other people who are
also at your level who are juststarting pickleball.
And within 15 minutes if youhave the right coach with you,
he or she's gonna make it easyfor you to understand the game.
(20:20):
So we do what we call a two hourcrash course, introduction to
Pickleball Crash Course at MegaCourts and it just brings a
smile on my face that within anhour, the first hour they
already now know the rules ofthe game, and the second hour
they're just playing games and.
At the end of the two hours,they're like, okay, what should
we do now?
Put me in some group where's mynext lesson?
(20:40):
I just wanna be on the court,right?
And most of them are people whohave actually played no sports
in their life before.
So anybody can pick up the sportat any time, at any age.
Please do not sit.
And think that you cannot,pickleball is something anybody
can do.
Just just find the nearestintroduction to pickleball
course near you.
(21:01):
Go to the facility, they'll giveyou a paddle.
They will provide you with theballs.
You are on the court, and yourlife will never be the same
again.
Sumit (21:09):
A lot of sense.
I love that.
Yeah, and I think I would add tothat any sort of ability, if
somebody is, feeling like theydon't move very quickly or they
don't move well, or perhaps,I've played people wearing knee
brace.
People with different injuriesor disabilities and it's still a
sport that people can play insome capacity,
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Definitely Charlotte.
I will actually add to that.
Sometimes on, on tv, we cannotappreciate the size of the court
the pickleball court is not thatbig.
It's not that big, and mainlythe game is played in doubles.
So even if you have somemobility issues, the court is
very small and you're onlycovering half of the court and.
(21:52):
You can get to the ball.
Just give it a try.
Please.
Just give it a try.
Sumit (21:56):
Definitely.
What's one thing that you bothpersonally want to accomplish
this year, whether that's on thecourt or off the court?
Maybe you could share that withlisteners.
Rajan (22:09):
I think for me, as far as pickleball is concerned I wanna
get better on my feet.
What I find is when the ballcomes at me, I just sometimes
feel like I'm frozen.
Like I'm not moving.
Like instead of instead of doingthat split step and then going
into the direction where theball's going, I just try to keep
(22:31):
my feet where I am and I'mmoving with my arm.
If I can accomplish that by theend of the year, I would be
like, so happy.
And you know that I can move myfeet, thinking about moving your
feet First
Speaker 2 (22:44):
feet first, paddle second.
Rajan (22:45):
Yes.
That's what Sumit always tellsme if I can do that would be
like amazing.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
The act of hitting the ball, Charlotte is actually
the last 10%.
What you do before that?
How do you prepare yourself?
You get behind the ball, you useyour feet.
That's the secret sauce ofpickleball.
Sumit (23:00):
I like that.
Yes.
And isn't it interesting how wedo feel Rajan, to what you said,
we do feel rooted to the spot.
I know I've done that myself.
You reach for the ball, andthink, how did I ever think I
was going to reach that?
But yes.
First paddle, second.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
from my side, I would say I have two goals.
First from Mega courts point ofview I really hope that by the
end of the year, more and morepeople know that here's this
facility in South Calgary, whichis the premier facility.
the biggest thing that I wannaaccomplish as far as mega courts
is concerned.
I want us to be that facilitywhich is welcoming.
(23:39):
Not just the higher levelplayers, but to anybody who's
just starting pickleball orwho's already playing pickleball
for five years at a competitivelevel, right?
We want to create an environmentwhere everybody's welcome.
Everybody can improve, everybodycan have fun.
Be more social.
I'm already thinking of a lot ofdifferent things where we can
make it more social, wherepeople at different levels can
(24:00):
actually connect.
What I've been seeing so far inour city, unfortunately,
Charlotte, is that a lot ofsilos have been created where
higher level players are notcommunicating with, let's say
intermediate level players andall.
Even when I was picking up myteam, the coaching team, we
have, we have three amazingfemale coaches at Mega courts
and a lot of our discussions ishow we can help bridge that gap
(24:25):
where.
People who are just startingpickleball or who have been
playing for a couple of years,but wanna improve but have, not
been able to improve that muchbecause they don't have access
to, let's say, higher levelplayers because they have not
been playing with them.
How to connect that and make ita big community where Calgary
can thrive as one of the bestpickle world communities in
(24:46):
Canada or.
Even in North America.
That's my goal.
As far as mega courts isconcerned.
Personally, I just wanna keep onimproving in pickleball.
I don't set myself a goal ofthat I want to be here or, I
want to be at this DUPR level orthis skill level.
But every time I get on thecourt, if I can improve on one
thing for example, right now I'mworking on my forehand counters
(25:08):
and.
Every time I get on the court, Ijust wanna feel that I've
improved a bit, or at least I'vetried to improve myself that
just hits the spot for me.
I just love that feeling and andjust enjoying being on the court
with friends.
And I just love making friendsand then hopefully the
friendship becomes in such a waythat, we are also going out for
(25:28):
dinners and lunches and all thattogether.
I'm a very social person andpickleball has been a life
changer for me.
Charlotte, honestly, not justfrom a livelihood point of view,
but also from a personal, mypsychological, my mental health
point of view.
Yeah.
Sumit (25:41):
The days I play pickleball, they're great days.
They're not just good days,they're great days.
And I love what you said aboutpersonal growth as well, because
honestly I've stopped comparingmyself to other people.
I now only compare myself to howI was yesterday and so
beautiful.
If I feel better and I'veimproved and I've done something
(26:04):
to move towards that growthtoday, And I think.
Pickleball is a great vessel tobe able to do that, like you
say.
One thing I have to say foranybody again wondering, shall I
go into mega court?
Shall I go and try pickleball orshall I perhaps go and do some
lessons or just even book acourt and play?
(26:26):
When I walked in the doors ofMega Courts, the welcome was
phenomenal.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
Thank you.
I was
Sumit (26:33):
greeted.
It was friendly.
It was very welcoming.
I love that you have showersthere because I don't think
there's one facility I've playedat except in Mexico where there
were showers and that's soimportant.
If you are not going straighthome or a group of us often will
(26:54):
play pickleball on a Saturdayafternoon and then we'll go out
for dinner.
I'd like to shower before I goout for dinner, so I love that
Mega Courts has those showerstoo.
But the welcome was phenomenal,What's coming up for mega
courts?
Are there any tournaments?
Any big events coming up that weshould know about?
Speaker 2 (27:16):
I wish I could tell more about tournaments, but I'll
just quickly say that we areplanning something mega as far
as tournament is concerned.
We're planning a grand openingtournament.
I can announce the date now.
It's on 24th of May.
And the details will come out inthree or four days.
And all I can say is that we arepartnering with a major.
US Pickleball organization it'sgoing to be big, it's going to
(27:40):
be a big tournament andhopefully a lot of people will
join us there at Mega Courts andit'll be lots of fun.
And we just recently launched acouple of ladies League and Mix
League and we are happy thatthey filled up relatively
quickly.
And apart from that, our,introduced what we are calling
Round robin Style Open play inCalgary.
Open play was not structuredbefore, before mega courts open
(28:04):
and, I can already see somefacilities copying us, so that
means we are doing somethinggood.
Apart from that, look out for,more leagues, ladders coming
soon to mega courts and if yougo to our website, a lot of our
clinics are already up.
We have amazing coaches at megacourts we have a pro player with
us who's coaching and she'sdoing an amazing job.
(28:24):
Clara.
Is doing a lot of coaching fornovice players.
We are doing introduction topickleball and yeah, we'll keep
on adding stuff.
We are always looking forfeedback.
That Charlotte, I am alwayslooking for feedback, especially
negative feedback so that we canimprove and keep on improving
and that's a goal.
Yeah.
Sumit (28:41):
Thank
Speaker 2 (28:41):
you.
Sumit (28:42):
I love that.
If you had to just sum up anddescribe the spirit of mega
courts in one sentence whatwould that be?
Speaker 2 (28:51):
I think I'll start with tagline.
Mega courts.
Mega fun like you said yourself,Charlotte.
We want to create an environmentof friendliness.
At the end of the day,pickleball should be fun.
Pickleball should be fun.
Pickleball should be social.
And that's our whole idea.
As soon as somebody comes,whether they have been playing
for five years, or this is thefirst time they're on pickleball
court, we want them to feelwelcome.
(29:13):
We want them to have a feelingof, this is their second home.
This is their home on a courtthat's what we want to achieve.
And if we do that I'm happy.
Charlotte J (29:21):
And I love that you said home because that really
resonates with me as well.
Any time I have stepped onto anycourt, it really feels like
you're coming home and you'repart of this big family.
And I know there are people outthere are going to be thinking,
there's no way a.
Sport makes you feel like that,but it's true.
(29:43):
And I'm very excited to watchand see how Mega Courts grows
over this first year.
You've done a phenomenal job andit's very exciting.
If you're in Calgary, go andcheck it out.
If you're not in Calgary, youneed to come and visit us.
And check it out.
Definitely.
So I always ask this question,and either of you or both of you
(30:07):
can answer.
What topic would you like to seea future episode of Pickleball
and Partnership Podcast?
Speaker 2 (30:16):
I have 10 different things in my mind right now.
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 5 (30:18):
I love it.
Go.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
I think when Rajan and me when we started talking
about, how couples play togetherand not, I think something
related to mixed doublepsychology, how we can improve
that, what should we be thinkingwhen.
Couples play together and how wecan help more couples to be more
friendly on the court with eachother, I think.
I think that can certainly beone topic, we can discuss.
(30:41):
Yeah.
Rajan (30:42):
Especially at some whenever I talk to like lot of
the couples sometimes thebiggest issue is that their
levels are different.
So then how to be able to stillplay together and have fun even
though you are at differentlevels,
Charlotte J (30:56):
that's a great point.
And I did actually put together,and it's available for anybody,
I put together a top 10 tips forplaying pickleball with your
partner and then transposingthat strategy and those.
Skills from the court into homelife.
So that is available if anybodywants to take a look at it, that
(31:17):
might be helpful.
That's awesome.
But I love your ideas.
Sumit (31:19):
Think another thing that comes to my mind, especially for
Alberta, how the differentfacilities can collaborate
together.
As far as leagues andcompetition is concerned I don't
see a lot of synergy right now.
I think we are all working insilos as more and more
facilities open because there'sdemand for pickleball.
I would love to see how thedifferent facilities can
(31:40):
actually come together and, wehave access to different
coaches.
Some coaches are good atsomething, so how we can
actually train youth together,how we can have competitions
together, which actually helps.
All of Alberta grow together asas competitively in pickleball.
I think that's another thingwhich I would love to see on the
podcast, that's a beautifulvision.
I love that idea.
(32:00):
And actually, Neil my husbandhad that idea as well, and I
think, we could run with this,is having the different leagues
in competition, so Yeah.
You could have a league at megacourts and we could, Calgary
Pickleball Center, or we couldplay YYC.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
I think if I could just say from a selfish point of
view at the level I play at,there are only a handful of
players, as you go up thepickleball ladder as far as
skills are concerned.
So I would love to have aninter-facility collaboration,
where I have access to playersfrom Edmonton or from St.
Albert, who are at a higherlevel.
And we can all compete togetherin some way.
And then also
Rajan (32:37):
drill together.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
Yeah.
And work together how we canimprove youth programs and,
coaching programs.
And we can all learn from eachother.
I think rather than pickleballis social.
It should be social Also at thelevel of facilities rather than
being competitors to each other,we should be thinking how we can
collaborate and, make pickleballmore successful in Alberta.
Yeah.
Sumit (32:57):
You're right.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
I think the connection needs tobe there for us all to move
forward.
So I love your vision and we'llkeep an eye out for.
What you are doing in the futurethere.
So where can people find megacourts and follow what
Speaker 2 (33:14):
you're doing?
If you would ask me thisquestion three months ago, I
would've said why are people onsocial media?
Just be on a pickleball courtbut yeah.
So mega courts we are onInstagram our page is
megacourts.calgary.
And if anybody wants to checkout me on Instagram I am sumit
(33:34):
pickleball, S-U-M-I-T dotpickleball.
Sumit (33:38):
We'll put the links in the show notes so that people
can find you as well.
Oh my gosh, thank you so much.
That was such an amazingconversation.
I love both of your energy.
Those of you listening couldn'tsee, but both Raja and Sumit
smiled all the way through that,so I love that.
(33:59):
And
Speaker 2 (34:00):
you did too.
Speaker (34:01):
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
(34:22):
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.
(34:45):
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.
(35:06):
Remember, we're all learning,growing, and showing up in our
own ways.
And that's what matters most.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.