May 27, 2025 • 26 mins
Grab your paddles and head to the courts! We're diving into the addictive world of pickleball, America's fastest-growing sport, with special guest Saed Ibsais, a National Pickleball League player and Central Iowa district ambassador.
Contrary to popular belief, pickleball isn't new, nor is it "just for old people." Today's champions include teenagers and twenty-somethings, while tennis legends like Andre Agassi are joining professional competitions.
Saed shares his journey from pickleball novice to professional player, explaining how the sport balances accessibility with challenge. For beginners, the barrier to entry is refreshingly low – grab a $40 paddle from Amazon, find a free court at your local park, and join the welcoming community that makes this sport special.
We explore the basics of gameplay, terminology (what exactly is "the kitchen" and "dinking"?), and practical tips for newcomers. Whether you're looking to stay active, meet new people, or pursue competitive play, pickleball offers something for everyone. The sport's unique culture emphasizes fun and inclusion, making it perfect for all ages and athletic abilities.
Want to see professional pickleball in action? Saed competes with the Princeton Bruisers in the National Pickleball League, with matches streamed monthly on YouTube. Join us as we discover why this quirky-named sport has become America's favorite new pastime!
email: boomerandgenxer@gmail.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
welcome everyone to today's show.
Boomer and a gen x will walkinto a bar, coming to you from
the rabbit hole studio, whereyou, as our listeners, will
experience some wit and wisdom,some smart assery and a mother
and daughter questioning.
Are we even related?
My name is Jane, my co-host ismy daughter, bobby, and for I
(00:25):
don't know the next 20, 25minutes, we are here to
entertain you, bobby.
What's going on?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
girl Not a whole lot today, but a little scared about
the topic today because I don'tknow anything.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Well, that's not unusual on many topics for you.
I hate to tell you this, but itis probably one that you have
not been real familiar with, andwe are so happy today because
we have a guest on the showtoday.
His name is Saad Ibsace, andSaad is a National Pickleball
(01:00):
League player and he is also mycoach for Pickleball, and he's
here to talk to us a little bitabout Pickleball.
Hi, sod, hi.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
How's everybody doing ?
Speaker 1 (01:14):
We're doing great.
How are?
Speaker 3 (01:15):
you, I'm doing well, you know this thing, you know
whoever came up Pickleball.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Yeah, it's crazy, isn't it?
And you know, what's reallyfunny is a lot of people think
it's like new, it's not right no, it's.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
This is created in the late 70s.
That's when pickleball wascreated, and it's been played
secretly in a lot of differentuh you know, retirement.
It started with like a lot ofretired folks just having
pickleball playing every dayjust for entertainment.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yeah, and so a lot of people initially, and I think
it was initially for, maybe, theolder crowd, because a lot of
people go oh, it's just for oldpeople.
We know better than that, don'twe?
Speaker 3 (01:58):
We do, we do and, and you know the last five years
it's just gone where it's notjust for old people Now.
You see people from the age ofeight years old all the way to
the age of 88 years old.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yeah, and actually the world champions right now
are Annemarie Waters.
She's 17 years old and 18.
Okay, and Ben Johns who's?
How old is Ben now?
24, maybe, he's 25.
25.
Okay, and so pretty youngplayers.
(02:34):
And you know people think thatit's just.
You know, you shuffle up to thenet and you shuffle back from
the net and that's not reallywhat goes on at all.
So first of all, I want all Iwant to know, sod, how did you
get involved in pickleball?
Speaker 3 (02:49):
so about five, five and a half years ago, my friend
you know, shadi, came by andsays hey, let's go, this place
opened up.
It's called smash bar, let's gocheck it out.
Yeah, so so we started goingthere and we see these
pickleball courts and we're likewhat are these things?
You're like, oh, let's justpick a paddle, you know, not a
(03:10):
racket.
So you know, it took a while toadjust to that and that's it.
So we kind of invited, you know, one of Shadi's good friends
and he came over, showed us therules and, sure enough, we all
got addicted and we startedplaying a couple times a week at
smash park and that that justkind of.
You know.
We'll start meeting more peoplethat are just coming in and
(03:32):
getting to know familiar withpickleball and I think that's
what a lot of people find is.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
It is so truly addictive and, you know, it is
the fastest growing sport in theUnited States right now, maybe
even in the world, becausethey're playing it everywhere,
right.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
They are.
You know, and you're startingto see like big names, like
Andre Agassi.
He's getting involved with alot of pickleball and he's
starting to do more.
He played in the US Open lastweek.
He played with Annalie Water inthe pros, so you're going to
start seeing a lot of big nametennis players coming in.
(04:12):
You know, jack Sock is anotherplayer, yvonne Lindell those are
the tennis legends that are nowstarting to kind of come in and
play pickleball.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Yeah, and so tell us what it entails.
Tell our listeners whatpickleball really entails.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
So what pickleball is about?
I think if you have a lot oftennis or racket background
sports so for example, if youhave tennis background,
racquetball background, tabletennis you'd be able to kind of
jump on the court and just startplaying right away.
And what that entails is, youknow, if you have, you know
(04:52):
someone that can teach you therules.
It's pretty easy Once you knowthe rules, you know with the
scoring.
Scoring is a little tricky atthe beginning, but once you know
the scores and once you knowhow to move on the court, you
know there's, you know you havethe kitchen, which everybody's
like.
What is the kitchen?
Right?
(05:13):
And you know you have.
You know like Dinkin Somebodysays, what do you mean by Dinkin
?
So, and then you have you knowdrives, which everybody knows
from tennis.
And then you know there's areaswhere around like baseline
court, but it is think of atennis court just a little
smaller, uses the same net andjust, and then with just a
(05:37):
little bit lower than the tennisnet but other than that, and it
just a paddle, looks like a,like a ping pong paddle, just a
little bit bigger than that.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Yeah, and so you know , I encourage anybody who is,
you know, just even thinkingabout it and people go oh, I'm
not really athletically inclinedand I really, you know, I don't
think I can do this.
Yeah, you can, you can get outthere and you can do it.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Do you play Bobby?
No, no, no no there and you cando it.
Do you play bobby?
Speaker 3 (06:07):
no, no, I don't, I bet.
I bet brenda's beaver wouldplay a little play around,
wouldn't she?
Speaker 1 (06:11):
thanks dr domain now.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Mom did get one of my children very addicted to
pickleball.
Uh, very quickly yeah and shehas enjoyed it or used to enjoy
it when she was living with me.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
So, Bobby, do you exercise my mouth?
Speaker 2 (06:30):
You run your mouth a lot.
I run from my problems.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
I run from situational things.
Yeah, so, yeah.
So you said you've been doingthis for about five years and
you are, uh, considered a pro?
Of course, because you do.
You are on the nationalpickleball league and you just
got drafted again, correct?
Speaker 3 (06:52):
I did.
I did so.
The, the national pickleballleague is.
You know it's, it's it's forsenior professional pickleball
over the age of 50.
You know, you hear the, theword the wo think like it's for
seein of 50 plus.
And there in t league startedabout thre.
It is just to encourage a propickballers to compet.
(07:19):
So I got into it three yestarted as a sub last year.
I got drafted into the Kansascity stingers team, which was a
new team, and then this year Igot drafted by one of the
existing teams, which is thePrinceton bruisers.
(07:40):
So if you look at Princetonbruisers, yeah, he's showing us.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
he's showing us his thermos cup, All the goodies,
you know we.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
So if you look, Princeton Bruisers Yay, he's
showing us his thermos cup.
All the goodies, Us pro players.
We love all the goodies.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
You get all of the gifts.
You get all the gifts the swag,the swag.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
So when we travel to a lot of these tournaments as a
professional, we get the royaltreatments in a lot of whether
it's the National PickleballLeague or whether it's in any
other tournaments Just becauseyou know we've worked so hard to
reach this level.
And for me, you know I startedplaying professionally about
(08:22):
three years ago when I enteredthe professional circuit.
I remember playing against, youknow, like some of the younger
pros, and oh my god, it was likestanding in the court.
I was so scared because youknow, it's like all the training
that I did over like thatsummer just all paid off, of
(08:42):
course, you know.
You know I mean I won maybe onegame but hey, you know I was
happy one game is good, yeah,you know.
But but when you, when you, whenyou say, oh, I beat this guy,
yeah, I beat, you know, I beat.
Like a guy named deco bar, Ibreed a guy named rob nunnery,
those are the big names that youcan say, yeah, I mean jay
(09:04):
devlier, you know, I beat him inthe game down in kansas city.
So those are the young prosthat you know.
Do you know play pickleball?
You know?
For professionally, me I'm, youknow I'm.
I'm just, uh, I'm still anetwork engineer by day.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
That's your real job, that's your real job, and then
you have another job.
Yes, I do have a real job.
That's your real job.
And now you have another job.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Yes, I do have a real job that I have to attend, but
pickleball I fell in love withit and for me I've never done
any other professionals before.
So kind of diving into it wasjust something that's fun,
entertaining and the best part,and this is still working and so
(09:47):
I really didn't have time onthe court.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
I didn't have time because I was working and, to be
honest with you, me and amutual friend of ours started
playing singles and we knewnothing about anything.
We knew nothing.
We didn't know how to hold apaddle, we didn't know anything
about the rules, we and we wereplaying singles.
And I mean, if you play singles, that's a workout, man, that's
(10:28):
a crazy workout, Were youthinking?
Speaker 3 (10:30):
maybe we want to lose some weight, build some muscles
.
I mean, what is?
Come on, tell us the realreason.
Here it was really.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
It was really just to stay active and, let's face it,
you know, five years ago I wasprobably in a little bit better
shape than I am today.
So you know, we really did wantto stay in shape and I think
it's a great way for people toget involved Now.
Dr Domain, I introduced him topickleball and he's playing now,
which I'm very proud of himbecause he's doing really great.
(11:00):
Bobby, do you think one day youmight be interested in playing
some pickleball?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
not with you.
No, no, it wasn't meant to behurtful.
It's just you're so damncompetitive and, and you know,
you get out there and you'relike I try, and you're like
that's's not how you do it.
I'm just like, oh God, I quit.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
So I told everyone here that Saad is my coach and
he's a coach to a lot of peopleand he trains people, you know,
and um, he's a great trainer andhe's a great player and I love
playing with him and we just wehave a blast, is the whole thing
.
And, let's face it, I am not inhis league.
I'm not even remotely close.
(11:43):
I'm like the ball girl for him.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
And you know what I'll say, that you know.
Talk about Jane beingcompetitive, and I agree with
you, bob.
You know we get out on thecourt and she's standing on the
opposite side and then she goesCoach, bring it.
I said, you really don't wantme to bring it, do you?
And she says yes, and nextthing, you know, she's getting
(12:09):
hit everywhere yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
So what he does is he hits me so hard with the ball
and literally tattoos me, andand, of course, we all have a
good laugh.
I have tears running down myface, but, but we all have a
good laugh.
And what have I done to you,though?
All the players against you?
I have always said if you canbody bag him, meaning if you can
(12:33):
hit his body with that ballwithout him getting his paddle
up and hitting it back if youcan body bag Sod, I'll pay you
five bucks for every time youbody bag him.
I've never paid out yet.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
I mean speaking of tattooing people.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
You know you used to tattoo me pretty hard with a
softball, so I know how thatgoes, that's true, I did play a
lot of softball with you, but soyou know, just so people know
Sod, there are obviously rulesand there are levels, and so the
pro level is like 5.0 and above.
I'm not remotely close.
(13:09):
I'm like a 3.5.
So I'm like an average, maybe alittle bit above average,
player, you know.
So typically those of you whodo play a harder game, like you
and some of the other guys andgals that you hang with you
enjoy playing at your level, andI know some people have gotten
insulted like oh, they don'twant to play with me.
(13:31):
I don't think that, and you cancomment on this, but I don't
think that it's not that theydon't want to play with you.
I think our time is valuable.
When I go out on the court Ionly have so much time and I
want to play hard againstsomebody.
How do you feel about that in?
Speaker 3 (13:47):
the pro level or anybody.
I always get out there and sayif you're not out there having
fun and enjoying playing on thecourt, then you should not be
(14:08):
out here.
Pick a ball is meant to buildrelationships, meant for you to
exercise, meant for you tosocialize, and you should not
look at, you know, if somebody Iplay with people at all levels
just because you know's, I wantto get out there and have some
fun, yeah, and then I mean, as acoach, sometimes I'll throw a
(14:32):
challenge.
I'll be like you know, hey, youknow, get your paddle up.
You know I'm always you knowthe biggest words, I'm always
saying eye on the ball and getyour paddle up.
So to me, if I can, you know,help you in certain way while
we're playing and having fun,that means I accomplished
something and that's part ofpart of me being, you know, like
(14:56):
a pickleball ambassador.
It's always fun for me to getout there and encourage people
to play pickleball, get involvedand find your groups.
You know, if you're going tosit back and just wait until
somebody invites you, you'regoing to be sitting down and
just kind of like, who's goingto invite me today, who's going
to invite me tomorrow?
(15:16):
So take the initiatives.
I tell that to people, don't bescared, somebody is better than
you to ask them to play.
I mean I always get people askme to play.
If I have the time I'll go outand play, because I mean I'll
play with everybody if you comeand I also, you know, go out and
invite people to play, justbecause sometimes I just, you
(15:37):
know, playing competitive, youknow I can do that so much, but
also I want to get out there andjust have fun with my friends.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
So getting started for our listeners who really
have heard of it but don't knowhow to get started.
You know we both belong toseveral clubs and you mentioned
being an ambassador.
I believe are you the regionalambassador for pickleball.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
I believe are you the regional ambassador for
pickleball For the USAPickleball?
I'm the district ambassador forall of Central.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Iowa.
Okay, so yes, and so you know,when people say, how do I get
started?
And you're right, they have totake the initiative to get out
there you know what advice wouldyou give them?
Would you tell them to look forbeginners classes, because I
like to see beginners playingwith beginners.
(16:28):
Because, let's face it, if Iever had to come up against you,
or if somebody even had to comeup against me that has not
played before, we're going tokill them, and nobody wants to
get discouraged when they go outto the courts.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
So they are on the USA Pickleball website.
There are sites that tells youwhere to go play, all these
parks that you can go play therefor free.
Of course you know there areother places that you can go,
like indoor to rent courts, butI would suggest get a paddle.
You know I got my first paddlefrom Amazon for 40 bucks.
(17:03):
Get a cheap paddle.
Get out there and just kind ofget a friend or two and say
let's go to this park and justwalk in and introduce yourself
and say, hey, I'm a beginner, Iwould like to play with other
beginners.
If you see beginners on thecourt, just say can we play
together and just have fun.
You know, don't be scared toask people to go play on the
(17:27):
course because you knoweverybody's friendly.
That's the one thing aboutpickleball.
Anybody you're going to meetalong the way they're just so
friendly and want to help youget better and improve your game
.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
And I think that's an excellent point because I have
met so many fantastic people.
Now let's face it, there'salways going to be some a-hole
in a, in a sport right.
That is kind of nasty, andbobby is looking at me like I'm
the a-hole and I'm not, am I?
Speaker 2 (17:56):
I mean, I'm not people, I I know that you are
fabulous, but when?
It's your own kid and you'rejust like get your head out of
your ass.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Oh, okay, okay but, um, dr domain, you started here
what a year and a half, twoyears ago and you're doing great
, and you know what were some ofyour apprehensions as a new
player going out on the court.
Well, I think that's relativewhen you say good, so I would
say I'm okay, I think you'redoing well I mean, I think
(18:26):
you're doing well, you know youhave to consider how many times
do you get to go out and play?
I don't get to go play everysingle day If I did.
I'd probably be a better player.
I don't get to go play everyday, and neither do you, and so
I figure, based on the amount oftime that we spend on the court
now with somebody like coachwas sod, he obviously has to be
(18:48):
skilled, highly skilled, becausehe is a part of a national
pickleball league, right?
So he has to continue to trainand work hard at it.
You and I, we hit it when wewant to hit it, right, and
that's, that's about it.
But you know, what would yousay were your apprehensions when
you first went out?
Speaker 3 (19:07):
what one of the things that people don't like to
do in pickleball is.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
There is drilling, and what that means is getting
out on the court, finding oneother person and then focus on
specific skills and when you saydrilling then, coach, you mean
just like if we talked aboutdinking, and dinking is really
just dropping the ball rightover the net right into the
kitchen.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
You know practice on certain things you know.
You know whether it's serving,whether it's dinking, whether
it's dropping the ball.
You know know where your footposition is.
You know that's very importanton the pickleball court how to
move.
You know from one area to theother around the court and you
know the biggest one, which youknow jane doesn't do, is you
(19:52):
know sliding I'm working on that.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
I did really well last time we played, didn't you
think I slid, I, I was sliding,I was sliding yeah, a little bit
.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
Yeah, you might work a little bit on sliding, you
know what that means is like youslide on from the right to the
left to the right to the left.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Yes, yes.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
You're just country dancing.
But you're just country dancingon the pickle clip.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
Oh so mind dancing, slide to the left, slide to the
right, right, exactly.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Stand up, sit down, fight, fight, fight.
You know, that's something alot of my I teach.
A lot of my students I said onething you can do at home grab a
paddle in your hand, sit infront of the TV and just watch
your favorite show and, asyou're doing, just move, slide
to the right, slide to the left.
So it's simple things that youcan do at home to practice on
(20:45):
something.
Find a wall in your garage,grab a couple of pickleballs
they all look like.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
They look like Well, we're not on camera, so nobody
can see it.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
Saad, it looks like it's something that's A wiffle
ball.
It looks like a wiffle ball.
So if you think about that,grab a ball and just practice at
home.
On with the ball.
Yeah, you know, find somebody,finds a partner that you can go
out with and you can just playtogether.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Yeah.
So the reason so I wanted totalk about this topic again
because we have a pro availableto us and because a lot of
people ask me hey, how can I getstarted?
And we do offer, you know,beginners classes.
I think there's a lot of usthat help a lot of beginners,
you know, show them how to holda paddle, where to stand, how to
(21:39):
play, what the rules are, howto keep score, that sort of
thing.
And the other part of that isit is such great exercise and so
we want to keep moving as longas we possibly can.
Right, we want to be mobilethat's what it is, it's.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
You don't require a lot of skills to move on the
court.
You know you could be, you know, 50 years old, 60 year old, 70
year olds, 80 year olds, and youcan be out there playing and
having fun.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
That's right.
That's right.
So what, um?
So?
I have to ask you this though,coach Um so you are originally
from Palestine.
You were born in Jordan.
Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (22:22):
That's right, I was born in Palestine.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
In Palestine.
Okay, and did they havepickleball?
Speaker 3 (22:28):
So, growing up, my dad played tennis, so I got to
learn how to play tennis when Iwas a very, very young age and
so, but you know, that's theonly thing that helped me with
coming to the States is, youknow, going to college here in
Iowa State.
I never played anythingprofessional, so everything we
(22:52):
did back in Palestine was justlike tennis.
Ok, it's like soccer.
You know, I played soccer formany, many years, like almost,
you know, 40 years.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Well, we really appreciate you joining us today
and talking through this, ustoday and talking through this
and, you know, I think all of uswould, uh, encourage anyone
who's interested in playing oryou're just even interested in
going out and watching it andgetting to.
You know, know, some peoplethere's great people out there.
They're super nice.
Uh, they'll definitely help youthrough it and, um, sad we're
(23:26):
to have you on the show againbecause you are from Palestine
and I am so curious aboutgrowing up in Palestine and you
know what's different betweenhere and America and I really
want to bring you back for that.
In the meantime, we appreciateyou being with us.
And, dr Domain, did you haveany questions that you wanted to
(23:50):
?
Uh, no, I know everything.
okay, so, uh, you knoweverything well, he thinks he
does, so sod tell us again your,your uh team name and how we
can watch you so the my mynational pickleball league team
is the Princeton Bruisers, andhow you can watch that.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Once a month we play in different parts of the United
States and all the matches areall televised on YouTube.
Okay, so go on YouTube and yousearch for the National
Pickleball League and look forthe different weekends.
This coming weekend it's inColumbus, next month it's going
(24:33):
to be in Florida.
So every month we play and theschedule for every weekend is
publicized on the NPL websitewith the locations and the links
to where you can go watch thelive streams for all the matches
in the National Pickleball.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
League.
Okay, all right.
Well, that's good information,and again, we really appreciate
it.
Before we go, though, I do wantto know what's my worst habit
out on the court besides notsliding, what would you say I
need to really work on?
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Go ahead, coach, probably more you know, being
nice to your partner.
Oh my God, I was going to.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Go ahead, coach, probably more you know being
nice to your partner.
Oh my gosh, I was going to saythat.
That or profanity.
No, I don't even swear on thecourt.
No, I don't.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
Oh my gosh, I was going to say about the swearing,
but you know everybody'sswearing Okay.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, okay, well, being
nice to my partner.
Oh my goodness, okay, wellbeing nice to my partner.
Oh gosh, okay, well, I thinkthat's probably all we have
today.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Bobby.
I think that is all thepickleball insanity that we have
for today.
We do appreciate all of youjoining us here at the Rabbit
Hole Studio.
Be sure to follow us, like uson Facebook, and we look forward
to spending time with you eachweek.
And we look forward to spendingtime with you each week.
If you have some positivefeedback for us or if there's a
topic you'd like us to talkabout, drop us an email at
(25:54):
boomerangenexter at gmailcom.
If you have any hate mail, well, you know where you can put
that.
So until next week, I'm BobbiJoy and I'm Jane Burke.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
And you're stuck with us.
Peace out.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Later.
Thank you.
welcome everyone to today's show.
Boomer and a gen x will walkinto a bar, coming to you from
the rabbit hole studio, whereyou, as our listeners, will
experience some wit and wisdom,some smart assery and a mother
and daughter questioning.
Are we even related?
My name is Jane, my co-host ismy daughter, bobby, and for I
(00:25):
don't know the next 20, 25minutes, we are here to
entertain you, bobby.
What's going on?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
girl Not a whole lot today, but a little scared about
the topic today because I don'tknow anything.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Well, that's not unusual on many topics for you.
I hate to tell you this, but itis probably one that you have
not been real familiar with, andwe are so happy today because
we have a guest on the showtoday.
His name is Saad Ibsace, andSaad is a National Pickleball
(01:00):
League player and he is also mycoach for Pickleball, and he's
here to talk to us a little bitabout Pickleball.
Hi, sod, hi.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
How's everybody doing ?
Speaker 1 (01:14):
We're doing great.
How are?
Speaker 3 (01:15):
you, I'm doing well, you know this thing, you know
whoever came up Pickleball.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Yeah, it's crazy, isn't it?
And you know, what's reallyfunny is a lot of people think
it's like new, it's not right no, it's.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
This is created in the late 70s.
That's when pickleball wascreated, and it's been played
secretly in a lot of differentuh you know, retirement.
It started with like a lot ofretired folks just having
pickleball playing every dayjust for entertainment.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yeah, and so a lot of people initially, and I think
it was initially for, maybe, theolder crowd, because a lot of
people go oh, it's just for oldpeople.
We know better than that, don'twe?
Speaker 3 (01:58):
We do, we do and, and you know the last five years
it's just gone where it's notjust for old people Now.
You see people from the age ofeight years old all the way to
the age of 88 years old.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yeah, and actually the world champions right now
are Annemarie Waters.
She's 17 years old and 18.
Okay, and Ben Johns who's?
How old is Ben now?
24, maybe, he's 25.
25.
Okay, and so pretty youngplayers.
(02:34):
And you know people think thatit's just.
You know, you shuffle up to thenet and you shuffle back from
the net and that's not reallywhat goes on at all.
So first of all, I want all Iwant to know, sod, how did you
get involved in pickleball?
Speaker 3 (02:49):
so about five, five and a half years ago, my friend
you know, shadi, came by andsays hey, let's go, this place
opened up.
It's called smash bar, let's gocheck it out.
Yeah, so so we started goingthere and we see these
pickleball courts and we're likewhat are these things?
You're like, oh, let's justpick a paddle, you know, not a
(03:10):
racket.
So you know, it took a while toadjust to that and that's it.
So we kind of invited, you know, one of Shadi's good friends
and he came over, showed us therules and, sure enough, we all
got addicted and we startedplaying a couple times a week at
smash park and that that justkind of.
You know.
We'll start meeting more peoplethat are just coming in and
(03:32):
getting to know familiar withpickleball and I think that's
what a lot of people find is.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
It is so truly addictive and, you know, it is
the fastest growing sport in theUnited States right now, maybe
even in the world, becausethey're playing it everywhere,
right.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
They are.
You know, and you're startingto see like big names, like
Andre Agassi.
He's getting involved with alot of pickleball and he's
starting to do more.
He played in the US Open lastweek.
He played with Annalie Water inthe pros, so you're going to
start seeing a lot of big nametennis players coming in.
(04:12):
You know, jack Sock is anotherplayer, yvonne Lindell those are
the tennis legends that are nowstarting to kind of come in and
play pickleball.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Yeah, and so tell us what it entails.
Tell our listeners whatpickleball really entails.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
So what pickleball is about?
I think if you have a lot oftennis or racket background
sports so for example, if youhave tennis background,
racquetball background, tabletennis you'd be able to kind of
jump on the court and just startplaying right away.
And what that entails is, youknow, if you have, you know
(04:52):
someone that can teach you therules.
It's pretty easy Once you knowthe rules, you know with the
scoring.
Scoring is a little tricky atthe beginning, but once you know
the scores and once you knowhow to move on the court, you
know there's, you know you havethe kitchen, which everybody's
like.
What is the kitchen?
Right?
(05:13):
And you know you have.
You know like Dinkin Somebodysays, what do you mean by Dinkin
?
So, and then you have you knowdrives, which everybody knows
from tennis.
And then you know there's areaswhere around like baseline
court, but it is think of atennis court just a little
smaller, uses the same net andjust, and then with just a
(05:37):
little bit lower than the tennisnet but other than that, and it
just a paddle, looks like a,like a ping pong paddle, just a
little bit bigger than that.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Yeah, and so you know , I encourage anybody who is,
you know, just even thinkingabout it and people go oh, I'm
not really athletically inclinedand I really, you know, I don't
think I can do this.
Yeah, you can, you can get outthere and you can do it.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Do you play Bobby?
No, no, no no there and you cando it.
Do you play bobby?
Speaker 3 (06:07):
no, no, I don't, I bet.
I bet brenda's beaver wouldplay a little play around,
wouldn't she?
Speaker 1 (06:11):
thanks dr domain now.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Mom did get one of my children very addicted to
pickleball.
Uh, very quickly yeah and shehas enjoyed it or used to enjoy
it when she was living with me.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
So, Bobby, do you exercise my mouth?
Speaker 2 (06:30):
You run your mouth a lot.
I run from my problems.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
I run from situational things.
Yeah, so, yeah.
So you said you've been doingthis for about five years and
you are, uh, considered a pro?
Of course, because you do.
You are on the nationalpickleball league and you just
got drafted again, correct?
Speaker 3 (06:52):
I did.
I did so.
The, the national pickleballleague is.
You know it's, it's it's forsenior professional pickleball
over the age of 50.
You know, you hear the, theword the wo think like it's for
seein of 50 plus.
And there in t league startedabout thre.
It is just to encourage a propickballers to compet.
(07:19):
So I got into it three yestarted as a sub last year.
I got drafted into the Kansascity stingers team, which was a
new team, and then this year Igot drafted by one of the
existing teams, which is thePrinceton bruisers.
(07:40):
So if you look at Princetonbruisers, yeah, he's showing us.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
he's showing us his thermos cup, All the goodies,
you know we.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
So if you look, Princeton Bruisers Yay, he's
showing us his thermos cup.
All the goodies, Us pro players.
We love all the goodies.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
You get all of the gifts.
You get all the gifts the swag,the swag.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
So when we travel to a lot of these tournaments as a
professional, we get the royaltreatments in a lot of whether
it's the National PickleballLeague or whether it's in any
other tournaments Just becauseyou know we've worked so hard to
reach this level.
And for me, you know I startedplaying professionally about
(08:22):
three years ago when I enteredthe professional circuit.
I remember playing against, youknow, like some of the younger
pros, and oh my god, it was likestanding in the court.
I was so scared because youknow, it's like all the training
that I did over like thatsummer just all paid off, of
(08:42):
course, you know.
You know I mean I won maybe onegame but hey, you know I was
happy one game is good, yeah,you know.
But but when you, when you, whenyou say, oh, I beat this guy,
yeah, I beat, you know, I beat.
Like a guy named deco bar, Ibreed a guy named rob nunnery,
those are the big names that youcan say, yeah, I mean jay
(09:04):
devlier, you know, I beat him inthe game down in kansas city.
So those are the young prosthat you know.
Do you know play pickleball?
You know?
For professionally, me I'm, youknow I'm.
I'm just, uh, I'm still anetwork engineer by day.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
That's your real job, that's your real job, and then
you have another job.
Yes, I do have a real job.
That's your real job.
And now you have another job.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Yes, I do have a real job that I have to attend, but
pickleball I fell in love withit and for me I've never done
any other professionals before.
So kind of diving into it wasjust something that's fun,
entertaining and the best part,and this is still working and so
(09:47):
I really didn't have time onthe court.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
I didn't have time because I was working and, to be
honest with you, me and amutual friend of ours started
playing singles and we knewnothing about anything.
We knew nothing.
We didn't know how to hold apaddle, we didn't know anything
about the rules, we and we wereplaying singles.
And I mean, if you play singles, that's a workout, man, that's
(10:28):
a crazy workout, Were youthinking?
Speaker 3 (10:30):
maybe we want to lose some weight, build some muscles
.
I mean, what is?
Come on, tell us the realreason.
Here it was really.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
It was really just to stay active and, let's face it,
you know, five years ago I wasprobably in a little bit better
shape than I am today.
So you know, we really did wantto stay in shape and I think
it's a great way for people toget involved Now.
Dr Domain, I introduced him topickleball and he's playing now,
which I'm very proud of himbecause he's doing really great.
(11:00):
Bobby, do you think one day youmight be interested in playing
some pickleball?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
not with you.
No, no, it wasn't meant to behurtful.
It's just you're so damncompetitive and, and you know,
you get out there and you'relike I try, and you're like
that's's not how you do it.
I'm just like, oh God, I quit.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
So I told everyone here that Saad is my coach and
he's a coach to a lot of peopleand he trains people, you know,
and um, he's a great trainer andhe's a great player and I love
playing with him and we just wehave a blast, is the whole thing
.
And, let's face it, I am not inhis league.
I'm not even remotely close.
(11:43):
I'm like the ball girl for him.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
And you know what I'll say, that you know.
Talk about Jane beingcompetitive, and I agree with
you, bob.
You know we get out on thecourt and she's standing on the
opposite side and then she goesCoach, bring it.
I said, you really don't wantme to bring it, do you?
And she says yes, and nextthing, you know, she's getting
(12:09):
hit everywhere yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
So what he does is he hits me so hard with the ball
and literally tattoos me, andand, of course, we all have a
good laugh.
I have tears running down myface, but, but we all have a
good laugh.
And what have I done to you,though?
All the players against you?
I have always said if you canbody bag him, meaning if you can
(12:33):
hit his body with that ballwithout him getting his paddle
up and hitting it back if youcan body bag Sod, I'll pay you
five bucks for every time youbody bag him.
I've never paid out yet.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
I mean speaking of tattooing people.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
You know you used to tattoo me pretty hard with a
softball, so I know how thatgoes, that's true, I did play a
lot of softball with you, but soyou know, just so people know
Sod, there are obviously rulesand there are levels, and so the
pro level is like 5.0 and above.
I'm not remotely close.
(13:09):
I'm like a 3.5.
So I'm like an average, maybe alittle bit above average,
player, you know.
So typically those of you whodo play a harder game, like you
and some of the other guys andgals that you hang with you
enjoy playing at your level, andI know some people have gotten
insulted like oh, they don'twant to play with me.
(13:31):
I don't think that, and you cancomment on this, but I don't
think that it's not that theydon't want to play with you.
I think our time is valuable.
When I go out on the court Ionly have so much time and I
want to play hard againstsomebody.
How do you feel about that in?
Speaker 3 (13:47):
the pro level or anybody.
I always get out there and sayif you're not out there having
fun and enjoying playing on thecourt, then you should not be
(14:08):
out here.
Pick a ball is meant to buildrelationships, meant for you to
exercise, meant for you tosocialize, and you should not
look at, you know, if somebody Iplay with people at all levels
just because you know's, I wantto get out there and have some
fun, yeah, and then I mean, as acoach, sometimes I'll throw a
(14:32):
challenge.
I'll be like you know, hey, youknow, get your paddle up.
You know I'm always you knowthe biggest words, I'm always
saying eye on the ball and getyour paddle up.
So to me, if I can, you know,help you in certain way while
we're playing and having fun,that means I accomplished
something and that's part ofpart of me being, you know, like
(14:56):
a pickleball ambassador.
It's always fun for me to getout there and encourage people
to play pickleball, get involvedand find your groups.
You know, if you're going tosit back and just wait until
somebody invites you, you'regoing to be sitting down and
just kind of like, who's goingto invite me today, who's going
to invite me tomorrow?
(15:16):
So take the initiatives.
I tell that to people, don't bescared, somebody is better than
you to ask them to play.
I mean I always get people askme to play.
If I have the time I'll go outand play, because I mean I'll
play with everybody if you comeand I also, you know, go out and
invite people to play, justbecause sometimes I just, you
(15:37):
know, playing competitive, youknow I can do that so much, but
also I want to get out there andjust have fun with my friends.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
So getting started for our listeners who really
have heard of it but don't knowhow to get started.
You know we both belong toseveral clubs and you mentioned
being an ambassador.
I believe are you the regionalambassador for pickleball.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
I believe are you the regional ambassador for
pickleball For the USAPickleball?
I'm the district ambassador forall of Central.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Iowa.
Okay, so yes, and so you know,when people say, how do I get
started?
And you're right, they have totake the initiative to get out
there you know what advice wouldyou give them?
Would you tell them to look forbeginners classes, because I
like to see beginners playingwith beginners.
(16:28):
Because, let's face it, if Iever had to come up against you,
or if somebody even had to comeup against me that has not
played before, we're going tokill them, and nobody wants to
get discouraged when they go outto the courts.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
So they are on the USA Pickleball website.
There are sites that tells youwhere to go play, all these
parks that you can go play therefor free.
Of course you know there areother places that you can go,
like indoor to rent courts, butI would suggest get a paddle.
You know I got my first paddlefrom Amazon for 40 bucks.
(17:03):
Get a cheap paddle.
Get out there and just kind ofget a friend or two and say
let's go to this park and justwalk in and introduce yourself
and say, hey, I'm a beginner, Iwould like to play with other
beginners.
If you see beginners on thecourt, just say can we play
together and just have fun.
You know, don't be scared toask people to go play on the
(17:27):
course because you knoweverybody's friendly.
That's the one thing aboutpickleball.
Anybody you're going to meetalong the way they're just so
friendly and want to help youget better and improve your game
.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
And I think that's an excellent point because I have
met so many fantastic people.
Now let's face it, there'salways going to be some a-hole
in a, in a sport right.
That is kind of nasty, andbobby is looking at me like I'm
the a-hole and I'm not, am I?
Speaker 2 (17:56):
I mean, I'm not people, I I know that you are
fabulous, but when?
It's your own kid and you'rejust like get your head out of
your ass.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Oh, okay, okay but, um, dr domain, you started here
what a year and a half, twoyears ago and you're doing great
, and you know what were some ofyour apprehensions as a new
player going out on the court.
Well, I think that's relativewhen you say good, so I would
say I'm okay, I think you'redoing well I mean, I think
(18:26):
you're doing well, you know youhave to consider how many times
do you get to go out and play?
I don't get to go play everysingle day If I did.
I'd probably be a better player.
I don't get to go play everyday, and neither do you, and so
I figure, based on the amount oftime that we spend on the court
now with somebody like coachwas sod, he obviously has to be
(18:48):
skilled, highly skilled, becausehe is a part of a national
pickleball league, right?
So he has to continue to trainand work hard at it.
You and I, we hit it when wewant to hit it, right, and
that's, that's about it.
But you know, what would yousay were your apprehensions when
you first went out?
Speaker 3 (19:07):
what one of the things that people don't like to
do in pickleball is.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
There is drilling, and what that means is getting
out on the court, finding oneother person and then focus on
specific skills and when you saydrilling then, coach, you mean
just like if we talked aboutdinking, and dinking is really
just dropping the ball rightover the net right into the
kitchen.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
You know practice on certain things you know.
You know whether it's serving,whether it's dinking, whether
it's dropping the ball.
You know know where your footposition is.
You know that's very importanton the pickleball court how to
move.
You know from one area to theother around the court and you
know the biggest one, which youknow jane doesn't do, is you
(19:52):
know sliding I'm working on that.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
I did really well last time we played, didn't you
think I slid, I, I was sliding,I was sliding yeah, a little bit
.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
Yeah, you might work a little bit on sliding, you
know what that means is like youslide on from the right to the
left to the right to the left.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Yes, yes.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
You're just country dancing.
But you're just country dancingon the pickle clip.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
Oh so mind dancing, slide to the left, slide to the
right, right, exactly.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Stand up, sit down, fight, fight, fight.
You know, that's something alot of my I teach.
A lot of my students I said onething you can do at home grab a
paddle in your hand, sit infront of the TV and just watch
your favorite show and, asyou're doing, just move, slide
to the right, slide to the left.
So it's simple things that youcan do at home to practice on
(20:45):
something.
Find a wall in your garage,grab a couple of pickleballs
they all look like.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
They look like Well, we're not on camera, so nobody
can see it.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
Saad, it looks like it's something that's A wiffle
ball.
It looks like a wiffle ball.
So if you think about that,grab a ball and just practice at
home.
On with the ball.
Yeah, you know, find somebody,finds a partner that you can go
out with and you can just playtogether.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Yeah.
So the reason so I wanted totalk about this topic again
because we have a pro availableto us and because a lot of
people ask me hey, how can I getstarted?
And we do offer, you know,beginners classes.
I think there's a lot of usthat help a lot of beginners,
you know, show them how to holda paddle, where to stand, how to
(21:39):
play, what the rules are, howto keep score, that sort of
thing.
And the other part of that isit is such great exercise and so
we want to keep moving as longas we possibly can.
Right, we want to be mobilethat's what it is, it's.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
You don't require a lot of skills to move on the
court.
You know you could be, you know, 50 years old, 60 year old, 70
year olds, 80 year olds, and youcan be out there playing and
having fun.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
That's right.
That's right.
So what, um?
So?
I have to ask you this though,coach Um so you are originally
from Palestine.
You were born in Jordan.
Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (22:22):
That's right, I was born in Palestine.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
In Palestine.
Okay, and did they havepickleball?
Speaker 3 (22:28):
So, growing up, my dad played tennis, so I got to
learn how to play tennis when Iwas a very, very young age and
so, but you know, that's theonly thing that helped me with
coming to the States is, youknow, going to college here in
Iowa State.
I never played anythingprofessional, so everything we
(22:52):
did back in Palestine was justlike tennis.
Ok, it's like soccer.
You know, I played soccer formany, many years, like almost,
you know, 40 years.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Well, we really appreciate you joining us today
and talking through this, ustoday and talking through this
and, you know, I think all of uswould, uh, encourage anyone
who's interested in playing oryou're just even interested in
going out and watching it andgetting to.
You know, know, some peoplethere's great people out there.
They're super nice.
Uh, they'll definitely help youthrough it and, um, sad we're
(23:26):
to have you on the show againbecause you are from Palestine
and I am so curious aboutgrowing up in Palestine and you
know what's different betweenhere and America and I really
want to bring you back for that.
In the meantime, we appreciateyou being with us.
And, dr Domain, did you haveany questions that you wanted to
(23:50):
?
Uh, no, I know everything.
okay, so, uh, you knoweverything well, he thinks he
does, so sod tell us again your,your uh team name and how we
can watch you so the my mynational pickleball league team
is the Princeton Bruisers, andhow you can watch that.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Once a month we play in different parts of the United
States and all the matches areall televised on YouTube.
Okay, so go on YouTube and yousearch for the National
Pickleball League and look forthe different weekends.
This coming weekend it's inColumbus, next month it's going
(24:33):
to be in Florida.
So every month we play and theschedule for every weekend is
publicized on the NPL websitewith the locations and the links
to where you can go watch thelive streams for all the matches
in the National Pickleball.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
League.
Okay, all right.
Well, that's good information,and again, we really appreciate
it.
Before we go, though, I do wantto know what's my worst habit
out on the court besides notsliding, what would you say I
need to really work on?
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Go ahead, coach, probably more you know, being
nice to your partner.
Oh my God, I was going to.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Go ahead, coach, probably more you know being
nice to your partner.
Oh my gosh, I was going to saythat.
That or profanity.
No, I don't even swear on thecourt.
No, I don't.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
Oh my gosh, I was going to say about the swearing,
but you know everybody'sswearing Okay.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, okay, well, being
nice to my partner.
Oh my goodness, okay, wellbeing nice to my partner.
Oh gosh, okay, well, I thinkthat's probably all we have
today.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Bobby.
I think that is all thepickleball insanity that we have
for today.
We do appreciate all of youjoining us here at the Rabbit
Hole Studio.
Be sure to follow us, like uson Facebook, and we look forward
to spending time with you eachweek.
And we look forward to spendingtime with you each week.
If you have some positivefeedback for us or if there's a
topic you'd like us to talkabout, drop us an email at
(25:54):
boomerangenexter at gmailcom.
If you have any hate mail, well, you know where you can put
that.
So until next week, I'm BobbiJoy and I'm Jane Burke.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
And you're stuck with us.
Peace out.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Later.
Thank you.
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