May 20, 2025 • 20 mins
From law enforcement officer to pickleball evangelist, "Cowboy" has transformed his unexpected passion for the sport into Greek Pickleball, a thriving nonprofit training academy. During this energetic conversation, Cowboy dispels common misconceptions about pickleball, revealing that despite its recent surge in popularity, the sport actually dates back to 1965 when a Washington state family created it using a paddle and wiffle ball.
What makes Cowboy's story particularly compelling is his rapid journey from complete novice to respected coach. Just three years ago, he stepped onto a pickleball court for the first time and faced immediate rejection—"Nobody wanted to play with a 6'2", 240-pound beginner," he laughs. Rather than giving up, this former college football player applied the same analytical mindset he used when studying game film, meticulously learning techniques through YouTube videos until those same players who once avoided him now actively sought him as a partner.
Greek Pickleball's mission extends far beyond typical sports instruction. Cowboy created the organization specifically to bring pickleball to communities lacking access, with special emphasis on youth programs. "The younger people are who's speeding the game up," he explains, though his coaching spans generations—his youngest student is 8 years old, while his oldest is 89. Throughout the conversation, Cowboy shares a profound personal story about overcoming a catastrophic football injury in 1987 that doctors believed would end his athletic career entirely, illustrating the resilience that now defines his approach to business and coaching.
Ready to experience the fastest-growing sport in America? Connect with Greek Pickleball through their website, social media, or by texting Cowboy directly at 305-300-1677. Whether you're a complete beginner or looking to improve your skills, his inclusive philosophy ensures everyone feels welcome on the court.
For more information visit http://www.greekpickleball.org/ or call (305) 300-1677. Stay up to date on our socials at https://www.instagram.com/greekpickleball/ and https://www.facebook.com/greek.pickleball/.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Jeremy Wolf.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hello, hello, friends , family, wonderful community
and great universe.
We are back with anotherepisode of the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
You know, pickleball is the newcraze.
I keep hearing about pickleball.
I've tried it a few times, butI know that people are really
fired up about it.
So today we have an interestingguest here.
(00:34):
I'm with the cowboy, right, wegot John Pickleball.
Cowboy Weich, did I get itright?
I screwed up, that's correct.
That's correct, nailed it andJohn or I'm just going to call
you Cowboy Got it.
I'm not going to do John, thisis the Cowboy and we're going to
refer to him as such.
And the Cowboy has startedGreek Pickleball, which is a
(00:58):
nonprofit training academy, if Iunderstand correctly, for
pickleball, and I'm interestedto get into this.
So, cowboy, thank you forjoining us today.
Glad to be here, all right.
So why don't we start with somebasics here for those out there
that have been living under arock that maybe don't know?
Maybe they've heard the termpickleball, but they don't
(01:21):
really know exactly what it is.
Why don't you tell everybody alittle bit about what pickleball
is and then we'll proceed fromthere?
Speaker 3 (01:28):
okay, ironically, pickleball has been around since
1965.
It's been around a long time.
It has been 1965.
A family in washington state,uh, wanted to do something for
their family on the weekends andthey came up, they had a paddle
and they had a wiffle ball and,and that's what pickleball was
developed.
It only became hot andeverybody wanted to play it
(01:51):
during the pandemic.
There was nothing for somepeople to do, so it started in
the pandemic and the young crowdstarted to play.
Once the young crowd started toplay, it became very fast,
motivating and became that sportthat we all know now today as
pickleball.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
And that's one of the things I did notice about
pickleball it's extremelyaccessible Like whereas with
tennis, which a lot of peoplekind of draw parallels between
the two, it's not so easy to hitthe ball back and forth over
the net because you know, it'sjust it's a little more
difficult.
Pickleball it's really kind oflike a cross in my mind between
ping pong and tennis, Any paddlesport.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
It will help you in pickleball, from ping pong to
badminton to bracket ball and,of course, tennis, because
tennis gives you all the topspin and the slices you already
know.
So you bring that over to thepickleball.
You'll be a better player.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Okay, so how long have you been playing pickleball
?
I'm guessing you haven't beenplaying since 1965.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
No, I was only born in 1968, because that probably
would be impossible.
But I've been playing for overthree years.
I started in the pandemic eraas well, okay, and once I
started it was, you know, Itried one time and I was hooked.
I was one of those footballplayers that say pickleball,
what is pickleball?
(03:12):
I'm not going to play nopickleball.
But then I tried it and fromthere I was hooked.
I really was.
My motivation basically camefrom I will put my paddle down,
you have three paddles, I'll putmy paddle, and when I look up
again those other three paddlesare gone.
And I quickly realized thatpeople don't like to play with.
(03:34):
At the time I started, peopledid not want to play with
beginners.
So that basically was mymotivation to learn the game of
pickleball, because peoplewouldn't play with me.
I was 6'2", 240 pounds and abeginner pickleball player, so
that didn't look too well.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Nobody wanted to play with the cowboy, no, but you
roped him in.
You roped him in?
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Yes, I did.
In the beginning I wasn'treally the cowboy.
I like that punchline, though Iwasn't a cowboy.
I had to basically become thecowboy because, again, I was
just a six foot tall, six foottwo tall person playing
pickleball and I started on thebeginner's court.
Like, everyone should start onbeginner's court if you don't
(04:16):
know how to play.
Once you think you're past thatpoint, that's when you go on to
the intermediate court andthat's when I realized that they
don't like to play withbeginners.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
So how does one go from three years ago, complete
beginner, never played, nobodywants to play with the man and
now fast forward three yearssitting here today.
You made a business out of this, a nonprofit and Greek
pickleball.
Tell us a little bit about thattransition, how you got from
beginner status to, dare I say,master status at the training
(04:50):
academy.
Tell us a little bit aboutGreek pickleball.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
The main thing how I got there was I was motivated by
the fact that people wouldn'tplay with me.
I'm an athlete by nature, so Idid the track, I did basketball,
I did football, I playedfootball to the highest level
and that motivated me to learnthe game.
So I literally went to YouTubeand, because I play football and
(05:16):
we watched a lot of film andbroke down a lot of film, I did
the same thing for pickleballand basically taught myself how
to play pickleball to the pointwhere those people that didn't
want to play with me now want toplay with me.
So it worked out pretty well tothe point where I thought I was
getting.
No, I became very I would say,semi-good at it, to the point
(05:41):
where I started teaching people,my friends and trying to do
this, try this at it.
To the point where I startedteaching people, my friends and
trying to do this, try this.
I saw this on a video two yearsago try this.
And I basically broke it downto the simplicity that you learn
the game of pickleball, you'llbe able to play pickleball, and
that's how pretty much Greekpickleball was established.
(06:02):
The name Greek.
Everybody asked me where itcame from.
I'm a member of a mega sci-fifraternity and my first idea was
to get all the Greeks, all thesororities, all the fraternities
, to play pickleball.
I have yet to do that yet, so Istill kept the name, and now
I'm just going around everywhereteaching, doing corporate
(06:25):
events, doing tournaments.
I host tournaments, we have wework with Special Olympics, we
have youth programs and I'mdoing what I love.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
That's good stuff, man.
Now, do you have any backgroundin racquet sports at all?
I know a lot of folks that playpickleball now were former
tennis players.
Or did you kind of pick this upcompletely from scratch?
Speaker 3 (06:48):
I was a racquetball player.
I played in many racquetballtournaments.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
You weren't a complete, complete beginner.
I mean, you got a background inracquet sports, right, I had
some kind of background inracquet sports.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
The first time I went out there I realized that you
had to hit the ball over the netand not at the corner like
you're doing bracket ball.
So I found that out quick.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
But yeah, it was a uh a pretty quick transition
because I had paddle sportsbefore now you mentioned this is
a non-profit, or I think youtold that, told that to me
before and I mentioned it.
How did you decide to make thisbusiness?
So this isn't, this is, I'mguessing this is a side project,
(07:29):
or is this your full-time thing?
What do you?
This is full-time for me.
I did Okay.
So what was your backgroundbefore doing this in a
professional sense, I wasworking with the government.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
I was in the government.
Can't tell you exactly what Idid, but I was in the government
.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Very secretive.
Can you give us a clue?
At least Like CIA stuff, no no,that's just me.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
I was a little small.
I was in law enforcement.
Okay, I was in law enforcement.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Yes, Okay, cool.
So you started this business.
You went from law enforcementto basically entrepreneur
starting this business.
I guess what made you open itstart.
Do it as a nonprofit as opposedto a regular for-profit
business.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
I wanted to take pickleball to communities that
don't have it.
That is not familiar withpickleball, and that's what
we've been doing since westarted January of 2024.
We try to go into neighborhoodsthat do not have pickleball and
introduce it to the younger,the youth, because that's where
this game is going.
(08:34):
It's no longer someone my ageI'm 57.
It's nice to play, but theyounger people are who's
speeding the game up?
So I want to get the youngerkids involved in it.
We have several, actually a lotof youth programs where we're
teaching.
My youngest person that I teachis eight years old and the
oldest is 89.
So it's a large range on howyou can, you know, teach the
(08:59):
game of pickleball.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
And where?
Where do you typically do thegames?
At what?
What pickleball courts orcenter or location do you
typically, or do you travelaround to different locations?
Speaker 3 (09:10):
I travel around to different locations.
I call my home base MiamiGardens.
They gave us the firstopportunity.
They have six beautiful brandnew courts and that's where I
host my tournaments at, in MiamiGardens, and we do youth
programs with them, and actuallyin North Miami as well, in
north miami as well.
North miami beach as well.
North miami, do you have?
Speaker 2 (09:31):
any youth youth programs?
Uh, locally closer to coopercity, because I I have a 10 year
old son who took a liking topickleball and we haven't played
.
Recently there was a youthprogram available for him here
through your program.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
I would definitely take him by well, I would do, we
, we can definitely talk.
I travel to every court, fromWeston to Cooper City to
Plantation, cbs Park.
I go to all the parks.
I go as Cowboy.
People remember the name Cowboy.
I think it's a challenge whereeverybody wants to beat Cowboy
(10:04):
in playing pickleball Not thatI'm that good, but everybody
wants to beat me because it'sthe image I beat Cowboy.
I think it's a challenge whereeverybody want to beat cowboy
and playing pickleball Not thatI'm that good, but everybody
want to beat me because it seemsI beat cowboy.
So I think we've developed abrand.
The kids, all ages, love thename cowboy but they don't have
to say, hey, cute because acowboy.
So I think we've brandedsomething real good.
We just have to get it todifferent locations and I'm open
(10:25):
to any locations in Miami-DadeCounty or Broward.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Yeah, man, it's good stuff.
Man, it's got me thinking, nowthat we're on the call, I
haven't played in a while.
Talking about it, I have thatcompetitive spirit within me as
well.
Hearing you talk about peoplewanting to beat the Cowboy, I'm
thinking to myself I want to goplay this guy.
Let's go.
I don't have much experience,but I think I can take it down.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Of course everybody does.
I have a 99-year-old.
The first thing he said was Ican beat you.
Okay, let's do it, but it's allin fun.
I tell people I play fortomorrow.
What do you mean by that?
I say you can beat me, todayI'm going to take everything
that I did not do correctly andtomorrow I'm going to be a
better person.
(11:09):
Most people stay the same, sothat's what I mean by learning
the game, and that is we takethe from, no matter what age.
We take you step by step how tolearn the game of pickleball,
because you learn the game.
Playing is going to be easy.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Yeah, I wanted to ask what.
This is an interesting question.
I often ask entrepreneurs thatstart a business that come from
a background of typical likenine to five type employment
maybe not so much in the lawenforcement space, but you know
what I mean what has been one ofthe biggest challenges in that
(11:50):
transition.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
And on the other side of that spectrum, what has been
the biggest reward for you inthis venture?
I think that the challengingpart is to get people to believe
in you and when it comes downto coaching, you can like some.
If you don't like your coachliterally don't like your coach
it's going to be hard for you tolearn.
If I have a student, that isjust they love the game of
(12:12):
pickleball.
They want to learn every singlething that's in my head that I
can show them.
I will spend any time.
They may pay for an hour, butwe're on a quarter hour and 45
minutes.
I look down at the clock and Idon't know, because I'm having
fun with it.
The key to being an entrepreneuror being a person starting a
business is love what you do.
Fortunately for me, this iswhat I do and I love doing it,
(12:37):
so the challenge is not more sowhether I like what I'm doing or
whether it's as long as thestudent.
My ultimate goal is the studenthas to learn pickleball.
The challenge is if they don't,it's on me, not on the student.
And if I look at it that way,every student will get 120% from
(12:57):
me every single time.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Indeed, I love that, love what you do.
That's so important I tell itto my kids all the time is to
try to figure something out thatyou can do with your life, that
you're passionate about,because it can be very, very
challenging and a grind.
So many people go through thatin life and they never really
tap into their true passion,their true potential.
(13:22):
But it's a fine line too,because a lot of people you
could take something that youreally enjoy and take it over
the edge and turn it intosomething that creates stress
for you, and you could actuallytake something that maybe you
don't enjoy so much and, withthe right mindset and putting
the right attitude towards it,it could turn into something
that you actually love.
Yeah, so it's an interestingjuxtaposition, I agree, but I
like that.
I like that.
(13:43):
So, speaking of challenges, thisis something I always like to
ask guests and I think it'ssomething that's come more to
light in my life the older I getand when I was younger, I used
to go through difficultexperiences and I would kind of
ask myself in the experiencelike why is this happening to me
(14:03):
, why me, why this, why that?
And I would have a really hardtime navigating these difficult
experiences but then fastforward years down the road.
I would look back at thesethings and realize that they
were very powerful,transformative times in my life
that really impacted me in sucha way that brought me to where I
am today.
So often, the most tryingexperiences in life are the
(14:26):
things that make you better.
Right the uncomfortablesituations, the pain that's what
really helps you to grow, asopposed to just all positive
things.
So, looking back through yourjourney, is there something that
comes to mind personal,professional that you've been
through in your life that reallyat the time you were going
through it, it felt like the end, felt like there was no coming
(14:47):
back from it.
But sitting here today lookingback at it, you're like man.
I'm so grateful for having gonethrough that experience.
I wouldn't be where I'm attoday had I not gone through
that.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
Right.
I would have to say the numberone thing would be in 1987, I
was playing.
I played football for FloridaState University and I was a
safety, strong safety.
In 1987, against the Universityof Florida in Gainesville, I
broke my leg in seven places, myfibula and my fibula.
(15:20):
All the doctors said I wouldnever play again.
Got to the point where twoweeks, three weeks into the
hospital, they came by mybedside and told my mom that
they will have to basically cutmy leg off because the blood was
not circulating correctly.
My mom is a very strong personand she said you're not cutting
my son leg off.
You do whatever you have to do,but you're not cutting my son's
(15:42):
leg off.
Fast forward, maybe a monthlater I was in hospital, like a
month, 45 days or something likethat.
I was able to come back.
I was in a wheelchair and awheelchair or cast for almost a
year and I think everyone hadwritten me off, even the I
(16:03):
wouldn't say the coaches did, Iwouldn't say the trainers did,
but they wanted me to go home tomy mom because my mom of course
A lot better than they could,and I was on the phone in my
room talking to my mom tellingmy mom.
You know, the coach said I cancome home.
I was happy to come home.
I'm a country boy, soTallahassee was the biggest
(16:24):
place that I've ever been in mylife.
So I knew I was excited.
Yes, I'm going home.
I'm going home.
And I never told the storybefore.
But Deion Sanders was in theroom at the time and he heard me
tell my mom I was coming homeand he said what did you just
say?
I said the coach said I can gohome.
He got on the phone and told mymom that no, crusher they
(16:49):
called me Crusher Crusher is notcoming home.
We will take care of them.
We will take care of him.
He's not coming home.
And I think that was the turningpoint of my life, cause I know
if I went back to that farm Iwould have never came back to
the school, I would nevergraduated with an economics
degree, I would have never got amaster's in public
administration.
(17:09):
So I think that was the turningpoint.
So I look at those twoinstances my mom saying no,
you're not turning, not turning,cutting his, you're not going
to cut his leg off, and dionsaying you're not going home.
And they literally I don't knowwhat he told the coach.
I don't know what he told thetrainers, but it worked.
They didn't send me home, theyhad trainers come to my my room.
(17:30):
They brought me food every dayand I think that was a life.
If I had to look at somethingthat changed my life, it would
be that, because I know I wouldhave went back to the farm and I
would have still been on thefarm today.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Well, thanks for sharing that.
I know that will beinspirational for listeners.
You hear that out therewhatever you're going through,
there's always light on theother side of it.
So it's something I have toremind myself always now when
I'm going through a challengingexperience, and the sooner I
realize that, the sooner mymindset shifts and the sooner
I'm on the other side of it.
So good stuff.
(18:06):
So okay, cowboy, yes, listenersout there, maybe they got kids,
maybe themselves they've beenhearing about pickleball.
They want to get involved.
They just don't know where togo.
You know, sometimes it takes alittle spark.
Hopefully they hear thisconversation and that is that
spark.
How can they get involved?
How can they reach you?
How can they contact you forcoaching sessions?
How can listeners learn more?
Speaker 3 (18:28):
I think the easiest part is go to
wwwgreekpickleballorg.
Greekpickleballorg.
That's wwwgreekpickleballorg.
You can always text me.
I'm a text kind of person.
I'm trying to learn how to textmore, but that's at.
305-300-1677, 305-300-1677.
(18:50):
We're on all social media, fromTikTok to Facebook to Instagram
.
Just type in Greek Pickleball,find the guy with the cowboy hat
on and you will find GreekPickleball.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Perfect, and we will, of course, drop some links in
the description to all of yourcontact information so everybody
could check that out.
Well, cowboy, it was an honorand a pleasure getting the
opportunity to meet you andlearn a little bit about your
story and the wonderful goodyou're doing in our community.
So our, our hats off to you.
Thank you for the all the goodyou're doing, brother, thank you
(19:23):
, thank you Appreciate you, yes,yes, and to our listeners,
thanks so much for tuning in andwe will catch everyone next
time on the next episode of thegood neighbor podcast.
Everyone, take care and have awonderful day.
Thanks for listening to thegood next episode of the Good
Neighbor Podcast.
Everyone, take care and have awonderful day.
Thanks, jared.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast
Cooper City.
To nominate your favorite localbusiness to be featured on the
show, go to GNPCooperCitycom.
That's GNPCooperCitycom, orcall 954-231-3170.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Jeremy Wolf.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hello, hello, friends , family, wonderful community
and great universe.
We are back with anotherepisode of the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
You know, pickleball is the newcraze.
I keep hearing about pickleball.
I've tried it a few times, butI know that people are really
fired up about it.
So today we have an interestingguest here.
(00:34):
I'm with the cowboy, right, wegot John Pickleball.
Cowboy Weich, did I get itright?
I screwed up, that's correct.
That's correct, nailed it andJohn or I'm just going to call
you Cowboy Got it.
I'm not going to do John, thisis the Cowboy and we're going to
refer to him as such.
And the Cowboy has startedGreek Pickleball, which is a
(00:58):
nonprofit training academy, if Iunderstand correctly, for
pickleball, and I'm interestedto get into this.
So, cowboy, thank you forjoining us today.
Glad to be here, all right.
So why don't we start with somebasics here for those out there
that have been living under arock that maybe don't know?
Maybe they've heard the termpickleball, but they don't
(01:21):
really know exactly what it is.
Why don't you tell everybody alittle bit about what pickleball
is and then we'll proceed fromthere?
Speaker 3 (01:28):
okay, ironically, pickleball has been around since
1965.
It's been around a long time.
It has been 1965.
A family in washington state,uh, wanted to do something for
their family on the weekends andthey came up, they had a paddle
and they had a wiffle ball and,and that's what pickleball was
developed.
It only became hot andeverybody wanted to play it
(01:51):
during the pandemic.
There was nothing for somepeople to do, so it started in
the pandemic and the young crowdstarted to play.
Once the young crowd started toplay, it became very fast,
motivating and became that sportthat we all know now today as
pickleball.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
And that's one of the things I did notice about
pickleball it's extremelyaccessible Like whereas with
tennis, which a lot of peoplekind of draw parallels between
the two, it's not so easy to hitthe ball back and forth over
the net because you know, it'sjust it's a little more
difficult.
Pickleball it's really kind oflike a cross in my mind between
ping pong and tennis, Any paddlesport.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
It will help you in pickleball, from ping pong to
badminton to bracket ball and,of course, tennis, because
tennis gives you all the topspin and the slices you already
know.
So you bring that over to thepickleball.
You'll be a better player.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Okay, so how long have you been playing pickleball
?
I'm guessing you haven't beenplaying since 1965.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
No, I was only born in 1968, because that probably
would be impossible.
But I've been playing for overthree years.
I started in the pandemic eraas well, okay, and once I
started it was, you know, Itried one time and I was hooked.
I was one of those footballplayers that say pickleball,
what is pickleball?
(03:12):
I'm not going to play nopickleball.
But then I tried it and fromthere I was hooked.
I really was.
My motivation basically camefrom I will put my paddle down,
you have three paddles, I'll putmy paddle, and when I look up
again those other three paddlesare gone.
And I quickly realized thatpeople don't like to play with.
(03:34):
At the time I started, peopledid not want to play with
beginners.
So that basically was mymotivation to learn the game of
pickleball, because peoplewouldn't play with me.
I was 6'2", 240 pounds and abeginner pickleball player, so
that didn't look too well.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Nobody wanted to play with the cowboy, no, but you
roped him in.
You roped him in?
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Yes, I did.
In the beginning I wasn'treally the cowboy.
I like that punchline, though Iwasn't a cowboy.
I had to basically become thecowboy because, again, I was
just a six foot tall, six foottwo tall person playing
pickleball and I started on thebeginner's court.
Like, everyone should start onbeginner's court if you don't
(04:16):
know how to play.
Once you think you're past thatpoint, that's when you go on to
the intermediate court andthat's when I realized that they
don't like to play withbeginners.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
So how does one go from three years ago, complete
beginner, never played, nobodywants to play with the man and
now fast forward three yearssitting here today.
You made a business out of this, a nonprofit and Greek
pickleball.
Tell us a little bit about thattransition, how you got from
beginner status to, dare I say,master status at the training
(04:50):
academy.
Tell us a little bit aboutGreek pickleball.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
The main thing how I got there was I was motivated by
the fact that people wouldn'tplay with me.
I'm an athlete by nature, so Idid the track, I did basketball,
I did football, I playedfootball to the highest level
and that motivated me to learnthe game.
So I literally went to YouTubeand, because I play football and
(05:16):
we watched a lot of film andbroke down a lot of film, I did
the same thing for pickleballand basically taught myself how
to play pickleball to the pointwhere those people that didn't
want to play with me now want toplay with me.
So it worked out pretty well tothe point where I thought I was
getting.
No, I became very I would say,semi-good at it, to the point
(05:41):
where I started teaching people,my friends and trying to do
this, try this at it.
To the point where I startedteaching people, my friends and
trying to do this, try this.
I saw this on a video two yearsago try this.
And I basically broke it downto the simplicity that you learn
the game of pickleball, you'llbe able to play pickleball, and
that's how pretty much Greekpickleball was established.
(06:02):
The name Greek.
Everybody asked me where itcame from.
I'm a member of a mega sci-fifraternity and my first idea was
to get all the Greeks, all thesororities, all the fraternities
, to play pickleball.
I have yet to do that yet, so Istill kept the name, and now
I'm just going around everywhereteaching, doing corporate
(06:25):
events, doing tournaments.
I host tournaments, we have wework with Special Olympics, we
have youth programs and I'mdoing what I love.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
That's good stuff, man.
Now, do you have any backgroundin racquet sports at all?
I know a lot of folks that playpickleball now were former
tennis players.
Or did you kind of pick this upcompletely from scratch?
Speaker 3 (06:48):
I was a racquetball player.
I played in many racquetballtournaments.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
You weren't a complete, complete beginner.
I mean, you got a background inracquet sports, right, I had
some kind of background inracquet sports.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
The first time I went out there I realized that you
had to hit the ball over the netand not at the corner like
you're doing bracket ball.
So I found that out quick.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
But yeah, it was a uh a pretty quick transition
because I had paddle sportsbefore now you mentioned this is
a non-profit, or I think youtold that, told that to me
before and I mentioned it.
How did you decide to make thisbusiness?
So this isn't, this is, I'mguessing this is a side project,
(07:29):
or is this your full-time thing?
What do you?
This is full-time for me.
I did Okay.
So what was your backgroundbefore doing this in a
professional sense, I wasworking with the government.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
I was in the government.
Can't tell you exactly what Idid, but I was in the government
.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Very secretive.
Can you give us a clue?
At least Like CIA stuff, no no,that's just me.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
I was a little small.
I was in law enforcement.
Okay, I was in law enforcement.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Yes, Okay, cool.
So you started this business.
You went from law enforcementto basically entrepreneur
starting this business.
I guess what made you open itstart.
Do it as a nonprofit as opposedto a regular for-profit
business.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
I wanted to take pickleball to communities that
don't have it.
That is not familiar withpickleball, and that's what
we've been doing since westarted January of 2024.
We try to go into neighborhoodsthat do not have pickleball and
introduce it to the younger,the youth, because that's where
this game is going.
(08:34):
It's no longer someone my ageI'm 57.
It's nice to play, but theyounger people are who's
speeding the game up?
So I want to get the youngerkids involved in it.
We have several, actually a lotof youth programs where we're
teaching.
My youngest person that I teachis eight years old and the
oldest is 89.
So it's a large range on howyou can, you know, teach the
(08:59):
game of pickleball.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
And where?
Where do you typically do thegames?
At what?
What pickleball courts orcenter or location do you
typically, or do you travelaround to different locations?
Speaker 3 (09:10):
I travel around to different locations.
I call my home base MiamiGardens.
They gave us the firstopportunity.
They have six beautiful brandnew courts and that's where I
host my tournaments at, in MiamiGardens, and we do youth
programs with them, and actuallyin North Miami as well, in
north miami as well.
North miami beach as well.
North miami, do you have?
Speaker 2 (09:31):
any youth youth programs?
Uh, locally closer to coopercity, because I I have a 10 year
old son who took a liking topickleball and we haven't played
.
Recently there was a youthprogram available for him here
through your program.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
I would definitely take him by well, I would do, we
, we can definitely talk.
I travel to every court, fromWeston to Cooper City to
Plantation, cbs Park.
I go to all the parks.
I go as Cowboy.
People remember the name Cowboy.
I think it's a challenge whereeverybody wants to beat Cowboy
(10:04):
in playing pickleball Not thatI'm that good, but everybody
wants to beat me because it'sthe image I beat Cowboy.
I think it's a challenge whereeverybody want to beat cowboy
and playing pickleball Not thatI'm that good, but everybody
want to beat me because it seemsI beat cowboy.
So I think we've developed abrand.
The kids, all ages, love thename cowboy but they don't have
to say, hey, cute because acowboy.
So I think we've brandedsomething real good.
We just have to get it todifferent locations and I'm open
(10:25):
to any locations in Miami-DadeCounty or Broward.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Yeah, man, it's good stuff.
Man, it's got me thinking, nowthat we're on the call, I
haven't played in a while.
Talking about it, I have thatcompetitive spirit within me as
well.
Hearing you talk about peoplewanting to beat the Cowboy, I'm
thinking to myself I want to goplay this guy.
Let's go.
I don't have much experience,but I think I can take it down.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Of course everybody does.
I have a 99-year-old.
The first thing he said was Ican beat you.
Okay, let's do it, but it's allin fun.
I tell people I play fortomorrow.
What do you mean by that?
I say you can beat me, todayI'm going to take everything
that I did not do correctly andtomorrow I'm going to be a
better person.
(11:09):
Most people stay the same, sothat's what I mean by learning
the game, and that is we takethe from, no matter what age.
We take you step by step how tolearn the game of pickleball,
because you learn the game.
Playing is going to be easy.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Yeah, I wanted to ask what.
This is an interesting question.
I often ask entrepreneurs thatstart a business that come from
a background of typical likenine to five type employment
maybe not so much in the lawenforcement space, but you know
what I mean what has been one ofthe biggest challenges in that
(11:50):
transition.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
And on the other side of that spectrum, what has been
the biggest reward for you inthis venture?
I think that the challengingpart is to get people to believe
in you and when it comes downto coaching, you can like some.
If you don't like your coachliterally don't like your coach
it's going to be hard for you tolearn.
If I have a student, that isjust they love the game of
(12:12):
pickleball.
They want to learn every singlething that's in my head that I
can show them.
I will spend any time.
They may pay for an hour, butwe're on a quarter hour and 45
minutes.
I look down at the clock and Idon't know, because I'm having
fun with it.
The key to being an entrepreneuror being a person starting a
business is love what you do.
Fortunately for me, this iswhat I do and I love doing it,
(12:37):
so the challenge is not more sowhether I like what I'm doing or
whether it's as long as thestudent.
My ultimate goal is the studenthas to learn pickleball.
The challenge is if they don't,it's on me, not on the student.
And if I look at it that way,every student will get 120% from
(12:57):
me every single time.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Indeed, I love that, love what you do.
That's so important I tell itto my kids all the time is to
try to figure something out thatyou can do with your life, that
you're passionate about,because it can be very, very
challenging and a grind.
So many people go through thatin life and they never really
tap into their true passion,their true potential.
(13:22):
But it's a fine line too,because a lot of people you
could take something that youreally enjoy and take it over
the edge and turn it intosomething that creates stress
for you, and you could actuallytake something that maybe you
don't enjoy so much and, withthe right mindset and putting
the right attitude towards it,it could turn into something
that you actually love.
Yeah, so it's an interestingjuxtaposition, I agree, but I
like that.
I like that.
(13:43):
So, speaking of challenges, thisis something I always like to
ask guests and I think it'ssomething that's come more to
light in my life the older I getand when I was younger, I used
to go through difficultexperiences and I would kind of
ask myself in the experiencelike why is this happening to me
(14:03):
, why me, why this, why that?
And I would have a really hardtime navigating these difficult
experiences but then fastforward years down the road.
I would look back at thesethings and realize that they
were very powerful,transformative times in my life
that really impacted me in sucha way that brought me to where I
am today.
So often, the most tryingexperiences in life are the
(14:26):
things that make you better.
Right the uncomfortablesituations, the pain that's what
really helps you to grow, asopposed to just all positive
things.
So, looking back through yourjourney, is there something that
comes to mind personal,professional that you've been
through in your life that reallyat the time you were going
through it, it felt like the end, felt like there was no coming
(14:47):
back from it.
But sitting here today lookingback at it, you're like man.
I'm so grateful for having gonethrough that experience.
I wouldn't be where I'm attoday had I not gone through
that.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
Right.
I would have to say the numberone thing would be in 1987, I
was playing.
I played football for FloridaState University and I was a
safety, strong safety.
In 1987, against the Universityof Florida in Gainesville, I
broke my leg in seven places, myfibula and my fibula.
(15:20):
All the doctors said I wouldnever play again.
Got to the point where twoweeks, three weeks into the
hospital, they came by mybedside and told my mom that
they will have to basically cutmy leg off because the blood was
not circulating correctly.
My mom is a very strong personand she said you're not cutting
my son leg off.
You do whatever you have to do,but you're not cutting my son's
(15:42):
leg off.
Fast forward, maybe a monthlater I was in hospital, like a
month, 45 days or something likethat.
I was able to come back.
I was in a wheelchair and awheelchair or cast for almost a
year and I think everyone hadwritten me off, even the I
(16:03):
wouldn't say the coaches did, Iwouldn't say the trainers did,
but they wanted me to go home tomy mom because my mom of course
A lot better than they could,and I was on the phone in my
room talking to my mom tellingmy mom.
You know, the coach said I cancome home.
I was happy to come home.
I'm a country boy, soTallahassee was the biggest
(16:24):
place that I've ever been in mylife.
So I knew I was excited.
Yes, I'm going home.
I'm going home.
And I never told the storybefore.
But Deion Sanders was in theroom at the time and he heard me
tell my mom I was coming homeand he said what did you just
say?
I said the coach said I can gohome.
He got on the phone and told mymom that no, crusher they
(16:49):
called me Crusher Crusher is notcoming home.
We will take care of them.
We will take care of him.
He's not coming home.
And I think that was the turningpoint of my life, cause I know
if I went back to that farm Iwould have never came back to
the school, I would nevergraduated with an economics
degree, I would have never got amaster's in public
administration.
(17:09):
So I think that was the turningpoint.
So I look at those twoinstances my mom saying no,
you're not turning, not turning,cutting his, you're not going
to cut his leg off, and dionsaying you're not going home.
And they literally I don't knowwhat he told the coach.
I don't know what he told thetrainers, but it worked.
They didn't send me home, theyhad trainers come to my my room.
(17:30):
They brought me food every dayand I think that was a life.
If I had to look at somethingthat changed my life, it would
be that, because I know I wouldhave went back to the farm and I
would have still been on thefarm today.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Well, thanks for sharing that.
I know that will beinspirational for listeners.
You hear that out therewhatever you're going through,
there's always light on theother side of it.
So it's something I have toremind myself always now when
I'm going through a challengingexperience, and the sooner I
realize that, the sooner mymindset shifts and the sooner
I'm on the other side of it.
So good stuff.
(18:06):
So okay, cowboy, yes, listenersout there, maybe they got kids,
maybe themselves they've beenhearing about pickleball.
They want to get involved.
They just don't know where togo.
You know, sometimes it takes alittle spark.
Hopefully they hear thisconversation and that is that
spark.
How can they get involved?
How can they reach you?
How can they contact you forcoaching sessions?
How can listeners learn more?
Speaker 3 (18:28):
I think the easiest part is go to
wwwgreekpickleballorg.
Greekpickleballorg.
That's wwwgreekpickleballorg.
You can always text me.
I'm a text kind of person.
I'm trying to learn how to textmore, but that's at.
305-300-1677, 305-300-1677.
(18:50):
We're on all social media, fromTikTok to Facebook to Instagram
.
Just type in Greek Pickleball,find the guy with the cowboy hat
on and you will find GreekPickleball.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Perfect, and we will, of course, drop some links in
the description to all of yourcontact information so everybody
could check that out.
Well, cowboy, it was an honorand a pleasure getting the
opportunity to meet you andlearn a little bit about your
story and the wonderful goodyou're doing in our community.
So our, our hats off to you.
Thank you for the all the goodyou're doing, brother, thank you
(19:23):
, thank you Appreciate you, yes,yes, and to our listeners,
thanks so much for tuning in andwe will catch everyone next
time on the next episode of thegood neighbor podcast.
Everyone, take care and have awonderful day.
Thanks for listening to thegood next episode of the Good
Neighbor Podcast.
Everyone, take care and have awonderful day.
Thanks, jared.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast
Cooper City.
To nominate your favorite localbusiness to be featured on the
show, go to GNPCooperCitycom.
That's GNPCooperCitycom, orcall 954-231-3170.
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