Episode 69 🎙️ Pickleballers Next Door - Adaptive Pickleball Fundraiser at Thornton Picklr + Colorado Pickleball Community Updates

[00:00:00] Thank you for joining in. I'm Mike Paze. I'm Christana Elliott. We're the Pickleballers Next Door. Campbell Chiropractic, Your Path to Wellness. Your path to wellness starts here. Our services include chiropractic care, laser therapy and custom orthotics. We also provide personalized nutrition plans, rehabilitation and sports physicals.

[00:00:24] Visit us at castlerockchiro.com or call 303-663-8365. Hey, Christana, Mike. How you doing? Good, good. So how are you doing today?

[00:00:45] You know, it's another crazy day. Colorado here. One day it's 90 and we're right in the middle of May here. It just started May and we have a blizzard yesterday. So I woke up the trees broken and snow everywhere. I mean, it was crazy. Yeah. It's Colorado and now it's beautiful outside. Right. I mean, you know, crazy.

[00:01:08] The good thing about it, like if I think if this would have been in December, I think we would have had a crazy high snow. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. This, this, I mean, we got eight inches. It just, so the ground is so warm that it just didn't, uh, didn't, it didn't stick, but it caused a lot of havoc on, on the trees. Yeah. Which is sad. It was a heavy, heavy snow. I, um, Very heavy. I saw on Instagram, somebody put six donuts and they said it was six donuts high.

[00:01:39] So I thought that was kind of funny. That's how they measured it. That's crazy. Yeah. Well, why don't they eat the donuts? That's wasting donuts. That's like, that's, that's not good. Well, I know. And I think it was the fire department. I think it was like the police. Oh, That explains it. They had extra donuts. So, So they get a lot, they get free donuts. Right. Um, so yeah, things are good. I was out yesterday, um, in Fort Collins to, uh, uh, 002.

[00:02:09] Um, pretty neat name. Um, new facility that just opened about four months ago. Um, I think they got 11 courts inside, six courts outside. Uh, really neat place. The owner, his name is Mike. So it was easy for me to remember. Yeah. Didn't need you to write that down for me. Yeah. He's one of the owners. Yeah. Two owners. Um, but I was out of the facility. Um, I did take some pictures and stuff and, um, we're going to get Mike and possibly one of the other owners on.

[00:02:39] Um, they, we were out meeting them yesterday to talk about the PBA is going to be there. Um, doing a big tournament here this month. Yeah. The PPA, right. There's going to be a lot of PBAs. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of pros are going to be here. Um, I'm really going to be a lot of fun. Um, you know, it's just, just crazy. Um, this is, uh, Fort Collins. I mean, a facility this large, um, but they did a good job.

[00:03:04] Um, very nice facility. Um, it's really neat. Um, when you see the pictures for their soundproofing, right? Everybody uses carpet or cardboard or, or wall, uh, sound barrier. Yeah. They use like this plant stuff that goes all the way up, like 12, 15 feet in the air. It's like fake plants. And it actually absorbs the sound. And they had a light problem. They had all these windows and, uh, they, they had to do something. So they put this like green grass, very neat facility.

[00:03:35] Oh, nice. Um, you know, it was neat. Go ahead. Oh, I just realized what 002 is. Yeah. There you go. Why did they name it 002 and I just, oh my gosh, 002. That's why your paddle is being taken away. I'm giving it away. You don't even deserve a paddle. I know. I don't. I know. I know. You're just going to have to take it. No, it's gone. You're going to have to use your hand or kick the ball or something.

[00:04:03] Or you're going back to the punishment paddles that aren't, they're made of cardboard or something. The wood one. The wood ones. That's what you're going back. Yeah. I got to start to that. I can't, you know, that's so funny. You know how sometimes you can like, you know, you look at those pictures, like, um, they say, do you see a black and white picture? And you go, do you see what's, uh, do you see anything in it? And you're like, no. And then you, then they tell you, right. And then you look at it and you go, oh yeah, now I do.

[00:04:32] Now I see it. Now I do. Yeah. Well, anyway, so, um, I thought it was a, it was a neat experience. Um, we're going to be doing a podcast there and with the PBA and actually with, uh, 002. Um, I really enjoyed it. So, you know, I like the owners, the neat thing with these clubs, everybody's trying to make them better and better and, and, and listen to customers.

[00:04:56] Um, these two owners actually, what was really neat about it is they went and flew around the United States to, and went to facilities and didn't went to clubs. They didn't tell anybody. And they went in and talk to the people plan and ask the people what they could do better. If they want, what they could do better at that facility. So what they did is they took a lot of the people's opinions and, and they put them into their club and, uh, really nice. Got a nice little coffee shop.

[00:05:24] Um, they got a little, a nice area to sit. They got private offices and rooms for businesses. Uh, super nice. It's a large facility. Um, but, uh, I, and again, they just opened up. So, um, I really, you know, I'm just so excited to see how, where this thing's going. So, but you're gonna, I want to get, I don't want to tell too much, um, Mike and so. We're going to try to get him on, right? Um, so he'll be, he's going to be on this week. Yeah. He'll probably be on that possibly the next episode.

[00:05:54] Yeah. Um, but, uh, you're gonna, you're gonna like him. What a nice guy. Um, we, we seem to hit it off, but we're definitely going to do some, um, some podcasting and business with them. And like we do with everybody, I mean, we're out here to put the word out. And like we always say, you live vicariously through us. So we tell you what's going on out in the pick wall world here in Colorado. Yeah. Uh, and so, um, on today's episode, we're gonna, um, we have a, uh, great guest, uh, uh,

[00:06:23] Don Cerrone. And, um, she is in charge of the pickle, uh, pickle Rocky mountain. Um, and she went over, she was talking about, um, so she does a lot of like cancer fundraisers. She does a lot of, um, and this fundraiser that she's talking about, which was at the, um, uh, Pickler up in actually up in Loveland. Right. Or was that in Fort Collins? Do you remember?

[00:06:51] With, uh, that was, uh, that was actually up in North Glen or Thornton. Thornton. It was Thornton. It was the Thornton Pickler. Yeah. So we're going to get, so she's going to be on, um, shortly. And, uh, she's talking about, um, uh, that they were raising, um, for the kids with adaptive play. And so it's a really good episode just to know exactly what they're doing.

[00:07:18] And the great things that they're doing for, um, the kids in wheelchairs and just, you know, with the breast cancer, with everything that, um, uh, their club does. Well, and this lady, I got to tell you, Dawn, first of all, she, uh, gives really nice hugs. She doesn't give bro hugs. Um, like I know somebody, but anyway, uh, she gives really nice hugs and she is just the greatest person ever.

[00:07:46] She's always trying to make this world better. And, uh, you just, you just gotta love her. I mean, she is always at the club. She got, she plays at a relish a lot. She plays all over, but she is just the card. And now with the smile on her face, you know? Oh, she is just the, she's the sweetest person you ever meet. And she is always doing good. I mean, if there was a couple, few more of her, this world would be a better place. You know? Yeah. Yeah. So I really like her. She's been a very kind.

[00:08:15] Oh, she's just, she's so sweet. And she, so you're going to hear a little bit of her. Yeah. We got stuff coming up with her too. We're going to be at some events and you know, like they're talking to adaptive. Um, she does stuff with breast cancer. I mean, she is so involved in the community, um, raises tons of money, awareness and help. So you guys will enjoy the podcast. Um, you'll hear more of her. She'll be on. She's, you know, we just love to talk to her.

[00:08:42] So you'll hear more and more of her as we do some of our, uh, more shows that are going to be, uh, dedicated to series. So we'll talk about those. Yeah. So, but, uh, anyway, um, couple things. I mean, here in Colorado, we're getting ready to, uh, get back to the Hilton Emberness here in Colorado. I'm actually the, the coaching pro there. And, uh, that's a lot of fun that was supposed to start today.

[00:09:07] Um, but whether, whether did not permit. So, uh, we, um, so in that's on Wednesday nights, right? Mike. Yeah. Wednesday nights here. Seven. Yep. Anybody's welcome. Um, there's no charge, uh, for this right now. Um, you can come out and just play some pickleball. We have all the gear and fun, uh, coaching and, uh, get you playing pickleball. Yeah. It's really fun. People are always, you know, I think you, you change it up too.

[00:09:38] Like it's not, we grew it from zero. Yeah. We grew it from zero to probably 40 players last year. And then we had, uh, we had actually 20 players tonight for the first night. Except for, of course, with the snow, we didn't get a. See him. Yeah. It was a bummer because it's always fun to see the Hilton crew. Yeah. And then we're going to have some neat things that we're going to be bringing out a couple courts that are going to be roll up courts, um, with Scott.

[00:10:04] Um, and, uh, he's that you're going to hear some more about that. Um, right now they have two designated courts and they have four other courts that are lined. Um, so we have six courts total there. Now we're going to have two designated courts with two other rollout designated courts. And so we'll, it's going to be a lot of fun to see how those, uh, how you, how you like to play on those. Well, and another thing is, is I'm not sure a lot of people know this, but like we're

[00:10:32] working with some people that, um, that, uh, do events, right. They, uh, when we can come to them, right. With the rollout courts and we can help them have, um, like team building all kinds of things. Right. Oh, charity. We raise money. Um, you know, we do everything, you know, that's one of our big moves this year was to, uh, show up and, um, bring pickleball to you. So we hope you'll hear a little bit more about that.

[00:11:01] Um, you know, I think one of the things that we're growing right now too, is helping small businesses. And, uh, right now with this economy and things in the world, people are, things are tough. I mean, we know we're business owners and, uh, so we're doing something about it. And we also want to support the clubs. So you'll see as time goes, um, on, on court networking is gonna, is born and, uh, you'll, you'll hear more about this, but we're bringing small businesses and pickleball. So this is what it'd be neat is a pickleball and networking.

[00:11:30] So you get to come and get a little energy out, have a little fun, break the ice and, uh, get some leads. The dream. So it'll be a lot of fun. Yeah. The dream team, right. The dream team, pickleball and networking. Yeah. I mean, how can you beat that? So, uh, that you'll hear more of that. So I think today was just to kind of just talk and, you know, talk to our, uh, listeners and our fans and, you know, say hello. And, uh, we have some fun stuff coming for the future.

[00:11:57] A lot of tournaments, um, a lot of fun, uh, some new sponsorships that are coming, um, that you're gonna lie up. Um, I know you're gonna love, um, we can't say it yet, but you're gonna, I know you're, you're gonna love to hear this one, one of them is you will be, uh, very full and happy. I may, uh, I may end up, uh, gaining probably 40 pounds. I'm thinking because it's so good. I think you're, I think you're going to, um, we're gonna have to hold, um, we're gonna

[00:12:26] get a lot, give a lot of free stuff out. Hopefully if Christina doesn't get it. Right. So, uh, cause she loves this place, but just listen to the future here. It's, uh, we're hoping to have that information here in the next few weeks. And, uh, and then, uh, you're gonna hear about the Denver Iconics. Um, they had their, uh, draft. Was it last night? Yeah. Last night. So we're gonna, um, River Point. River Point.

[00:12:54] Uh, they have a bunch of fun stuff and we're gonna, we have a list. I hope by next week we can have our list out of the tournaments and fun things coming up, um, for the, uh, for here in the future. Yeah. And then, and if we have a list for, um, the, um, uh, Denver Iconics for the forties, the fifties and the sixties, uh, we'll put a list on our Instagram and our tick tock. So everybody knows who made the team.

[00:13:22] And they got some fun stuff coming up. Um, they have some, they have some stuff coming here. Tournament. Tournament. Tournament. Tournament coming up and then they have a, uh, some coaching, some, uh, pro, pro, uh, coaching classes. Yeah. Uh, pro lab. And so, um, May 15th through the 17th, uh, uh, again, uh, third shot river point, they got a tournament, uh, coming up and then they got, um, a pro lab.

[00:13:51] Um, I think it's coming up in June. I think it's like June 6th and that's going to be at the Greenwood athletic club. Yeah. So, uh, and you'll get to meet some great pros of all calibers that play all over the world. Um, but yeah, so guys, we just, uh, we never want to miss a show and we wanted to get on here and just, uh, say hello. Like we do every week.

[00:14:18] And, uh, there's a lot of fun stuff coming, honey. You know, the hard part I think for me, Chris Anna is just keeping up with it all. It's growing so fast. And now that we know so many people in the pickleball world, it's hard to choose where we go. Right. You know, for once in our life, um, we're trying to figure out how to fit it in all of it. Well, and just to kind of balance everything. And, um, yeah, it's great.

[00:14:43] And we love the podcast and, um, we just, this is exciting times for pickleball. It really is. It's not slowing down. I mean, there was projections of it starting to kind of slow down. And I see nothing of it. I mean, if any, I mean, there's just more clubs and more stuff and it's just crazy. So, well, and we do excited. And you know what? We'll probably have, um, some of the pros from the dimmer iconics.

[00:15:10] We'll get them on our podcast, but I know that we are going to, uh, get some of the pros from the PPA, um, on our podcast. So you guys got to stay tuned for that. Um, but right now, please stay tuned for Don Cerrone. Right. With Rocky Mountain. Yeah. You got to love her. Yeah. If you guys play at the rally, you'll know her. You can't miss her. She's always there to help people. And she's always there helping out. So she's just a great person.

[00:15:39] I mean, I, I, I can't just, I can't stop saying that. You know, I, I, I, there's just people, there's just people that you are genuine and awesome. And she's one of them, you know? And they, and, and she gives real hugs. She doesn't give the bro hug. Yeah. No, no, no, no bro hugs. You know, it's just crazy. I know people that do that. I know it's, it's strange. So it is strange. Well, stay tuned.

[00:16:08] It was stay tuned. And, uh, everybody we love you. Every professional athlete from football to tennis relies on electrolytes to stay strong and recover fast. Why? Because sweat takes away more than water. It drains essential minerals like sodium and potassium. Without them, your body slows down and your game slips. Pickleball is no different.

[00:16:33] That's why Holy is packed with the electrolytes you need to stay sharp, fueled, and ready to play longer. Visit holyperformance.com. That's H O L E Y performance.com. And use code next door for 20% off your order. Hi, Mike. Hey, Chris, Anna. How are you? Oh, another beautiful day. We're, I mean, I'd rather be playing pickleball, but it's okay. Sitting here with you. Oh, thank you.

[00:17:02] So we got another great guest here today. We got, uh, Don Cerrone and she is with Rocky mountain, uh, pickle. And you're, uh, um, you're, would you, you're a nonprofit, correct? Don. We are. We are a nonprofit club. That's correct. And Don is a very busy lady. She, she does so much for this community. Every, I mean, so much. I, I just, you gotta love her too. She gives the best hugs too. She's you are. You are very sweet. Yes. We love you.

[00:17:33] Um, well, thank you. So talking about busy, uh, this weekend on Saturday, right? You had a tournament, uh, talk about that. We did. It was really fun. We did it out at the Pickler and Thornton. Um, and a big shout out to Amber, the owner and to Stacey Stalling, who is their event director, because they gave us an incredible price and Stacey put on an excellent event. So big shout out to them.

[00:18:01] And what we did is we brought in folks from all over to plan a tournament for adaptive sports for all. So if anyone knows Jacob highly, he's in the area. He's amazing. He's a former Olympian, um, in the wheelchair. And we had multiple players who were in wheelchairs for this event. Um, and we raised some money. So I'm really excited. Uh, our goal was to, you know, make awareness for pickleball and also to help some of these

[00:18:29] young, uh, athletes who are wheelchair bound to be able to get into pickleball. That is awesome. That is awesome. And yeah, Amber's an awesome, that was one of our first events up there was opening her, uh, her facility. I love that. Yeah. And it's a beautiful facility. What a family. Gotta love their family too. So, but this is awesome that, um, so it went really well. It did. It was so fun. And I had, um, I had mixed players.

[00:18:58] So I had folks had never met before. Um, Sam was in a wheelchair. I paired him up with Holly who just had a blast. And actually I believe they'd exchange phone numbers and they're looking to do other events together. So it brought awareness. A lot of folks don't understand that there are adaptive players out there. And so we really wanted to bring that awareness. We wanted to raise some money and we wanted to be inclusive. You know, we really work hard to be as inclusive as possible.

[00:19:24] And this gave us an opportunity to do that with a different type of athlete. Right. Um, and not still a pickleball player, just doing it in a chair versus, you know, our legs. So it was pretty cool to see. Well, it's interesting because I know we were out at, uh, USA Pickleball in San Diego. Right. And it's interesting that the rules are, there's a two bounce rule, correct? But most of the time they didn't use, they, you just have one, uh, bounce.

[00:19:52] I mean, it's amazing how, um, how well they play, how well everyone plays. Well, and you don't have to be in a wheelchair to play with them. So let's let people know you don't have to go get in a wheelchair because they play very well. Like it, we, it was amazing when I first was, I didn't know that they did that, you know, when we were there and it was amazing to watch the play. I thought, Oh, this isn't going to go well. Right. Somebody is going to like, but they communicated. They're so fast. And then the, the, the, the play was incredible.

[00:20:21] Like it's just incredible. And that's what I'm saying. We paired up people who were not in wheelchairs with adaptive players who were in chairs who had never met before. Yeah. I think that's the crazy part. You know, yeah, they came together and had a blast and, um, it was just fun. Um, it was really, and they are, they rarely use that two balance rule. They are faster than we are on our feet. And, um, they are just extreme athletes. Oh, crazy.

[00:20:50] And then how, how well they control the ball and fast and hard. Wow. Yep. And now Jacob, Jacob made it into the, he, I think he took third. Wow. I think they actually did second. Yep. In their division. How old is Jacob? I don't know. I don't know if he wants to know, but the interesting thing is he's got a 15 year old daughter who also played. Um, and she's a phenomenal, phenomenal player. And so it was really fun to have Janelle out there also playing at some point, one point

[00:21:19] in time, she was actually playing against her dad. So it was super fun to watch. She's very talented 15 year old pickleball player. And I see her going very far as well, but I just, I love the family. I love him and what he does with his daughter and just what he does for the community. Do they team up together? I haven't seen, no, she has her own partner and he has his own partner. So, you know, it might be hard to play with your dad, right? Yeah.

[00:21:47] It's like playing with your wife, you know, same thing. Yeah. If you still want to, if you still want to stay married, right? You go home in the same car. Yeah, exactly. Um, yeah. So, uh, I don't, I don't know how old Jacob is. I do know that he has, um, been in the Olympics, um, more than one time. And I believe he competed in the, uh, Paralympics, I think in 2000, 2004 in multiple events.

[00:22:14] And I think he also played, participated in the wheelchair racing world championships in 2002 and 2006. So, um, he's pretty amazing. And he started this foundation called adaptive sports for all. And I would encourage everyone to look it up because it's pretty cool what they do. We are really excited that we could come forward in and, you know, bring awareness and raise some money. Yeah. We'll have to get that information from you and put it on our website and talk a little bit more about that so that we can get some more awareness at ourselves.

[00:22:42] Well, I know there's another tournament, I think, um, that's going to be happening and USA pickleball is involved down in at peak pickleball. How did you, have you heard of that? And I haven't. No, that's exciting. There's a big one that there it's a national one actually. So it's USA pickleball. So we'll have to keep you informed. We're going to let, you know, we have a bunch of, there's a lot of stuff going on. I mean, I feel bad. We couldn't come up and see you. I mean, we are, we, we're starting to like, look at our calendar and like, how do we do all this?

[00:23:11] You know, there's so much going on with pickleball. It's nuts. I, you know, we, we talk about the pickleball's going to unite this country, right? Because you can play at any age and any gender. Um, and the ability, someone will be out there to, you know, get on the court with you. And I love that about it. Oh yes. I mean, even you, we love playing with you. You're fun to play with. Thank you. Now, Chris, Anna, we don't know. I mean, it's all right. I was, I was, he's been a little mean. I've been mean. Yeah.

[00:23:40] We were had another podcast earlier and he's just, he's just spicy. I was trying to, I was trying to get, they, there were there. They want people to donate their paddles and I was donating her paddle. Cause you don't need it. No, there you go. Well, I didn't know. I didn't know that they've got paddle lift right there. Trying to look for people to donate paddles, um, to get those paddles out into different programs. I know we're partnering, um, with a organization that is working on that. Is that pickle for the good? Is that pickleball for good?

[00:24:10] Yeah. This is this one. Yeah. We just had her on. Okay. Good. She's going to be doing her paddle lift. Um, we are partnering with her for that event. Um, I, did we put it to July? That's my understanding. It's now in July. So, um, I think that'll be a really great event that we'll be promoting. And, um, one quick shout out. We were also invited to stars in pink on April 16th for Susan B. Komen, Colorado for the, uh, work that we do with breast cancer for our breast cancer

[00:24:39] events that we put on in October, late October, early November. You're going to have to let us know, you know, we'll come, we'll support you. We'll do what we know we're here to help you. Yeah. Um, I believe we're going to be doing a pride event on June 20th out of clear Creek. Um, and yeah, we're going to do it outside and it will be for Rocky mountain equality. So, uh, you know, we always try to find an organization that we can benefit for with what we're doing. I know you do so much.

[00:25:07] It's, it's just, how do you keep up with it all? I love the community. You do. It matters. I guess it matters. It does matter. And we found, you know what the pickleball is a place that you, like you said, we can connect real easy. Um, it's not a place that's uncomfortable. It's fun. And it's all walks of life. Everyone. Yeah. And, and to that point, people in chairs, not in chairs, you know, um, we, we, I play with a woman who has, um, you know, one leg.

[00:25:37] So she's prosthesis on the other. Um, we are working with a couple of those folks to bring them in and incorporate them. Um, you know, it's really about everyone having a safe space coming together and having fun, right? If you're not laughing, why are we doing it? Exactly. So, yeah. Oh, so, um, so are you guys involved in the paddle drive that Susan is going to be doing? It looks like it's July 18th. Yeah. That's I just, that's why I'm donating Chris Anna's paddle. So I've already got one. I got one right now.

[00:26:06] It's a nice one too. It's a, it's a, I think it's a Damon or diamond or what is it? Uh, I'm not going to tell you. I got to remember. I'm going to have to hide it now. Wow. Yeah. We weren't, he wasn't kidding. I mean, no, yeah. I've been looking around looking for her bag. Yeah. So, um, You know, but I'm sorry. We do, we do do a paddle, um, uh, giveaway every time we do one of our tournaments or mixers or round robins.

[00:26:32] And so essentially babble out, big shout out to them and to some other organizations will help me by donating paddles. We then have a one in 10 or one in 20 scratch option. One, you know, for $10 and people always buy all the tickets and then whoever wins gets that cool paddle that we've given away. Well, this time we had one woman who won a beautiful new paddle and she donated immediately to Susan. Oh, that's awesome. That's awesome. I love those scratch tickets. Those are so fun. Those are addictive. Didn't you buy them all?

[00:27:01] I did buy them. I tried, but I didn't win nothing. I got a towel. I think I did get a towel. He's knocking people out with a paddle. He's trying to get those. Oh yeah. Yeah. Those are fun. So, um, so then you have, so will you have a tournament with the Susan G Komen coming up? Did you say that? Yeah, we will in October. So two things, three things will happen. We'll have our pride event in June. Um, then we have a big beach day where we're just going to rent pontoons and have fun out at Carter Lake.

[00:27:31] Uh, then coming in September, we will have a large event for, for Hera, um, cancer research for that's ovarian cancer. Do that in the early September. Um, and that is an honor of our friend, Sharon White. And then October, we will then again, work with, um, Karina Steger and, uh, Susan B Komen of Colorado, and we'll have a large breast cancer event. I think our event last year had 110 participants, um, at it relish.

[00:27:59] So we will work on those two events. Um, you know, as we get closer into the season, but this will be our third annual year of hosting both the, the ovarian cancer research and then the breast cancer. We just got to keep in touch so we can all, we can come out and support you sometime. I know we got a crazy schedule, but we want to support you anytime we can. Well, we have a newsletter so I can sign you guys up for the newsletter goes out every week or once a month and it gives you all the information. I think we're about 550 people who received that mail currently.

[00:28:29] Um, and then our website is out there and I'm constantly updating it with what's the next event and what we're going to be doing. So, you know, watch for things on both of those. Yeah. Yeah. Cause if they're like going to donate shoes, I'll get her shoes too. I'm going to have to hide all my bags. I'm going to have to hide her bag. You're not very nice, Mike. I'm sorry. We have a little discussion about niceness. We talk about community. What is this? Etiquette. Yeah. Um, so yeah. Go ahead.

[00:28:59] Oh no, you're good. Um, so where do you play the majority of the time now, Dawn? Well, so I work at relish. Um, and I help them run their events and then I worked up front. So oftentimes I'm at relish. Um, we do meet a couple of times a week, Mondays and Friday afternoons outside in Erie. Um, at those courts and there's a lot of times where we have all eight courts going with the gals and guys that have showed up out there to play with us. And we usually start at three o'clock depending on weather.

[00:29:28] Um, and then sometimes we play, you know, on Saturday. So those are probably my two, you know, the most common spots that I'm playing. Um, I do mix it up though, cause I love to go out to the pickler and visit my dear friend Stacy. Um, and I did just reach out to some folks at a third shot in we were just to see about hosting an event. And I did just recently travel up to long long for third shot. So, you know, I think it's, yeah, I think it's important that we support all the clubs.

[00:29:59] Um, and, uh, you know, the work that they're doing and try to continue to just be part of the broader community. You know, just not Louisville or Lafayette or Erie, but you know, we were in Denver and South Denver, and we've got members that come in from all over the place. And so I want to make sure that as we do events that we're aware of that, and we don't have everybody's traveling north or south. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we need to support these clubs.

[00:30:26] I mean, they, this is million dollar clubs and you know, it's still hard for a lot of people that came into pickleball because it was free at one time. Right. Or you, you played at the rec center and now sometimes people are like, I can't pay that, you know, but it's like these clubs have built air conditioning. They've built you food, a nice bathroom. Some of the party parties at these places are not so wonderful, you know? So, uh, so, you know, I mean, so you get your benefit and, and people look at the big number instead of breaking it into four.

[00:30:55] It's not so bad if you're paying for four, you know, each of you put in, in donate to it. I mean, if you pay yet by yourself and you're just nice, like Chris Anna pays, I'm, I'm okay with that. But, but, uh. Well, you know, you go to the movie, right? Yeah. You buy a ticket at the movie. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. And it's $20, right? Oh yeah. 19 something. And then you didn't get your popcorn yet. So you walk out of there for $50 and you know, you didn't wait until prime. They came out on prime. You know, you were antsy. Yeah. And then you're not that price.

[00:31:25] You can go play pickleball for a couple hours, right? With friends. So I think the value is yeah. And get exercise. So I think we just, um, you know, when we look at it that way, um, I'm going to pick up, you know, put $20 in almost every time. So I've got two hours of play or even $24 because I'm getting that time with friends. I'm getting that, that ability to play. I'm getting that time and that experience. So for me, it's, it's worth it. And how about for your health?

[00:31:53] I mean, the heart association just put a huge thing out about pickleball, which was pretty crazy. That was awesome that, you know, this is, this is good for cardiovascular. You know, you're going to have a, you're going to have a longer life, uh, expectancy playing pickleball. So how great is that? I love that. Yeah. Now you might need two knee replacements and you know, a hip replacement and maybe a shoulder, but by God, your heart will be going though. You know, your community, your heart and your love will be all good.

[00:32:22] You might have to have some parts put back in, but you'll be okay. So that replace, put some metal in there and keep going. Keep on going. Keep on going. Yes, exactly. Well, you heard, did you fall and hurt your hand? Um, a couple months ago. Yes. I literally tripped and fell. Um, it wasn't pickleball. No, I tripped and fell. No, I tripped on the sidewalk and fell.

[00:32:49] Um, yeah, no, it was, uh, I have five bolts. I had broke five bones and, uh, my knuckles, my bones and, and ruptured every ligament and tendon, two fingers. So, um, they bolted all back together. I guess you've used bolts. They don't come out pins. I guess they have to take out. So, um, I have my hand back. Yeah. It's good. Is it your playing hand? It is my playing hand. It was. I was. Wow. I remember. I immediately, yeah, I immediately started playing left-handed.

[00:33:18] So I thought, well, I don't want to stop playing. So I picked up my paddle and put it in my left hand. I went out to the novice group to see how it would do. And I was like, Oh, actually I can go to lower and immediate. Um, and, um, I did have a funny story where a woman said to me, wait, you don't play left-handed. And I said, no, I'm giving it a try. And she goes, you should go to novice. And I said, I'll tell you what you pick any partner. If you beat me, I'll go to novice. If I beat you, you go to novice. Oh, yeah.

[00:33:48] I remember. I remember. I was just at relish not too long ago. And I was there and you filled me in. She threw me right in. She's like, get over here. You need to play. And so I went in there and played and she was playing. And I seen that she was playing left-handed. I was like, what? She plays really well. So there's a reason that this happened then. Right now. How is your, your original playing hand? I'm back. I'm fine. Yeah, I'm back. You know, it's, it's, it's back and I am. And yeah, it's bionic.

[00:34:17] You know, the funny thing is a lot of those people switch hands, right? When they play, right? The play's coming over and they'll just switch to their left. I never think to do that again. I mean, I played left, I let it go. And now I'm back to my right hand. So I'm not a switch player like a lot of folks are. But yeah, it, it allowed me to continue to be part of what I love and not miss out just because I was, you know, my one wing was bad. Yeah, it was good. Oh, you're a lot of fun to play with though. You're always, you're fun. Thank you. But you're competitive too, though.

[00:34:46] There's a competitive side with you. Yeah, I mean, I want us to, I want us to be growing in the sport. I want us to get better in the sport. I want it to be competitive, but I also want us to be smiling and laughing. And it's, it's serious. It's as serious as we make it. True. But I think even when we're, when we're really intense and we really are doing the best we can, there's still a reason to smile. There's still a reason to laugh. There's still a reason to find joy. There is.

[00:35:14] I tell people when you walk on a court, you get to exit the world for a minute. You know what I mean? That's what I love. I get no cell phones, no traffic, no life gets to kind of go away for a minute. And I just, that's what I love. So if you ever want to try pickleball and you want to get just away instead of, if you can't go on a vacation, just come play pickleball. Cause you get to get on the court and you meet great people and you get a laugh. You get to hit a little plastic ball and have some fun and get some exercise. Exactly. Just have fun. Enjoy. Exactly.

[00:35:43] So is there anything that you want to shout out? Do you want to give us your website? Um, so if people want to donate or anything like that? Um, well, they can't donate on our website, but they can donate to our Venmo if they feel like they'd like to. And if they just let me know what they're donating it for, I definitely, um, keep very, uh, rigid books as far as where the dollars come in and go to.

[00:36:09] Um, we are Venmo is at Rocky dash mountain dash P I K L. Um, and I will tell you that P I K L stands for people into kindness and love. So it's kind of our fun little double entendre on, you know, the word pickle. Um, our website is www.rockymountainpickle, um, P I K L again.com. Um, and I will be posting out the pride event coming up.

[00:36:34] Um, we support multiple organizations and we're also always looking for sponsors to someone who wants to come in and sponsor. Um, your banners will go up on every event we do. Um, and you know, we're just here to build. Um, we have a membership if people want to join, uh, you get a lot of discounts with your membership. So we're just here to have fun. And if you want to sign up for the newsletter, you can go to the website and just check the box that says you'd like to receive our newsletter. And that gives you everything.

[00:37:00] We have the greatest, um, one of our board members is a physical therapist, some other, she's got a ton of training, but she writes a really, um, lovely article every month. That is something I look so forward to and it's, it's them bones, them bones. And it's really, it's just so joyful what she does. And if nothing else, read that part of the newsletter. And I'll actually share that with you, you guys now I'll forward that over to you.

[00:37:27] Um, but that itself, I think is something I, I actually look forward to our newsletter. Um, because it is so fun. I love it. Well, and if you also get to see Dawn at the, at the relish, um, she gives great hugs if she wants to hug you, but she is just, she is so sweet. Um, she will help you. She's there for anything. She's not me even paid, whatever you need. She's there. She's just a great person. We love when we get to come to events with her. Yeah. I haven't seen you for a while, so we'll, uh, we'll have to come visit.

[00:37:56] Yeah. When I donate to her paddle, I'll come see you. Yeah. Just give it to you. And then you give it to Susan. I know how we can do this. So I'm going to give it to you and then you give it to Susan because Susan said she wouldn't take it. So if it comes from you, she doesn't know it was Chris Anna's paddle. I love it. I got a plan. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway. Well, we thank you so much for being on and kind of telling us what's going on. And, uh, we hope to be at the event so we can, uh, you know, do it live there. I love that. Thank you.

[00:38:25] I appreciate you guys so much and everything you do for the community. Well, thank you so much. And you too. So we'll hope to see you soon. Talk to you soon. Okay. Take care. Bye. Bye. Bye. Serve. Rally. Connect. Where business meets the court. OnCourt Networking. Come play and network. Find out more at OnCourtNetworking.com.