07 | A Very Tight Fortnite Schedule Transcript

Morgan:  My guest today are two of the top players in the world, recently winning the National Championships. I’m, of course, talking about the mother-daughter duo that has taken Pickleball world by storm. Leigh and Anna Leigh Waters. We’re going to talk about everything from homemade pizza dough recipes, their style of take-no-prisoner Pickleball, and we’ll have a few laughs along the way.

 

Quarantine Pizza [0:49]

Morgan:  Ladies and gentlemen, Leigh and Anna Leigh Waters! Welcome!

Leigh:  Whoa!

Anna Leigh:  Hi!

Morgan:  That was a collective whoa. Well done! It’s an exciting time, isn’t it?

Leigh:  Oh my gosh, it is a very strange time, actually.

Anna Leigh:  Interesting.

Leigh:  Interesting, I mean who would have ever thought that we would be quarantined in our house for over two months. But here we are.

Morgan:  What are you doing to kind of pass the time at the moment?

Anna Leigh:  Well, I’m running, playing soccer in the yard. I’m playing Fortnite (laughs…) and doing TikToks, and I’m baking.

Morgan:  Oh, you’re baking. I’m baking as well. I think everybody is starting to fall in love with baking. What are you baking, Anna Leigh?

Anna Leigh:  Well, this week I’m going to bake a cake. I’ve made brownies, cookies, stuff like that.

Leigh:  We’ve been making our own pizza dough.

Anna Leigh:  Oh yeah.

Morgan:  Oh awesome!

Leigh:  Yes.

Morgan:  Are you using like dry, instant yeast?

Leigh:  Yeah but there’s like a shortage of it.

Morgan:  Yeah.

Leigh:  So we’ve had to buy it in bulk so that we have it because none of our grocery stores have it right now.

Morgan:  Yeah, there’s a little trick. If you go to a bakery and you ask them very nicely, they might sell you fresh yeast. It’s like cake yeast, and I was surviving with that for a little while. But I did the same thing and I bought like 2 lbs. of instant dry, active yeast. So I’ve got way too much.

Anna Leigh:  Did you refrigerate it?

Leigh:  I know, right? Did you keep refrigerated?

Morgan:  Well yeah, the dry, active stuff yes – well, I think as soon as you open the thing…

Leigh: You’re supposed to put it in there.

Morgan:  Yeah.

Leigh:  Yeah, we failed to do that the first time.

Morgan:  Yeah, that’s what happened to me too.

Anna Leigh:  It’s a little learning curve.

Leigh:  Oh good, I don’t feel so bad.

Morgan:  Yeah, don’t worry. I tried to make a sourdough starter. I’ve actually tried twice now; one of them looks like it might survive but I killed the first one pretty quickly, and it wasn’t great. I needed to use distilled water. Who knew you needed to use distilled water or filtered water to make the yeast kind of activate.

Leigh:  Uhuh…

Morgan:  And warm water, I was using cold water. I basically got everything wrong and it did not survive.

Leigh:  Yeah, with the pizza dough, it has to be between 110° and 115° or something which is not easy.

Morgan:  It’s so finicky. Now, are you leaving the dough in the fridge overnight and letting it have a second rise in the fridge?

Leigh:  No, we’re not that patient.

Anna Leigh:  No.

Leigh:  We make it and then it says to let it rise or an hour.

Anna Leigh:  And then we put it on a warming drawer.

Leigh:  Yeah, we put it in a dark place, in the warming drawer. We don’t turn on the warming drawer but that’s where we put it. And then, it takes an hour, and then we make our pizzas.

Morgan:  Ladies, you can’t rush this thing.

Leigh:  I know.

Morgan:  I’ve been letting them go for about three days in the fridge and the yeast really comes alive. It makes a big difference.

Leigh:  But then you have to plan. See, we’re not planners. We want pizza and we want it now kind of people. (laughs…)

Morgan:  (laughs…) What? Okay, so you just make a big batch and you cut it into 8 or 6, at least, balls and you put it in the Tupperware containers, and then you’ve got plenty of good dough to use in the following week.

Leigh:  That’s true. But we make four pizzas at a time, so we’re already making a lot of dough that needs to be used up immediately.

Morgan:  Fair enough. Now, are you making your own sauce? That’s important.

Leigh:  No, we are not.

Morgan:  Oh come on!

Anna Leigh:  But we are making our own cheese.

Morgan:  Okay… Seriously?

Leigh:  We are not!

Anna Leigh:  And we are growing our own mushrooms in the backyard.

Morgan:  Oh, I get it. I see.. (laughs…)

Leigh:  (laughs…) Oh, Anna Leigh…

Morgan:  I’d be very impressed if you’re making your own cheese. I want to meet the cows.

Leigh:  I know, the cows, I know, exactly! Oh, A1 Steak Sauce, you are just so silly.

Morgan:  Classic steak sauce! For the listeners out there who don’t know that A1 Steak Sauce is one of Anna Leighs many nicknames, that’s what it is.

Leigh:  Yes.

Morgan:  I do hope you’re not using it on the pizza.

Leigh:  No, no. Of course not.

Anna Leigh:  That would be interesting though, like chicken and that.

Morgan:  I was thinking about putting Korean beef on there.

Leigh:  That would be good.

Anna Leigh:  I’ve never had Korean beef.

Morgan:  Once you start making Bulgogi and then it kind of takes up your entire life. The hard part is slicing it really, really thin. I’ve been using a food processor and I’ve been processing anything I can find. I even named the processor, CR Choppington. It’s kind of a big deal.

Anna Leigh:  I was hoping it was going to be like Bob or something.

Leigh:  CR the Choppington, I like that.

Morgan:  CR the Choppington, I was kind of the drawn between that and Sir Mix-A-Lot.

Leigh:  Oh I like Sir Mix-A-Lot but that’s more like your kitchen aid mixer than your food processer.

Morgan:  Yeah, that’s true. I used one of those to knead the dough yesterday after realizing that I didn’t want to spend…

Leigh:  Yes, that we used too.

Morgan:  Good. Twenty minutes by hand is tough.

Leigh:  Although these days we have the time.
Morgan:  Yeah, it’s true we got nothing but time.

Leigh:  Nothing but time.

Morgan:  You’re only judged by your waistline.

Anna Leigh:  I’m actually on a very tight Fortnite schedule.

Leigh:  But you guys aren’t as locked down as we are, are you? Or are you?

Morgan:  Yeah, actually they just opened up last week, I think last Wednesday; Pickleball, tennis and golf. Everything else is still closed…

Leigh:  So are you back to teaching?

Morgan:  But I’m able to teach.

Leigh:  Oh okay.

Morgan:  Yeah, yeah, it’s very strange honestly. I feel like it was way too soon.

Leigh:  Yeah.

Morgan:  I guess they’ll just keep looking at the numbers and if we’re in trouble then we go back to full lockdown. But I’ve been playing golf and teaching Pickleball way too much, and making pizza.

Leigh:  And making pizza… Do you have to take precautions with the teaching? Do you have to wear gloves and all that stuff?

Morgan:  You’ve got to wear masks and sanitize the balls and whatnot.

Leigh:  Gotcha.

Morgan:  It’s a little tricky but it’s worth it just to feel a little bit of normality. Normality or normalcy?

Leigh:  Normality.

Anna Leigh:  I wouldn’t know.

Leigh:  (laughs…) There’s rumors of the golf courses opening in the next week or so, but we haven’t heard anything about Pickleball. What they’ve done in some of the northern counties in Florida is they’ve opened up the Pickleball and the tennis courts but you’re only allowed to play singles.

Morgan:  Oh right.

Leigh:  Which would be fine for me and Anna Leigh because the majority of the time that we play, it’s just her and I anyway. But we wouldn’t be able to get four people on the court. So I have a feeling that’s what they’ll do down here too.

Anna Leigh:  Once they open everything…

Leigh:  Once they open everything back up, yeah.

Morgan:  I think there’s probably a loophole whereby if you’ve got two courts next to each other, you could spread four people out and then kind of joint the nets together, and it’ll be a very wide version of Pickleball.

Leigh:  There you go. An extra-large Pickleball.

Morgan:  Exactly, yeah! Pickleball XL. I think that could be a thing.

Leigh:  (laughs…)

Anna Leigh:  I was playing Fornite with somebody and they said, “You should have a Coronavirus game where if you got within six feet of a person, you automatically die.”

Morgan:  Oh snap!

Leigh:  (laughs…)

Sponsor: CoachME Pickleball

 

Something Pickleball-related [8:45]

Morgan:  Let’s get back to the Waters and see what’s cooking.

Okay, now, we’ve obviously talked about a lot of stuff; however, we should probably get into something Pickleball-related.

Leigh:  Sounds good. Whatcha got for us?

Morgan:  Alright. Life after Nationals. You guys won the Nationals. I don’t know if you remember that, it was a while ago, and life has changed a lot but that was kind of a big deal, don’t you think?

Anna Leigh:  That was huge!

Leigh:  That week was one of my favorite week, maybe my favorite week in Pickleball ever. It was just like the stars aligned that week and everything came together. We played really well from start to finish which doesn’t always happen in a tournament.

Morgan:  Yeah, that’s tough.

Leigh:  I know. Somehow, we went through that whole tournament undefeated. I think we had two – the matches against Catherine and Jessie both went three games.

Anna Leigh:  And we almost lost the first game.

Leigh:  We almost lost the first game but it was just a fabulous experience and nobody can ever take that away from us which is pretty cool.

Morgan:  Once a champion, always a champion.

Leigh:  We just hope we get to defend our title but we’ll see, who knows?

Morgan:  Yeah, it’s probably even money at the moment on whether or not something, a big tournament like the Nationals will actually be able to run.

Leigh:  I know, or any tournament at all. I’m going to be surprised really. I mean they’ve canceled…

Anna Leigh:  TOC is the first major coming up…

Leigh:  That’s in August.

Morgan:  Yeah, I’m not sure. I’d be surprised if that runs.

Leigh:  Yeah, I would too. I just don’t know how they can do it.

Morgan:  I mean you two seem like you’re pretty switched on. Any chance you two could create a vaccine for us?
Leigh:  (laughs…) Maybe Anna Leigh.

Morgan:  Okay.

Anna Leigh:  I did just graduate halfway through 8^th grade, so…

Leigh:  She did just graduate semester one of 8^th grade, and that’s almost equivalent to sleeping at a Holiday Inn Express.

Morgan:  (laughs…) Oh my god!

Leigh:  (laughs…) Have you ever seen those commercials where like the guy…

Anna Leigh:  No.

Leigh:  What? The guy was like doing surgery and they say something like, “Doctor, do you know how to do this procedure?”

And he says, “Well, I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night.”

You have not seen these commercials?

Morgan:  I guess I have to find this commercial. It sounds adorable.

Leigh:  Yeah, you have to find those. I thought I was being all funny and nobody even gets my joke.

Anna Leigh:  We didn’t even get the joke.

Morgan:  Look, you got to know your audience. This might be a Florida kind of thing.

Leigh:  (chuckles…) There you go. Oh my gosh! But yeah, I mean we’ve only actually played a few tournaments since Nationals. And of course, there’s a new team on the horizon so that’s been a new challenge for us for sure.

Morgan:  There’s no other team. You’re basically all I know. What are you talking about?

Leigh:  (laughs…)

Morgan:  Are you referring to Simone and Lucy?

Leigh:  Yes, yes. So we’ve played them twice or three times? And we’re getting closer with each…

Anna Leigh:  We’ve played them more if you count the time…

Leigh:  Because I’ve played them with Catherine.

Morgan:  Simone and Lucy, the wrecking balls that have embodied Simone and Lucy. I think – I don’t know, for my money, it’s certainly going to be a matter of time before you two are really struggling to find competition. Maybe enter some of the guys’ tournaments? It’s a very progressive world we’re living in.

Leigh:  (laughs…) That would be fun. We would have no pressure in the men’s draw.

Morgan:  Yeah. Irena played in a men’s singles tournament, I think it was at Bobby Riggs a couple of years ago.

Leigh:  Oh really?

Morgan:  Yeah, yeah, it was very funny.

Leigh:  Oh my goodness.

Morgan:  Yeah, we loved it. It was great. She did pretty well too.

Leigh:  I would imagine. She’s tough at singles, man.

Morgan:  Yeah. Anna Leigh, who’s the best player you’ve beaten in singles?

Anna Leigh:  Simone.

Leigh:  Yeah, but you beat…

Morgan:  In a tournament?

Anna Leigh:  I did. We were in a tournament.

Leigh:  Yeah because she defaulted in the middle of the match.

Anna Leigh:  Okay, I recorded 5 – 0 though, okay? (laughs…)

Leigh:  Yeah, that doesn’t count.

Morgan:  Oh, okay.

Anna Leigh:  Oh yeah, and then we played again in the Nationals.

Morgan:  Oh that’s right. I watched that. I was trying to coach against you, unfortunately. And the best I can come up with is, “You’re not going to lose to a 12-year-old, are you?”

And she was like, “I don’t know. It looks like I might lose to a 12-year-old.”

“Well, don’t lose to a 12-year-old. Jeez! What are we doing?”

Anna Leigh:  Michele was also another one.

Morgan:  Oh yeah, yeah. Michele is great. Her singles game has come along so much, it’s amazing!

Leigh:  She hits with so much power.

Anna Leigh:  I know.

Leigh:  Anna Leigh beat her at TOC but then lost to her at Nationals in the back draw and it was like 15 – 12 or something like that?

Anna Leigh:  It was close.

Leigh:  But Michele just consistently was able to hit the corners at a serious pace.

Morgan:  Yeah, it’s very impressive. She beat Kaitlyn Christian pretty easily in, I think it was at Nationals.

Leigh:  Yeah.

Morgan:  She was all over the place.

Leigh:  It was a round or two after Anna Leigh. She’s playing singles really well.

Morgan:  Yeah, I think as soon as she started really taking her conditioning seriously, it changed everything. She looks great and moving so well around the court.

But Anna Leigh, at the end of the day, you’re still 13, right? Is that correct?

Anna Leigh:  Yes.

Morgan:  So I think you’ve got a little bit of time to grow into the singles game, so don’t beat yourself up. You’ll be fine.

Leigh:  Singles is great. I’m glad she plays it because it’s not for me.

Morgan:  (chuckles…) So Anna Leigh, do other kids realize you’re a professional athlete? How do they treat you?

Anna Leigh:  A lot of my stuff, I’ll put like Anna Leigh Pickleball Pro or something on it and they always make fun of it for a little bit. But once they see play, they’re like, “Okay, I’ll give you some credit.”

Morgan:  (laughs…) Oh, that’s nice.

Leigh:  So they don’t think you’re legit?

Anna Leigh:  They’re like, “Why do you put that?” And I’m like, “Well…” But one them has played before and she thought it was really fun.

Morgan:  Oh good. Yeah, all you have to do is get all the other kids, all your friends to play and they’ll realize you’re like the new golden goddess of Pickleball.

Leigh:  Well, and then stuff like seeing her on the cover of Pickleball Magazine…

Anna Leigh:  Oh, and I had one friend who saw me on TV while she’s watching TV on the news, and I popped up.

Leigh:  Yeah.

Anna Leigh:  That was cool.

Leigh:  And the getting – when they find out that she has sponsorships, and some of them watch Nationals, the live streaming of Nationals. And once they see it, they’re like, “Oh wait, this is legit. This isn’t like some sort of made-up sport.” So I think once they realize the kinds of things that she’s getting to do, then all of a sudden, it’s like, “Whoa”. Some of your friends now are, “Whoa, mom!”

Like their parents will come to me and say, “So and so just came up and said mom, Anna Leigh’s a celebrity. Anna Leigh’s a professional athlete.”

Morgan:  Oh, that’s nice!

Leigh:  It is kind of funny.

Morgan:  Do you think that’s going to inspire at least Florida children but hopefully, around the country to take the sport more seriously and really think about getting into Pickleball as opposed to the more sort of common sports.

Anna Leigh:  I think so because I feel like once they see it for the first time, they’re going to want to play. And once they play, then they’re going to really want to keep playing. So just like getting the first, the hardest is going to be getting the first couple of kids to play. But once they do it, they’ll tell all their friends about it, then that’s the way they’re going to fall in love.

Morgan:  Yeah, that’s great. I think it’s going to be wildfire. You two should have like a roadshow and just go around the country, stopping and do like a Leigh and Anna Leigh Challenge. Any two people can come and challenge you. If they lose, I don’t know, a couple of hundred bucks, do some live streaming, take all challenges.

Leigh:  We’ve talked about doing stuff like that. We’ve talked about trying to find like a big company – we haven’t approached anyone but I know Walmart is really into Pickleball. They have at their corporate headquarters, they built courts for their employees and staff.

Morgan:  Oh wow!

Leigh:  But if you could get a company like that to back you, then we could do something like that where you stop at schools all over or YMCAs or parks or whatever it is, because kids seeing other kids play especially at that level is what’s going to make them want to go on the court.

And we did some summer camps this past summer with kids. First, we did a demo with me and the pros there, and the kids were like whatever. Anna Leigh gets on the court, all of a sudden, you could hear a pin drop and their eyes are all on her. And as soon as it was over, all they wanted to do was play Pickleball. They had a choice; play Pickleball or go to the swimming pool. They all wanted to play Pickleball.

Morgan:  That’s awesome!

Leigh:  Yeah, that it’s all about kids relating to kids. There is nobody better than Anna Leigh to be the face of that because she’s shown that you can be 12 and win Nationals at the professional level if that’s what you want to do.

Morgan:  Yeah, if you work hard enough.

 

What Does It Take? [19:27]

Morgan:  So you two drill a lot, don’t you? Obviously, right now we’re in a holding pattern.

Leigh:  Yeah.

Morgan:  But I do remember talking to you about this not too long ago. The kind of hours you spend on court together working hard, what kind of numbers are we talking here?

Leigh:  Well, it’s harder for Anna Leigh, obviously, because of her other sports. But what we try to do is go out – I try to get her out at least three days a week which should be more, I know, but it’s really hard with soccer and we still do some tennis.

Morgan:  Yeah.

Leigh:  So we go out and we usually spend about two hours but it’s like…

Anna Leigh:  Hard two hours.

Leigh:  It’s a hard two hours. I mean, we’re dead by the end of it. And it’s just a mixture of working on specific shots, working on consistency. And then at the end, we play a variety of different skinny singles.

Morgan:  Okay.

Leigh:  Yeah, because that’s really good for Anna Leigh and I’m good enough in singles to play with her but not good enough to beat her. I beat her on a rare occasion but she’s just way too fast.

Morgan:  She’s pretty quick.

Leigh:  I can’t keep up.

Morgan:  It’s an unfair advantage of being so young, I’d say. It’s not really fair. You should give your mom a 5 or 6-point buffer.

Leigh:  I think we’re going to start doing that.

Anna Leigh:  Thanks, Morgan!

Morgan:  Oops. (chuckles…) Who wins when you play skinny singles?

Anna Leigh:  Usually mom. Mom usually wins.

Morgan:  That’s good. Well, you should stop after that.

Leigh:  I know how to press her buttons in skinny singles. She gets so irritated because she’ll hit a great shot but it’ll be on the other side of the court, and she’ll be like, “I hate it! It’s in but it’s out, it’s in but it’s out!” She’s very frustrated by the game of skinny singles.

Anna Leigh:  It’s in but it’s out!

Leigh:  Yeah, so skinny singles usually go my way but full court singles go hers, so it’s an even trade-off. We all go home happy.

Morgan:  That’s good. Okay, it looks like you found a good compromise there.

Leigh:  Yes, for sure.

 

Pickleball Trivia [21:43]

Morgan:  I think it’s time for a little Pickleball Trivia.

Welcome to Pickleball Trivia! I’ve got a couple of contestants on the line, ready to go head to head. First of all, contestant #1 is Sue Wong from Redland. Sue Wong, how are you, sweetie?

Sue:  I’m doing good. I am surviving in style.

Morgan:  Excellent! Happy to hear it. Your opponent today is none other than Fernando from Long Beach. How are you, Fernando?

Fernando:  I’m doing fantastic. Great to be here.

Morgan:  Good man. So your Facebook says Fernando FitPro. I imagine you are a fitness professional?

Fernando:  Yes, I am. I have my own business and that is the brand, Fernando FitPro.

Morgan:  Brilliant, good stuff. Hopefully, the business survives this little pandemic thing that seems to be floating around?

Fernando:  Absolutely, yeah.

Morgan:  Okay, so contestant #1 will be Sue and she’s going to have the serve to start with. I will ask you a Pickleball-related question. If you get it right, you keep the serve and continue to score points. If you don’t or you pass, then Fernando will have a chance at that question. If he gets it, he gets the point and the serve, just like Pickleball. The first player to get to five points wins the game and bragging rights, and likely an incredible Selkirk gift voucher.

Fernando:  Awesome. For $2,000? I love it!

Morgan:  I’d say millions – probably millions.

Sue:  (laughs…)

Fernando:  (laughs…) Woohoo! Alright!

Morgan:  Okay, we’re going to start off slow. We’re going to ease you into it. Sue, are you ready?

Sue:  I am ready.

Morgan:  Pickleball Central is located in which major city?

Sue:  Oh man, I was just talking to someone about that. This is terrible. I know it’s in Washington. I don’t know if Bellevue sounds right.

Fernando:  I got it.

Morgan:  You don’t get it just yet, Fernando.

Fernando:  Okay, no, I’m just waiting patiently. No pressures here.

Sue:  I haven’t been there so I know I need to go there. Don’t I get the state right?

Morgan:  Yeah, you don’t get points for that. It’s a city. Do you want to take a stab at it or are you just passing it over to Fernando FitPro?

Fernando:  She can pass it over. Just pass it over. You can take the next one.

Sue:  I know. This is terrible. I’ll just say Bellevue, I don’t know why that came to mind but I know it’s below Seattle.

Morgan:  Alright, this is going to be a tricky one now. Fernand, any thoughts?

Fernando:  Yes, Pickleball Central is located in Seattle.

Morgan:  It is Seattle, yes. So you almost got it the end. Fernando gets the point and the serve. Well played.

Fernando:  Awesome!

Sue:  Nicely done.

Fernando:  That’s probably the only point I’m going to get.

Sue:  Okay. (laughs…)

Morgan:  Alright, Fernando, are you ready?

Fernando:  I’m ready.

Morgan:  For a serve to be legal, it must abide by three main contact rules. What are they?

Fernando:  So it has to be under the hips, it has to be in front, and underhand.

Morgan:  Oh, I wish I could give you half a point there. Unfortunately, that is incorrect which means Sue gets a chance to answer this one. Sue, talk to me.

Sue:  You have to hit with an upward motion, the paddle head can be above the wrist, and you need to make contact below the waist.

Morgan:  That’s it, that’s the trifecta.

Sue:  I got one!

Morgan:  Very impressive. That’s one point.

Fernando:  Perfect. Okay, that’s good.

Morgan:  Good job, good job. Okay, Sue, you have the serve and will have a chance to answer this one.

Sue:  Okay.

Morgan:  What are the dimensions in feet of the service box?

Sue:  A service box I believe is 10 by 15.

Morgan:  That is correct! Alright, Sue, cooking with gas.

Sue:  I’ve had to talk many lines, so I know.

Morgan:  Alright, so next question for, you got a 2 – 1 lead already. What year was Pickleball invented?

Sue:  What year was Pickleball invented – 1965?

Morgan:  1965.

Fernando:  That is correct.

Morgan:  Very good. Okay, I mean I should have more faith but that’s impressive.

Fernando:  That’s a Fernando question.

Sue:  Well, because I read I think we’re celebrating the 55^th anniversary of Pickleball.

Morgan:  Yes, that’s right.

Of the three men said to have invented the game of Pickleball, one of them was a congressman. Who was it?

Sue:  Joel Prichard.

Morgan:  4 – 1, jeez! This is kind of running away here.

Sue:  (laughs…)

Fernando:  Those are easy questions. Those are supposed t be beginner’s questions.

Sue:  I’ll take them!

Morgan:  Well, in fairness I’ve done this show probably 8, maybe 10 times and these are questions that a lot of people get wrong, so I’m just saying, we’re looking at a couple of elite quiz athletes.

Fernando:  Very good.

Morgan:  Sue, are you ready? This is for the win, by the way.

Sue:  Oh, okay. Oh my goodness, here we go.

Morgan:  The first three countries to belong to the IFP are?

Sue:  First three countries?

Fernando:  Oh, I know this one too.

Morgan:  Alright, Fernando.

Fernando:  (laughs…)

Sue:  (laughs…) Will go with the United States, Australia and the UK?

Morgan:  Unfortunately, you got one right. I won’t tell you which one but it means Fernando gets a chance here. He, apparently, knows the answer.

Fernando:  Yes, finally.

Sue:  He’s bitting at the chomps.

Fernando:  I think so, yeah you took all of my good questions there. Those are the ones I was wanting but it’s all good.

Morgan:  Alright, Fernando, you got a chance. What is it, bud?

Fernando:  So it is the US, Canada and India.

Morgan:  Well done, okay!

Sue:  Wow!

Morgan:  Good job. You are cooking with gas.

Fernando:  Yeah, I got to fight for my life here.

Morgan:  Yeah, you’re up against the wall here. You are down 4 – 2 but there’s hope.

Fernando:  There is hope.

Morgan:  Alright, your next question: Who took the silver medal in the 2019 Women’s National Pro Doubles?

Fernando:  I don’t know this one.

Morgan:  I was really hopeful. I felt like you had it. You were on such a run there – one is a run.

Fernando:  Yeah, no, I don’t know any of the other players.

Morgan:  Well, you might not be lost yet unless Sue can get it, you’ll have another chance. Sue, the silver medal in the Nationals, Women’s Pro, who won?

Sue:  In 2019?

Morgan:  2019, yes. Who took the silver?

Sue:  Jessie Irvine and Catherine Parenteau.

Morgan:  That is correct! That is the win, 5 – 2. Congratulations, Sue Wong!

Fernando:  Good job, Sue!

Morgan:  Very impressive.

Sue:  Thanks, Fernando.

Fernando:  Yeah, no problem.

Morgan:  Fernando, you put up a good fight. For a man who’s only been playing for a couple of months, that was very impressive.

Sue:  Yeah, I was impressed.

Morgan:  We’re going to have to get you back on this show.

Fernando:  Yup, I’m still learning. So yeah, obviously I know how to serve but I didn’t know that there’s a special rules for that.

Morgan:  Yeah, there’s a couple of rules, unfortunately. We’re all still learning. It’s a tricky game. Sue is one of the USAPA referees, so she’s good with all that stuff. Probably an unfair question.

Sue:  So I had a slight edge on you, Fernando.

Fernando:  Okay, it’s all good.

Sue:  But my advice is be sure to know the rules.

Fernando:  Absolutely.

Morgan:  I’m sure Fernando can probably beat us both in a push-up contest.

Sue:  Definitely. I saw his Instagram, the work-out videos.

Fernando:  I’m looking forward to playing with you guys in the future.

Morgan:  Well, Riverside county has opened up Pickleball, tennis and golf, so we’re back on the courts. It’s a good time.

Fernando:  Yeah, I think Palm Desert also opened a few parts and I’ll probably be there next month, up there with some friends.

Morgan:  Brilliant! Well, hit me up and I’ll be here.

Sue:  Cool!
Fernando:  Awesome

Morgan:  Alright, guys, thank you so much for your time. This has been another episode of Pickleball Trivia. Good job, guys. We’ll see you soon on the courts.

[background music plays]

 

Wrap It Up [30:22]

Morgan:  That’s fantastic work from our contestants today. Let’s head back to the Waters and wrap it up.

Now, given that it might be some time before a team sport such as soccer can be played at any competitive level, does Pickleball win by default now?
Anna Leigh:  Well, if there’s no soccer, yes.

Leigh:  (laughs…) We can’t really do that either.

Anna Leigh:  We can’t do either one right now so it looks like Fortnite and TikTok are going to win by default.

Morgan:  Fortnite. So you’re really focusing on your videogames.

Leigh:  There you go. At least TikTok you’re getting exercise.

Anna Leigh:  Fortnite I’m building thumb and finger strength.

Leigh:  Grip strength.

Anna Leigh:  Grip strength.

Morgan:  (chuckles…) I’ve successfully avoided Fortnite for – I don’t know. How long has it been running? A couple of years now?

Anna Leigh:  I don’t know…

Leigh:  Yeah, yeah. She literally never played video games. We bought the Playstation whatever in January. She played it when we first got it, never played it again. But now, I’m so honestly thankful that we have it because it’s really a good way for her to socialize with her friends because there are ways that you can play together. So she gets on at night with her friends and they can talk through the program and everything. So they have Fortnite parties, and so it’s been a good time.

Morgan:  Just so I’m clear though, they’re aren’t running around killing each other right?

Anna Leigh:  We’re playing with each other and killing others.

Leigh:  It is very strange when you hear, “Oh, I just got shot!”

Anna Leigh:  “I’m dead! Revive me.”

Leigh:  Or, “There’s a sniper!”

Anna Leigh:  Yeah, you heard that last night!

Morgan:  Oh my god!

Leigh:  So yeah, at least she has that because like you said, we won’t be having soccer probably for a while.

Morgan:  That’s a shame.

Leigh:  Although interestingly enough, I guess North Carolina – they’re slowly reopening and she was talking to her cousins who play soccer, and they’re allowed to start practicing.

Morgan:  Wow, that’s awesome!

Anna Leigh:  Like a couple of kids and their coach…

Leigh:  Small groups.

Anna Leigh:  Yeah, small groups.

Morgan:  Okay.

Leigh:  So, I don’t know. It’s going to be a weird year, I think for sure.

Morgan:  There’s some light at the end of the tunnel there, maybe.

Leigh:  Maybe.

Morgan:  Hopefully.

 

Aggressive By Nature [33:00]

Morgan:  So I wanted to ask to a large extent, the style that you two play is quite different from other teams. Can you kind talk a little bit about what it is that you think is different about you two and your style versus most of your opposition, and why it’s so effective?

Leigh:  Do you want to start, Anna Leigh?

Anna Leigh:  Sure, I’ll start. I’ll start with one of the most obvious things is playing up the line, I guess. And the reason that we do that is for more time, and it’s easier to go up to the line than it is to back off the line. So I feel like if there is a dink or a shot, then we can get it in one or two steps. But if someone is like we’re hitting harder on the line, it’s just right there and you have to be quick. But if you stand a foot back, you can take these bigger swings and you can hit it harder.

Leigh:  Anna Leigh plays – well, she used to, I don’t know anymore.

Anna Leigh:  I think I still do.

Leigh:  Anna Leigh plays even further back than I do, I think.

Morgan:  Yeah.

Leigh:  But more and more teams are starting to do it, but we were kind of the first to step back and allow the ball to bounce in the kitchen and then wait for it to rise and try to be offensive off of that, kind of like mini, little groundstrokes, two-handed backhand off the bounce, trying to be more aggressive with a forehand off the bounce. And if you’re standing on the line, it’s harder to do that whereas if we back off then the ball can bounce and get up to that peak where you can be more offensive. I think the biggest thing is being able to identify off the bounce whether that is actually a ball you can be offensive on. And so, where it gets a little bit tricky because sometimes you might allow the ball bounce and it’s just not there, and then you do have to kind of reset and now you are off the line, at least when I watch our matches, there’s a lot of in and out, in and out, in and out. Moving up and then moving back, and then moving up and moving back. Our whole goal from day one has been to be the first to be offensive and that’s how we play and I don’t see that ever changing, and we’ve been successful at it.

Morgan:  Yeah, you can’t really change your nature.

Leigh:  No, no.

Morgan:  You two are aggressive by nature, no doubt about it

Leigh:  Yeah, there you go!

Morgan:  I do study the game in a lot of ways and I wrote an article recently about your style and whatnot. It’s called Deeper Waters, actually.

Leigh:  Oh, that’s so cool!

Anna Leigh:  That is cool – Deeper Waters.

Leigh:  I can’t wait to read it.

Morgan:  Yeah, yeah, I’ll send it to you or it might end up on Pickleball Magazine. But I kind of likened you and the style you play to Rafa Nadal, in that when you watch Rafa play, he stands so far back from the baseline and he’s prepared to do the extra running knowing that he’s giving up some angles but to create some angles. He’s forcing his opponents to move more by virtue of him being further back and allowing the ball to get wider typically, and then using that angle against his opponents. It seems like you two have done that in Pickleball. And what you said about kind of letting a ball get up to the apex is perfect. But it wouldn’t work if you two weren’t fast enough to be able to get back behind the ball, let it get to that apex and the push-off that back leg while you’re hitting your attack to then move your bodies into a position to deal with the counter-attack. I think a lot of people might try what you’re doing and fail because they might not be incorporating the necessary recovery movement with the actually stroke which is kind of the key to what it looks like your success, is being to able attack knowing that everyone we’re coming up against might very well get this ball back. I’ve got to be ready for a counter-attack…

Leigh:  Right, exactly.

Morgan:  And move yourself into a position to handle that counter.

Leigh:  Very true.

Morgan:  It’s very impressive.

Leigh:  And that’s also – when we stand back to – because we take a lot of swinging volleys, so like you said, we’re standing back, we let the ball bounce, we hit it but we now we have the room before we get to the kitchen line that we can still move all of our momentum forward by taking that big step. So like the one-two punch; like the one being the mini-groundstroke being offensive. The second being the punch and we’re able to get all that momentum forward because we have that room whereas if we’re right on the line we couldn’t do that because we’d be in the kitchen with that big swing forward.

Morgan:  For sure.

Leigh:  Yeah, so there’s a lot of timing, footwork and anticipation that goes into how we play, and that’s where I think that the tennis really helped both of us because it’s just so similar in those aspects that it transferred over and gave us sort of that head start.

Morgan:  Yeah, keep doing what you’re doing. Hopefully, no one will listen to this and think, “Ah, I should probably just do that!”

Leigh:  (laughs…) That’s okay. We like more people playing like that.

Morgan:  Good, good. Try and beat you at your own game.

Leigh:  Yeah, exactly!

Morgan:  That’s great!

 

Mother V Daughter [38:38]

Morgan:  Okay, now you two are very competitive. I like that about you. So we’re going to play a little game. As you know, I have asked you to prepare some questions about each other, and we’re going to see who knows more about their daughter or mother. Are you ready?

Anna Leigh:  It’s like I’ve only known you for 13 years.

Leigh:  I know. I think she knows more about me than I know about her.

Morgan:  Well, we’re going to find out.

Leigh:  Alright, let’s do this!

Anna Leigh:  Are you keeping score, Morgan?

Morgan:  Of course I’m keeping score, of course, don’t you worry. This is Mother V Daughter: Round One.

Alright, this questions is for you, Anna Leigh. Are you ready? You’re definitely ready.

What famous person did your mom play in junior tennis?

Anna Leigh:  Anna Kournikova.

Leigh:  That took her negative 3 seconds to answer.

Anna Leigh:  I hear you talk about her all the time, so it’s easy.

Leigh:  Darn it, darn it, darn it!

Morgan:  Okay, that is 1 point for Anna Leigh, congratulations. So, Leigh, you’re up next.

Leigh:  Okay.

Morgan:  Okay. What is Anna Leigh’s Fortnite name?

Leigh:  (laughs…) Is it A1 Steak Sauce?

Anna Leigh:  I tried to do A1 Steak Sauce because A1 Steak Sauce is very good to me.

Leigh:  So what is your name?

Anna Leigh:  Rip That Ball.

Leigh:  Rip That Ball.

Morgan:  Rip That Ball, okay. Anna Leigh, you are still in the lead, congratulations! Alright, are you ready for your next question?

Anna Leigh:  Yes, I am.

Morgan:  Okay. What award did your mom win in her senior year in college?

Anna Leigh:  Best Athlete with the Best Grades, was it?

Leigh:  Sort of.

Morgan:  I don’t know…

Leigh:  It’s 50% right. It was Best Female Athlete.

Morgan:  Well, congratulations for that but unfortunately we can only give you half a point there, Anna Leigh, half a point.

Leigh:  Yeah, you get half a point. That’s pretty good. I need a whole point.

Morgan:  Yeah, you’re going to need to get it together here. Alright, Leigh, what is Anna Leigh’s favorite rapper?

Anna Leigh:  I have a couple, so if you get one of them right, I’ll let you…

Leigh:  Okay, I’m going to go with the only rapper I know because you talked about this rapper. I’m going to go with Travis Scott.

Anna Leigh:  Okay, it’s Travis Scott and Lil Uzi, those are my two favorites.

Leigh:  Lil Uzi, who? I’ve never even heard of that person.

Morgan:  Little Uzi? Oh my god, Little Uzi.

Leigh:  Well, I get a point for that.
Anna Leigh:  You get one point, you got the one.

Morgan:  Okay, alright. Leigh has a point. Well done, you are on the board.

Leigh: You know, speaking of Travis Scott, isn’t he the one that’s with the Kardashian girl?

Anna Leigh:  Yeah, yeah.

Leigh:  Okay, so she just bought a house in California somewhere, Morgan, I don’t know where.

Morgan:  Okay.

Leigh:  I think LA somewhere. She’s like the youngest billionaire, this is Kylie Jenner.

Morgan:  Oh, okay.

Leigh:  She’s the youngest billionaire. She just bought a $36 million compound somewhere in Beverly Hills or something, and they had an aerial of it the other day on the internet.

Anna Leigh:  There’s a Pickleball court.

Leigh:  There’s a Pickleball court.

Morgan:  Oh snap! Okay, I just found my new favorite client.

Leigh:  I know. Sorry, I just had to throw that – yeah, right? That’s what I’m saying. You got to get some private lessons with her in her private compound.

Anna Leigh:  Maybe she’ll give you like a Bentley or something.

Morgan:  Maybe, maybe. I’ll have my people talk to their people and they’ll be in touch.

Leigh:  Yeah.

Morgan:  Good plan! Alright, I’m onto it. Don’t you worry.

Leigh:  Sorry for digressing.

Morgan:  It’s okay. Not a problem.

Alright, so Anna Leigh, your next question, are you ready?

Anna Leigh:  Yes, I am.

Morgan:  What is your mom’s favorite movie of all time?

Anna Leigh:  Favorite movie of all time?

Leigh:   No hints.

Anna Leigh:  I have no idea.

Leigh:  You do, if you would think about it.

Anna Leigh:  Uhmm…

Leigh:  Christmas Vacations.

Anna Leigh:  Oh, I would have never guessed that.

Morgan:  Christmas Vacations?

Leigh:  Oh come on? We watch it like…

Anna Leigh:  We watch it every Christmas but I thought it was because of dad.

Leigh:  No. Alright, yey! No point for you.

Anna Leigh:  It’s so hard!

Morgan:  Alright, no point for you. Over to Leigh. What is something Anna Leigh wishes that she was able to do?

Leigh:  Gosh, you can do almost everything.

Morgan:  It’s a tough one.

Leigh:  I have two guesses. I’m going to go with one that stems from your younger childhood.

Anna Leigh:  Okay.

Leigh:  Being able to do a backhand spring.

Morgan:  Okay!

Anna Leigh:  It’s become a professional TikToker.

Leigh:  Oh that was my other guess! Darn it!

Anna Leigh:  (laughs…)

Morgan:  (laughs…) Unfortunately, no points for you there. Oh well…

Leigh:  Oh man…

Morgan:  Not looking great right now.

Leigh:  I know. I told you I was going to lose this one.

Morgan:  Okay, Anna Leigh, your next question. Who is your mom’s favorite band of all time?
Leigh:  You won’t know this, I don’t think, maybe?

Anna Leigh:  Black Eyed Peas?

Leigh:  Black Eyed Peas? No. You guess and you were wrong, so you lose. (laughs…)

Morgan:  Yeah, unfortunately.

Leigh:  Good guess though.

Morgan:  Who was it?

Leigh:  Dave Matthews Band.

Morgan:  Dave Matthews Band, alright!

Leigh:  Yeah.

Morgan:  Okay.

Anna Leigh:  Oh, I actually do know that.

Morgan:  So as it stands, Anna Leigh, you have 1 and ½ points, and Leigh, you have 1 point.

Leigh:  I need to get this one.

Morgan:  You need to get this one. Okay, Leigh, who is Anna Leigh’s favorite TikToker?

Anna Leigh:  Okay, there’s a couple.

Leigh:  I know one.

Morgan:  Yeah, alright we’re going to give you two guesses.

Leigh:  Okay, this girl, Addison Rae. No?

Anna Leigh:  No.

Leigh:  And then there’s this boy but I don’t know his name, so I can’t guess it. There’s this boy that I think she has a TikTok crush on him.

Morgan:  Oh no!

Anna Leigh:  Wait, just say his name.

Leigh:  Mark somebody?

Anna Leigh:  Yeah, Mark, yeah.

Leigh:  Mark somebody, though. I don’t know his last name.

Anna Leigh:  Mark Anastasio.

Leigh:  Mark Anastasio is Anna Leigh’s Tiktok crush.

Morgan:  I see. Unfortunately, I can’t really give you a point for that one.

Leigh:  Wait, do I get half a point?

Anna Leigh:  Yeah, she gets half a point.

Morgan:  Okay, yes, that’s true. We did give away half points. This is the first time we’ve given away half points.

Leigh:  Yes, we’re all tied up, my friend.

Morgan:  Anna Leigh, this is the last question: Where did Stephen proposed to your mom?

Anna Leigh:  At a hotel.

Leigh:  Wow, she knew it!
Anna Leigh:  I even know the story.

Leigh:  Okay, so she knew it.

Morgan:  She knew it. So it was a hotel in Scotland, is that what I heard?

Anna Leigh:  No, the Ritz Carlton.

Morgan:  Oh, the Ritz Carlton. Okay, not bad. Go, Stephen!

Leigh:  I know, right?

Morgan:  Alright, so she’s picked up a point there. Very impressive.

Leigh:  I know.

Morgan:  Alright, this is it for you, Leigh. You need to get this one right just to tie the score. If you get it wrong, unfortunately, it’s a victory for young blood.

Leigh:  Alright.

Morgan:  What is something about you that always makes Anna Leigh laugh?

Leigh:  Oh my gosh! I have absolutely no clue. Something about me that makes her – watching me attempt a TikTok?

Anna Leigh:  If you want a hint, I’ll give you a hint.

Leigh:  Yeah.

Anna Leigh:  [Neil] [unintelligible] does the exact same thing.

Leigh:  I have no clue! I don’t know, I give up.

Anna Leigh:  Okay, well that means I won. But I’ll tell you later.

Leigh:  (laughs…)

Anna Leigh:  So you’d be talking her, right? And she’ll just start thinking in her head, and then she’ll get this smirk on her face like she knows something that you don’t. She’ll keep it in her head for like five seconds and then she’ll finally tell you. But it always makes me laugh when I see you do that.

Leigh:  (laughs…)

Morgan:  You know you’re likely to end up doing the exact same thing, Anna Leigh, so hopefully you will make yourself laugh as well.

Leigh:  Yes! Like mother, like daughter.

Morgan:  Yeah. Alright, well, at the end of the day, we have Anna Leigh with 2 ½ points, and Leigh, 1 ½ points. So our victor, Anna Leigh Waters, congratulations!

Leigh:  Yey! And the crowd roars!

Morgan:  The crowd goes absolutely bananas! Well done. I’m just so proud of you, and I feel like the Nationals sort of pales in comparison to this kind of achievement.

Leigh:  I know. Are you going to take your victory lap like I did after Nationals?

Morgan:  Well, ladies, this has been an honor and a privilege. Thank you so much for spending your time with me. Did you have fun?

Leigh:  We did. We had a lot of laughs which are much needed during these crazy times.

Morgan:  Yeah.

Leigh:  Thank you for having us.

Morgan:  You are very welcome. Let’s do it again some time, what do you think?
Leigh:  Sounds good.

Morgan:  Perfect. Alright, well, you two stay safe out there. Hopefully, we’ll see you on the courts soon.

Leigh:  Sounds good. Thanks, Morgan.

Anna Leigh:  Bye!

Morgan:  You’re very welcome! Take care, guys. Cheers!

[background music plays]

Sponsor: Selkirk Sport

 

Are You Sure it’s in Seattle? [48:28]

Leigh:  Where do you put these on, your podcast? Where do you go to hear it?

Morgan:  It’ll be on Pickleball.fm or PB.FM. There’s a Morgan Evans More or Less Pickleball Facebook page as well and they all get posted there, so that’s where you can see them.

Leigh:  Cool!

Morgan:  Alright, have fun, stay out of trouble. Speak soon!

Leigh:  Thank you! You too!

Morgan:  Alright, take care.

Leigh:  Alright, sounds good.

Morgan:  Cheers!

Leigh:  Thanks, Morgan.

Morgan:  Bye.

Leigh:  Bye!

Anna Leigh:  Bye.

Fernando:  See ya, bye!

Morgan:  Cheers!

Fernando:  Bye!

Sue:  Bye!

Morgan:  Bye!