009 | Just Enough Time to Wet Yourself Transcript 

Morgan:  My guest today didn’t just walk into being a pro-Pickleball player. She fought tooth and nail to earn the title while still working as a fulltime pharmacist. She’s got an adorable accent. She’s an absolute sweetheart and one of the best players in the world, maybe the best ever to not come from a racket sport. We’re going to talk about that and we’re going to talk about what kind of things have made her the player she is today, and what it’s going to take to get her to the next level. Please welcome, Katie Dyer.

 

Catching up with Katie [0:53]

Morgan:  How are you, sweetie?

Katie:  Doing great, Morgan. How are you?

Morgan:  It’s a little warm out there. The desert was 110 today, so I’m not playing as much Pickleball as I would like. But at least, Riverside County has opened up which means I’m able to play.

Katie:  That’s wonderful. We’ve been quite limited on play here in Chattanooga, Tennessee. I live right outside of Chattanooga. And we had a tornado come through our area on Easter Sunday, and that caused some damage to our Pickleball courts and the fencing. So we’ve been, along with Coronavirus, unable to play because of the tornado damage.

Morgan:  Oh no!

Katie:  Yeah, so hopefully they’ll get it back up into shape and we’ll be back on the courts soon, hopefully.

Morgan:  In a typical week without viruses and tornadoes, and any other kind of plague that might attack, how often do you typically play or train?

Katie:  So playing for me, I generally will play around 3 to 5 days a week. Obviously, it’s been quite a bit more spares than that recently. But generally, I’ll play around 3 to 5 days a week, maybe drilling one of those days. I have a ball machine that I use quite a bit that I drill with.

Morgan:  Which one have you got?

Katie:  I have The Lobster.

Morgan:  Oh yeah, I’ve seen those.

Katie:  I often turn up The Lobster to as high as it’ll go. My dad being a drill sergeant type of coach for me growing up, we’re out there drilling late at night. And the Pickleball courts, you have to push the lights and they’ll stay on for around 30 minutes, you have to remember to push them again for them to stay on, and we forgot to push them so the lights went out. And I was like, “I guess we’re finished.” And my dad turned to me and was like, “No, Katie. You’re going to have to defend some third shot drives in the dark. It’s going to make you better.” So I was defending third shot drives in the dark and I think it helped me fine-tune my game, for sure.

Morgan:  That’s great. I remember about 12 or 13 years ago, I was living in Canada. I was teaching tennis at a place called Timberlane Athletic Club. I was running a summer camp, and one of the ideas I had was like a dodge the ball machine game for the kids. So I’d set it up and then put it on random, and they had to pick a spot, stay there, and if the ball hit them they’re out.

Katie:  Yeah!

Morgan:  My assistant coach, his name was Doug, and he used to be a hockey goaltender. So he decided he wanted to find out if he could stand at the net and with the ball machine at the baseline, have it cranked up full blast aiming basically straight at him, and if he could catch one of the balls.

Needless to say, I turned on the machine and it came out like a rocket ship, bounced off the top of his forehead and hit the roof which was about 40 or 50 feet high. So he was a little surprised of how fast a tennis ball machine could fire a ball. It’s probably 100 miles an hour, I don’t know. But his hockey background did not serve him too well there, unfortunately.

Katie:  Oh jeez!

Morgan:  But ball machines, got to love them!

Katie:  Oh yeah, for sure. I do have some great drill partners as well that I get to practice with occasionally.

Morgan:  Who do you have in your area that you work with?
Katie:  Well, I did have my good friend, Jesse Taylor, who I had played quite a bit of tournament with a year or so ago, but he has moved away. My other friend, Josh Cook, occasionally drills with me. And I have a large group in Chattanooga that play with me. Tom and Yoli Taddler likes to drill with me quite a bit. There are many others to name a few.

Morgan:  Objectively speaking, are you the best player in your area?

Katie:  There’s some great male players as well, but female-wise, I’m probably one of the better players for sure, in our area.

Morgan:  Yeah. Do you find being in that kind of role, that firstly, you have a bit of responsibility to help as many people as you can…

Katie:  Absolutely.

Morgan:  But also, do you find you’re still able to improve your game beyond just keeping in shape and keeping warm, keeping good rhythm?

Katie:  Yeah, it definitely does hinder your progress, for sure. I’m not going to deny that but I have a lot of players that are willing to work with me and drill with me, and I love helping people. So in any way that I can, I love to help others with their game and drill with different people, play with different people. I love it, just meeting people in Pickleball is really the greatest aspect in growing the sport.

Morgan:  Yeah, they’re a good bunch aren’t they?

Katie:  Absolutely!

Morgan:  You’d be hard-pressed to find other sport with such a decent bunch of people.

Katie:  Absolutely. Everyone never knows a stranger in the game of Pickleball, that’s for sure.

 

Unorthodox Advantage [5:04]

Morgan:  So, you didn’t come from a strong racket sport background?

Katie:  Yes.

Morgan:  You were a softball player in college. How does that impact your game? And what I want to establish is a bit along the lines of do you feel like there is always going to be space in the game of Pickleball for someone who doesn’t come from a racket sport background?

Katie:  I do think there will always be a space for those that didn’t come from racket sports. Now, will the racket sport players have a great advantage early on just knowing all the techniques, all the practice they’ve had and those very similar stroke styles? But I still do think that there is a great need for players that do not have a racket sport. You’ll often hear players talk about how players who do not have a racket sport advantage that they’re very unorthodox, and it’s hard to read their shots. So you often find yourself dumbfounded at times playing against people that are a little more unorthodox than others.

Morgan:  Yeah.

Katie:  Tennis players are tremendous but I often find that I can read their shots much more easily.

Morgan:  Yeah, definitely.

Katie:  Their technique is so perfect that often times, I find that you can read it more easily. It’s the ones that are a little more unorthodox that are, “Gosh! Where on Earth are they hitting the ball? I thought you were going over here?”

Those really catch you off guard, it gets your opponents off-balance to create opportunities.

Morgan:  I completely agree with you. I think having the kitchen line where it is with such a short amount of time and space to react to someone’s shot. If you’re someone who can be a little sneaky…

Katie:  Yes.

Morgan:  I can’t wait for some seriously good tennis – obviously, we’ve got a lot of great tennis players, but someone like Roger Federer or Gaël Monfils or someone to pick it up just to see if they are able to – if and how quickly they’re able to start to read some of these more unorthodox attacks.

Katie:  Correct. And I think that their reach as well for some of those players are really going to put pressure on opponents. With their ability to reach balls and take balls out of the air that you never thought were even close to attackable.

Morgan:  Yeah. I remember when I first started learning to play, Brian Ashworth was one of the guys that was in the…

Katie:  Yes, a great guy!

Morgan:  Yeah, everyone loves Brian. He’s the guy. I couldn’t and I probably still don’t know how to deal with his unorthodox slippery stuff; his corkscrew is coming in and out…

Katie:  Oh absolutely!

Morgan:  It’s a nightmare!

Katie:  It really is.

Morgan:  I still have bad dreams about playing that guy. I think I’ve told – I’ve told him probably way too many times. I don’t want to play. I don’t like playing you!

Katie:  Absolutely. There’s certainly are those types of players that you’re still just can’t figure them out. You know it’s coming but you still can’t figure it out.

Morgan:  Yeah, you just know something bad is about to happen.

Katie:  Exactly.

Morgan:  You just have enough time to wet yourself and then you’re…

Katie:  Very true! Very true.

Morgan:  You’re looking in the wrong direction.

Katie:  Absolutely

 

Ask Morgan [8:15]

Morgan:  We’re going to take a quick break from Katie there; not that we need a break from Katie, but just to introduce a new segment to the show “Ask Morgan”. This is where random questions were submitted online and I’m going to do my best to fill them. Wish me luck!

The first question comes from Terry Hartly. He writes: “I’ve heard you spread Vegemite on your paddle before playing. Is this true?”

Well, Terry, without giving away too many trade secrets. Yes, it is 100% true. It always gets through testing, none of the refs ever want to touch it, no one can handle the smell. So it’s pretty much a fool-proof way to give every single shot just a little bit more vitamin B.

Alright, the next question comes from none other than Rob Barnes. He’s pretty high up in the Selkirk pecking order so I should probably take this one seriously.

He writes: “Do you have a pet wombat?”

Right, okay. Thanks, Rob! Way to keep it serious. Well, Lauren Barnes adds on: “I feel like Morgan thinks you’re joking, babe.”

Which Rob replies, “Lauren Barnes, I know. Nobody ever takes me seriously. Same thing when I sent him gift cards for his favorite restaurant, Outback Steakhouse, never got a thank you.”

Well, Rob, as it actually turns out I did have a pet wombat. It wasn’t a real wombat. That would have been tough for me to keep alive for long. But when I first move to Australia, it was 1987 and my parents were trying to teach me how to swim. So as some basic bribery, they offered to buy me any stuffed animal in a gift shop of a hotel, it’s was called the Tradewinds Hotel, and I had my mind set on this kangaroo. I was all about the kangaroo. But eventually, I did a lap on the swimming pool and I needed to do one lap without floaties to get the stuffed animal. But by the time I did it – it probably took me a couple of days, it wasn’t great – I went in there and at that time, this little girl, her parents bought her the kangaroo and I was just devastated. And yeah, so I had to settle for a wombat but it was a good thing in the end because that wombat basically became a rugby ball and got me into rugby. So yeah, that’s how that happened, a pet wombat. Don’t remember his name though so don’t ask me that.

Okay, moving on to possibly a serious question. Gregory Carter, he writes: “What is your quarantine workout?”

Now, Greg’s a friend of mine. He lives around here. He’s a real competitor. I think every group needs a competitive guy. Anyway, if I’m honest, Greg, and I should probably be honest because I’ll probably see on Saturday, my quarantine workout has been lacking a little bit. I have been focusing on my driving distance, short game around the greens, the bump and run, a couple of flop shots, and just working on my line and length of putting. That’s been what’s keeping me occupied during the mental situation where you don’t know when you’re actually going to be able to compete again, therefore the motivation to put in the hard yards when it’s 110 ° is a little tricky. It’s not easy but I’ve always used other sports as cross-training. I used to do a lot of work in the gym and what I found was often it was leading to a lot of tight muscle and I never got the massages and did the extra work for flexibility to actually make all that training worthwhile because at the end of the day when I actually went to a tournament after really working my body hard for conditioning, power and strength and speed, often there was at least one or two muscles that would cramp, that was tighter than they needed to be because of all the extra work, and it didn’t pay dividends compared to just being fresh playing enough, making sure you’re still seeing the ball and drilling with people. But in terms of quarantine workout, mate, I’m happy teaching the game and playing a bit of golf, playing on the weekends with friends up at Palm Desert Resort. I’m trying to just do whatever it takes to get through what is essentially a stressful situation. And I think the moment that Pickleball tournaments start popping up again and it’s actually a sure thing we’re going to be able to play, then I will certainly spring into action, and I’m going to need you to help me, possibly.

Okay, moving on to a question from Steve Taylor. He writes: “Is that accent real?”

For those of you who don’t know, Steve is my partner in crime in the possibly wildly too successful CoachME Pickleball site.

Well, Steve, yes. All jokes aside, it is actually relatively real. It could be better. I need to watch Crocodile Dundy a lot more to really get more of a twang going on. I find whenever I’m around another Australian, it gets thicker and thicker until I can’t even understand myself, and people around me look at me like, “You don’t normally sound like that, mate. Stop putting it on. You seem ridiculous.”

Anyway, I’m working on that but good question. Thought-provoking, I like it!

Our next question is from Clayton Constant. He writes: “What would it take to get Kyrgios or other big tennis names to play Pickleball? Do you think he would dominate or not? Why?”

Honestly, mate, I think it would be less to do with the money and more about the respect of the sport. I think there are a number of tennis players that like playing Pickleball but just for fun, just hit and giggle, enjoying a different kind of racket sport, but they’re a far cry from ever wanting to play a Pickleball tournament and taking it seriously enough that they would ever consider it as their profession versus tennis. I think though if Kyrgios did play, then yes, he would be an absolute wrecking ball. That height, the reach, the kind of dexterity he has at full stretch, it’s really quite incredible. I think him, Federer, Monfils, those would be the guys that really would do well pretty quickly.

Okay, moving on to a question from Anna Scheffer. She writes: “Where in Aussie do you play? I have a granddaughter there who I’d like to get into Pickleball.”

Well, Anna, I’ll be honest with you, unfortunately, I’ve never played Pickleball in Australia. My mum has. I gave her a Pickleball lesson about three or four years ago and she promptly went back to Australia as Australia’s greatest player and made herself the President of the Australian Pickleball Federation which is really genius. I mean, in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king, right?

Now, we’ve got a question from Sayid Habib Fawaz. He writes: “Being an Aussie, do you or did you used to play cricket?”

Well, Sayid, yes, I did briefly. When I first move to Australia, ’87 I think it was, my dad got me into soccer and cricket, I believe, and I did not excel at either one. I found cricket to be a little too boring for me. In soccer, I remember always being that kid that would kind of just hang out near the goals and hope that someone would see that I was really close to the goals, and if they just pass me the ball, there’s a great chance. Obviously, as a 6-year-old, the nuances of the offside rule was lost on me. Either way, if I didn’t suck at those things, I would not have been put into tennis lessons at a nearby resort, so that worked out nicely.

The last question comes from Leonard Young: “Is anyone pushing Pickleball to be an Olympic sport?”

That’s a great question, Leonard. But I think the answer is yes, I believe that Seymour Rifkind who is the head of the IPTPA, as well as a number of other high-level positions in the game of Pickleball, he is really working at it and that’s great for everybody. It’s going to take a little bit of time. It won’t be an Olympic sport before it’s a demonstration event. So the next time that the Olympics are held in America, we should be able to organize to get it as a demonstration event, that’d be nice. I’d love to play for Australia. I think I’ve got a good chance to make the team or at least to coach, I don’t know.

The timing of how long it’s going to take is a question I get asked a lot, to get from where it is right now to a level whereby so many countries around the world have governing bodies, the kind of money involved can support it, really give it legs. And for television networks to want to play the sport on their networks on their dime as opposed to Pickleball’s dime. Those kinds of boxes need to be ticked before it’s going to be considered as an official Olympic event. But I always go back to there is or was at least an individual synchronized swimming event in the Olympics, so yeah it’s a canary in the mine. 

Hopefully, that was informative and at least mildly entertaining. I know I had fun. We’ll definitely do it again.

Sponsor: CoachME Pickleball

 

Back to Katie [19:18]

Morgan:  Ah, that’s good stuff there. I never get tired of that. Alright, heading back over to Katie.

One of the things you’re known for is a very high level of dinking. Can you tell me a little bit about is it something you always drilled and worked on specifically or is it something that just kind of came relatively natural to you?

Katie:  It actually did not come naturally to me. Being a softball player, even when I played games with my family such as golf, I felt like my hardest shot was 30 yards out, you know? I always thought with softball why hit something unless it’s going to hit it as hard as you can? So that mentality to me was quite foreign. Getting the dink game going, that’s been something that I really, really had to practice quite a bit and I’m still trying to practice and still trying to progress my game and the dink game. I often find at the top level, there’s quite a bit more spin put on the ball such as Morgan Evans himself. A lot of players are putting a lot more spin on the ball, hitting more offensive dinks. I think that’s really becoming quite a bit of advancement in the game. You don’t really recognize it when you’re watching players play, but there is often a lot of players, they’re hitting very aggressive dinks and really setting up their opportunities.

Morgan:  Yeah.

Katie:  And sometimes you feel like you’re playing defense even though it’s a neutralized point, some players are just really, really great at it. I had to develop my craft and the dink game, and I’m still working on it constantly.

Morgan:  That’s great. I think a lot of players believe that once they have what’s unanimously known as a strength in their game, they start to essentially just practice their weaknesses. And often that strength they had kind of gets left by the waist side to the point where it might no longer be a strength, it’s a liability. I practice my serve, it’s not like I go out there with busk to ball but every time I play a recreational game of Pickleball, I’ll make sure that a lot of the time, I’m putting everything into it because I never want to have that become a weakness.

Katie:  And you have a tremendous serve.

Morgan:  Oh you’re very sweet.

Katie:  You really do. You have a great serve. You really push the players back and really keep them away from the kitchen line because of the topspin that you put on your serve. And the way that you spin the ball and then create an additional amount of topspin on the ball, it really hinders players from progressing to the kitchen line and really help set up the shake and bake as you know it.

Morgan:  The shake and bake! Those were the days!

Katie:  That’s for sure.

Morgan:  The all or nothing days.

Katie:  Absolutely! High risk, high reward.

Morgan:  Exactly! High risk, high reward. I’m certainly a fan of playing a more offensive style and it’s often got me into a bit of trouble. But I think if you’re someone who has a decent drive, third shot or fifth shot drive if it comes to that, then it’s certainly worth having a good serve because that’s going to give you the opportunities for short returns that you can use your drive to capitalize upon.

Katie:  Absolutely. And those are quick, easy points.

Morgan:  Yeah, I don’t want to be out there all day, I got stuff to do!

Katie:  Yeah, you have places to be, people to see.

Morgan:  Yeah, bars are opening up in this county. I got places to go!

Katie:  I wish I had somewhere to be. No hot date for me anytime soon. Maybe one day Morgan Evans will find me a man in Pickleball.

Morgan:  Maybe…

Katie:  One of these days.

Morgan:  I feel like there’s a segment coming on. “Finding Katie’s Partner” something like that. What do you think?

Katie:  Don’t mention to much. I might hold you to it, Morgan.

Morgan:  Alright, that’s good. We can totally play a tournament together one day.

Katie:  Absolutely.

Morgan:  If there’s ever another Pickleball tournament, we’ll make it happen.

Katie:  Yeah, exactly. If there is. We’re going to hold out hope that there will be, that’s for sure.

Morgan:  Yeah, yeah. I’m not even sure if Nationals is going to happen, to be honest. I keep hearing stuff.

Katie:  Yeah, I’m really hoping for the best. I know – I’m really hoping for the best but…

Morgan:  Yeah, it’s a tough time to be alive. And as a pharmacist, I am kind of curious, you probably have a fairly unique perspective in terms of exactly what it might take for a vaccine, any kind of cure to be delivered to the world. What do you think? What do we need to do here?

Katie:  I do think it will be quite an amount of time before a vaccine is developed. I know there is a lot of perspectives and you could debate that for quite some time. But my goal in mind is really this is a very tragic, tragic time for humanity, I guess. Not just the US but for everyone. And all I can do as a pharmacist to educate my patients, educate my family, my loved ones on taking every precaution that I can. I had to talk to my mom and dad about how to practice hand hygiene, to teach them how to wash their hands properly because they weren’t doing it appropriately, just educating them on that. All I can do is take every precaution I can to protect my loved ones, protect my neighbors, protect my friends, my family that I love so much, and that’s all I can do. And the end of the day, you do the best that you can and you have to go on, you have to continue your life.

Morgan:  Yeah.

Katie:  And it’s tragic for those who have lost loved one but all I can do is do the best that I can and not worry about that which I can’t control as long as I’m taking every precaution I can.

Morgan:  Yeah. Do you think this was a freak breakout? Or was this some kind of inevitability based on our lack of knowledge about animal-borne viruses?

Katie:  Yeah, I mean it’s only a matter of time before something like this comes about. You hope that it won’t be in your lifetime but it’s always been possible. You’ve seen movies contemplating something like this happening.

Morgan:  Yeah.

Katie:  And now you see that it has. It’s become a reality that which you think is not your reality now becomes your reality, and you hope that it wouldn’t be in your lifetime. But I think everybody will learn from this and move on and we can be better from it.

Morgan:  This brings up a good point. I am wondering where Dustin Hoffman is in this whole thing.

Katie:  Exactly.

Morgan:  He did such a good job in the original “Outbreak”.

Katie:  Oh absolutely. I know, I watched a few of those movies while quarantined for a while, that’s for sure.

Morgan:  We’ve had an odd selection of TV shows. One of them – I don’t know if you’ve ever seen it, but have you ever seen “Last Man on Earth”?

Katie:  No, I have not.

Morgan:  It is eerie. It’s a comedy show, Will Forte and a handful of people. And it is funny, 20-minute episodes, but it’s based on the premise that in 2019, a virus basically wiped out the entire population except for one guy who’s hold up in Tucson and he gets to the end of his rope and he’s just about to off himself, and then a woman named Carol who saw one of his signs around America. He went to every billboard and wrote “Alive in Tucson”. He forgot to put his address, so it took her a lot longer to find him. But anyway, it starts like that and it goes on for about four seasons and it’s how a small group of survivors from a virus in 2019 tried to work it out.

Katie:  Wow!

Morgan:  It’s very funny but eerie as well.

Katie:  I know. It’s kind of eerie to watch things like that are foreshadowing of what is now.

Morgan:  Yeah, especially if it’s a comedy show. That’s not supposed to be foreshadowing anything.

Katie:  Yeah, exactly! Definitely not the case.

 

Pickleball Trivia [26:45]

Morgan:  Welcome to Pickleball Trivia. I’ve got a couple of contestants on the line, ready to do battle. First of all, we’ve got Aaron Coyle from Southern California. How are you doing, Aaron?

Aaron:  Living large! Good, how are you?

Morgan:  Good, man. Now, see you’re known as the Magic Man. Have you got any new tricks up your sleeve? Is that going to be enough to win today?

Aaron:  Definitely, for sure.

Morgan:  Good. Can you do tricks over the phone? That would be pretty impressive.

Aaron:  We could try something.

Morgan:  Maybe to finish if you win.

Your combatant is none other than Greg Corbitt from Florida. Which part of Florida are you from, Greg?

Greg:  Palm Beach County.

Morgan:  Oh nice. That just sounds luxurious.

Greg:  Oh it is.

Morgan:  Oh good, excellent.

Aaron is going to be contestant #1, he’ll have the serve. I will ask a question, I’m almost certain he’ll get it right. If he doesn’t though, then it will go over to you, Greg. You will have the serve and you’ll get that point. The first person to get to five points is the winner. They get bragging rights and just an incredible gift voucher, millions and millions of dollars, I’d say. Don’t tell them I said that though, obviously.

Are you both ready to do battle?

Aaron:  Let’s go!

Morgan:  Alright, here we go. I’ll get my best announcing voice going.

Aaron, question #1: Who took the silver medal in the 2019 National Women’s Doubles Pro?

Aaron:  I’m going to go Simone and Ms. Carr.

Morgan:  Unfortunately, that is incorrect. That means Greg, you have a chance here. Do you have the answer?

Greg:  I do not have the answer. I’m going to Google it really fast. Can you hang on?

Morgan:  Ugh…

Greg:  I’m just kidding. I don’t have an answer.

Morgan:  That’s okay. Don’t worry, happens to the best of us. The correct answer was Jesse Irvine and Catherine Parenteau.

Greg:  Oh, I might have known that.

Morgan:  You might have but turns out you didn’t, so oh well, that’s okay. But that means Aaron, you do manage to somehow keep the serve and you’ll be answering the next question almost certainly correct.

Which controversial player currently holds the unofficial world record in paddle throwing distance?

Aaron:  That’s a definite Jeff Warnick – Jeffrey!

Morgan:  Jeffrey! Yup, that is correct.

Aaron:  And probably holds the record for loudest screams too.

Morgan:  Yeah, yeah, he holds a lot of records.

Aaron:  And best “come-ons” and all of it – longest arms.

Morgan:  Longest arms, yeah. He holds almost all the records except for numbers of tournaments won, I’d say.

Here we go. Moving on. Question #2, Aaron you’ve just run away with a huge lead of 1-0. Are you ready for the next question?

Aaron:  I am.

Morgan:  Okay. What year was the first US Open Championships?

Aaron:  First US Open? I’m going to go 2016.

Morgan:  That is correct!

Aaron:  Oh, I definitely guessed.

Morgan:  Yeah, you could tell in your voice the affliction, you were guessing. That’s alright, not a problem. Moving on to question #3. You’ve got a 2-0 lead, you must be pretty confident.

In 2019, one woman was inducted into the Pickleball Hall of Fame. Who was she?

Aaron:  Jennifer Lucore.

Morgan:  Yeah.

Aaron:  Let’s go!

Morgan:  Let’s go! Nice work. Yeah, I didn’t expect – I mean, I should have expected such a level of intelligence there. You’ve really done well.

Aaron:  I am a teacher.

Morgan:  Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Good man!

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

Aaron:  This one I actually think I do know. I’m going to go Joel Prichard.

Morgan:  That is correct!

Aaron:  Alright!

Morgan:  Good job! Okay, you are on fire.

Aaron:  Maybe I’ll fault and you can…

Morgan:  Really?

Greg:  I’m so glad you’re getting these right. It’s not making me look that bad. So keep going, Aaron, I’m proud of you. I don’t know, man. You’re a historian here.

Morgan:  He is!

Greg:  I play Pickleball but I don’t know any of the history of it. Heck, I was a rec major in college, you’d think I’d know all this.

Morgan:  We’re not going to hold that against you, Greg.

Greg:  That’s alright.

Morgan:  We’ve never had a shut out, so don’t even worry. It’s not about to start now.

Greg:  Oh, okay. (laughs…)

Morgan:  If it comes to that, honestly, we’ll just edit it out. That’s fine.

Greg:  That’d be great.

Aaron:  Just put my answers with the wrong questions.

Morgan:  Yeah, it’ll seem weird but…

Greg:  Thank you.

Aaron:  No worries.

Morgan:  Okay, so Aaron, for the win… Are you nervous? You seem like you’re nervous.

Aaron:  I’m pretty steady.

Morgan:  You’re pretty steady? Okay, that’s great, that’s great.

The game of Pickleball was invented in 1965; however, when was the first permanent court built?

Aaron:  So it was invented in 1965 and we want to know when the first court was built?

Morgan:  This is why we’ve never had a shut out.

Aaron:  I’m going to say it took five years? Let’s just go 1970.

Morgan:  That is incorrect, unfortunately. We were really all hoping you were going to get that one right there.

Aaron:  Not Greg.

Morgan:  Yeah, not Greg, no. Greg, do you have the answer?

Greg:  I’m going to say that it didn’t take five years. I’m going to say that it took two years, and there is a reason why I’m giving this year but I’m not going tell you, 1967.

Morgan:  Good man! Oh Greg!

Aaron:  Oh there goes my shut out.

Morgan:  That is redemption. That is just the epitome of redemption. I’m proud of you.

Greg:  Oh you’re not serious. I need to Google this just to make sure I’m right.

Morgan:  Yeah, it’s true. Literally, I’ve got a list of questions and the answers. I’m not just relying on my memory. I don’t know this stuff. I researched it.

Greg:  This is why I picked it. I had no clue at all that that was the answer. The only reason why I chose that year is because that was when I was born, so I’m like, “You know what? I can’t go wrong with this year.” Boom!

Morgan:  This was destiny, really. I mean…

Greg:  Absolutely!

Morgan:  Manifest destiny. Alright, Greg, you’re on a roll here. I think we all know one is a roll, so I think you’ve got a good chance for this next one oozing confidence.

The correct height for the net at the sidelines is how high?

Please get this…

Greg:  36.

Morgan:  Good man! Good, good!

Aaron:  Well done, Greg.

Morgan:  There was a pause there and I got a little worried. But you came through, you came through.

Greg:  Thank you!

Morgan:  Moving on. Your next question: Yoda refers to which famous Pickleball player?

Greg:  Yoda?

Morgan:  This is true. He does not use the force, he uses hip surgeries to help him if you know this.

Greg:  Is he a senior?

Morgan:  Oh yeah, he’s very senior.

Greg:  Okay. The pressure is on. I can’t think of his name right now. You know what, I’m going to pass this one to Aaron.

Morgan:  You never know. Aaron might not know this one. He seems to know a lot though. It’s almost scary. It’s concerning.

Alright, Aaron, for the win. Yoda refers to which famous Pickleball player?

Aaron:  I’m kind of embarrassed because I just talked to Rick about this on Saturday but I’m getting him and his partner confused. But I’m going to go Mark Freedenburg, is that who it is?

Morgan:  That is correct! Congratulations!

Greg, you didn’t quite come away with a win. But if you want, we can just scrap this whole thing so the family doesn’t ever have to hear it.

Greg:  Ugh…

Morgan:  (laughs…) Good man. You’re a good sport.

Greg:  Okay.

Morgan:  Half the time, during this particular time in our lives, all we can really do is try to give something for people to listen to, have a few laughs, keep Pickleball relevant, and I think we’ve done that today.

Aaron:  Appreciate it, Morgan. Thanks for what you do.

Morgan:  Hey, no worries, man. My part is the easy part, you guys have to answer the questions. But I’m a curious, Aaron, you mentioned you could do some kind of magic trick over the phone. This will be the coolest thing ever happening over the phone, so what have you got for us? Come on!

Aaron:  Oh wow. Okay, I didn’t think you would actually go for it but we’ll try something here. It does involve some math, so…

Morgan:  Alright, alright.

Aaron:  If you’re not that good at math, bring out your calculator.

Morgan:  Okay, I will definitely do that.

Aaron:  Pick a number between 1 and 10, don’t tell me what it is.

Morgan:  Okay.

Aaron:  And multiply that by 9.

Morgan:  Okay.

Aaron:  We’re going to add those two digits together, so let’s say your total was 23, you would add the 2 and the 3 together for 5, okay?

Morgan:  Okay, yup.

Aaron:  Alright, you have that?

Morgan:  I do.

Aaron:  Minus 5.

Morgan:  Okay…

Aaron:  And now you’re going to correlate your number to a letter. So let’s say if your number was 1 that would be A; 2, B, all the way Z, 26 and so on. You’ve got everything so far?

Morgan:  Gotcha. Yup, so far so good.

Aaron:  I want you to think of a country that starts with that letter.

Morgan:  Okay.

Aaron:  Now you’re going to move one letter to the right in the alphabet, so if you were on A, you’d be on B now, and think of an animal that starts with that letter.

Morgan:  Okay.

Aaron:  Maybe a color that could go along with that animal.

Morgan:  Okay. Alright, I’m writing things down.

Aaron:  Alright, very good. Alright, so you have maybe a country and animal and the color of that animal in your head. You have something down?
Morgan:  Yup, I do.

Aaron:  Alright, the only problem is there is no grey elephants in Denmark.

Morgan:  Oh come on! Seriously? That’s… That’s… Okay, I see what you’ve done there. I mean I do and I don’t. I’m going to give you credit. If you didn’t win the quiz, I was going to give it to you for sure.

Aaron:  Alright!
Morgan:  That’s exactly what I had, Denmark, elephant, grey. Yeah, I guess there’s not too many other D countries. Is there another D country?

Aaron:  Not if you’re counting Des Moines but that’s not a country.  

Morgan:  Well, that’s exciting. Everyone’s going to do that when they listen to this. So this could be your big break.

Aaron:  Yup.

Morgan:  You could come out of this as huge!

Aaron:  Yup, check out my Instagram, hit me up.

Morgan:  Yeah, he’ll be here all week, folks. Good stuff. Thank you so much, Magic Man and Greg. Hope you’re both staying safe and we will see you on the courts soon.

Aaron:  Alright, thanks, Morgan.

Greg:  Yeah, thank you!

Morgan:  Alright, guys. Take care. Cheers!

 

The Key Ingredient [37:14]

Morgan:  Okay, now, switching topics just slightly. I’d say there’s probably a fairly well established three or four or five perhaps, top female players in the world, and you’re sort of knocking on that door. What do you feel like is going to be necessary for you to break through and have the performance of a lifetime, for example, and get the confidence and success from that spurs you on further?

Katie:  I guess you mentioned a couple of the key ingredients, I feel like, in being able to be successful against some of those top players; is number 1, confidence. Being confident in your shot selection, not being nervous on the court. You got nothing to lose on a lot of those occasions when you’re playing against the Simone Jardim’s, the Lucy Kovalova’s, the Leigh Waters’, all great friends of mine on and off the court as well. But playing against some of those top players really just playing to your advantages, trying to play to their weaknesses even though they don’t seem to have much of any weaknesses. And also a lot of advice that I’ve gotten not being nervous on the court. I playing with Kassandra Gerke quite a bit…

Morgan:  Oh yeah.

Katie:  And we often turn to each other in the middle of a match when we notice that things are getting tense. You may have missed a couple of shots. We turn to each other before a serve and say, “Smile! Have fun!” As much as you’re relaxed, if you’re relaxed on the court, you’re going to play so much better if you’re having a great time. You’re going to loosen your paddle grip, you’re not going to have a tight paddle grip and pop up those shots. Those blocks tend to pop up quite a bit more when you’re more tense. You’re gripping your paddle more tightly. 

Morgan:  Yeah.

Katie:  A lot of those key ingredients to really be able to have a breakout performance.
Morgan:  You’re totally right. Trying to play loose on the court is obviously easier said than done.

Katie:  Very much so.

Morgan:  And I think to a certain extent, it’s just a matter of time when someone starts playing the game – I remember when I first started. I didn’t sleep. It was probably about 10 or 12 tournaments before I could get a decent night’s sleep before game time.

Katie:  Yes, likewise. Me as well.

Morgan:  And now I have to set my alarm to make sure I wake up. But it was never like that, I used to maybe sleep until 2 AM, and then I was awake.

Katie:  Yes.

Morgan:  And I’ve decided as opposed to now looking at a draw, I always look at the draw and just mentally kind of think about the first two matches or so and try to kind of run through what’s likely going to happen and get to a more comfortable area mentally and emotionally about it, that usually let’s me get back to sleep.

Katie:  Yeah. I found that I used to wake up at the middle of night looking at the draw, and it would be nervous-excitement, competitive, nervous juices, excited to compete. And now, I find that I don’t really look at it that much anymore. Maybe in the morning when I wake up, I used to find myself at 4 AM checking out the draw. I don’t so much anymore. Just being confident in my game, knowing I can go out there and do what I need to do, I have a great partner that I’m confident with and know that we’re going to do the best that we can for each other, and hopefully, make a big upset.

Morgan:  Yeah. I think often it just takes that one win to get over the – well, they call it sometimes in the fight game the “happy to be heres”. There’s a lot of people that come up, and you’re one of them. So you started off, you didn’t jump straight into 5-0. You played some 4-5 events early on, right?

Katie:  I did, yes. I started on 4-5. In Tennessee, there really wasn’t a lot of an opportunity to get rated. You were really self-rated for quite a while. I didn’t want to advance in my game until I knew I felt like I was there. I was very successful in the 4-5, I was winning the majority of all the tournaments in 4-5 level, and was trying my best to get rated. I remember I went out to Grand Canyon State Games for my first time, the first time to go out West because I’ve heard everybody is such great players, and they are. But I went out to Grand Canyon State Games and did very, very well out there and tried to get rated and still couldn’t get rated, just to try to get potentially 5-0 status or whatever that may be, whatever I was at the time. I really didn’t know enough to know. I really grew slowly though the ranks. Started in the 4-5 level and grew up, and was able to compete with some of the top players even though I wasn’t able to travel and play quite as much as all the others but hoping that I can still continue to advance.

Morgan:  I mean that’s a great kind of way to look at things and I think someone who does really have to work to get up to a pro level, has a different kind of appreciation than someone who kind of stumbles across it.

Katie:  Yes.

Morgan:  I was certainly lucky in terms of the kind of period that I came into the sport. There just wasn’t the sharks that there are now swimming around that possess a lot of the gatekeeping problems for someone who isn’t 6’3, tall, dark and handsome.

Katie:  You’re all of those, all of those, Morgan! You check all the boxes.

Morgan:  All of them? Geez! I got to change this mirror then because it’s lying to me.

Katie:  It’s only what you see inside, Morgan.

Morgan:  Oh that’s nice. Yeah, it’s mostly blood and guts, really.

 

Let’s Do This Again Soon [42:28]

Morgan:  Well, Katie, this has been far too much fun. We should totally do it again. What do you think?

Katie:  Absolutely! I’d love to, yeah! I can’t wait to get back on the courts and see my friends, compete, have a great time. It’s never a dull moment. I certainly enjoy being on the court, I think most people know that about me. I’m always going to have a good time no matter what.

Morgan:  Well, if you get a free weekend, come out to the desert. If you don’t mind a fairly serious heat.

Katie:  I would love to! One of my favorite places to play, that’s for sure.

Morgan:  Yeah!

Katie:  My first Nationals, I went out there – gosh! Not this past November but the November before, and was able to do really well in my first year out there in Nationals.

Morgan:  Yeah, so you travel well? I like it. Not everyone travels well.

Katie:  Yeah, I certainly did. I was able to adjust pretty well to the California heat and loved every minute of it.

Morgan:  Brilliant. That’s great! Well, I’m afraid out time is almost up. But this was great. I think we’ve got a lot covered, we’ve solved most of the world’s problems, we’ve taken a look at Pickleball, pharmacies…

Katie:  Yeah, thank you so much, Morgan!

Morgan:  You’re very welcome.

Katie:  When do you think things are going start back up? What’s your opinion on that?

Morgan:  Hopefully before I’m a senior or at least super senior.

Katie:  (laughs…)

Morgan:  Yeah, if I’m truthful, I’d be a little surprised if there is a major tournament this year.

Katie:  Really?

Morgan:  Yeah, I mean I think in some places will be able to get away with some round robin stuff, relatively small amounts of people with plenty of courts.

Katie:  Yeah, I’m just holding out of the hopes of Nationals but who knows.

Morgan:  There was a threat of the US Open Tennis Tournament coming to Indian Wells.

Katie:  Yes, I heard that. Around the same time, right?
Morgan:  Yeah, around the same time which would mean the Nationals wouldn’t be able to be held at Indian Wells. But as soon as I heard that, someone high up in the ranks quickly squashed it, so who knows. I think everyone’s just flying by the seat of their pants.

Katie:  I actually heard that same rumor through the Pickleball grapevine.

Morgan:  As soon as there is one, I’m sure I will see you, so that will be good.

Katie:  Absolutely, absolutely. Well, thank you so much, Morgan. I really, really appreciate it.

Morgan:  You’re very welcome. Thank you for joining us. I’ll be sure to put you back on the list, so we’ll get you on again here soon.

Katie:  Alright, that sounds great. Thanks, Morgan.

Morgan:  Thank you so much, Katie. Take care.

Katie:  Alright, see you soon!

Morgan:  Cheers!

Sponsor: Selkirk Sport

 

At Least You Had a 3-Iron [45:10]

Morgan:  All we’ve got is me chasing a punk with a 3-iron.

Katie:  Well, at least you had a 3-iron. Anything would go a long way with a 3-iron.

Morgan:  Yeah, I mean the kid had a knife but I thought I’ve got the reach advantage here.

Katie:  Definitely got the 3-iron, yeah.

Morgan:  I should be okay.

Katie:  I know who’s on top there. There is no doubt you were on top.

Morgan:  I think so. He didn’t even want to compete. I was a little disappointed.

Katie:  He didn’t even put up a good fight.

Morgan:  He just ran like the wind. He was quick, though. I thought maybe I’ll get him into Pickleball, set him straight, set him on the right way.

Katie:  He might have had an age advantage on you.

Morgan:  Possibly. I still feel spritely-ish. Anyway, we’re using all the good stuff before we even started…