Episode 15 | My Name is Simon Audio Transcript

[00:22 – 02:00] Meet Today’s Guest: Caden Nemoff

Morgan:   My guest today is a remarkable guy. He is a fantastic coach and a great player. But, that’s not what makes him remarkable. He does something that very few 19-year-olds can do—and that’s give young people a good name.

He is the product of great parenting, no doubt, the descendant of none other than Mr. Terry Nemoff, arguably the best hugger in Pickleball. So we’re gonna talk about life, love, Pickleball, and the secret to great hair. Oh, and we’ll have a surprise guest appearance from my mate, Simon, from Sydney!

Please welcome, Caden Nemoff!

Morgan:   So, how’re you doing, man? What’s going on in your world?

Caden:     Ah, you know, it’s ah, it’s been kind of crazy the last couple of months! Can’t complain, I’m healthy, family’s healthy, you know, and that’s all I can really ask for right about now.

Morgan:   Yeah, it’s a…strange time to be alive. Do you get a sense that kind of, this virus is not really going after your particular demographic and therefore you’re relatively safe? Or are you kind of in the same boat as everybody?

Caden:     I know my body could handle the virus, I’m not necessarily worried about the virus for myself. I’m worried about bringing it home to my family. As you know my dad’s 63, you know my mom’s in her 50’s, I also have a grandma, so I’m just trying to be cautious, I don’t want to bring home anything to them.

I won’t be able to live with myself if I knew I gave anything to them, so, I’ve been cautious.

Morgan: For Sure.

 

[02:00 – 03:35) How Coronavirus has Taken a Toll on Terry’s Hugging Ability

Morgan:   So, you know, speaking of your dad, he’s recognized world-wide as one of the great huggers of the pickleball game. Has it affected his ability to hug people? With social distancing and what not?

Caden:     Hahaha! It has, you know. I see it take a toll on him every day, just not being able to hug everyone. You know, even now, he’ll give me hugs and I’m like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Coronavirus!”

Morgan:   Yeah. Easy, tiger, jeez.

Caden:     You know, and he gives me the whole “Oh yeah, you know, you’re my son.” And I’m like, “Yeah, I know, I know”, and he’s a hugger at heart and this coronavirus is breaking him down.

Morgan:   Well, hopefully it won’t be too long before he can, you know, really get back out there, just start picking strangers, and you know, wrap his arms around. Why not.

Caden:     I think he’s really sad about Newport Beach because he was gonna go down there with me but now he’s not, so he’s incredibly upset that he doesn’t get to hug the whole world anymore.

Morgan:   Maybe, there can be a separate Zoom App for, you know, maybe an augmented reality hug. It’s just not gonna be the same, there, was it?

Caden:     It’s not. Handshakes don’t just do it for him.

Morgan:   Haha. And did you inherit this whole thing? I’ve noticed you’re more kind of, “Hey, how’re you doin?” as opposed to… wrap it around.

Caden:     Yeah, it definitely depends. I like to read the type of people that I’m going after. If they seem very huggable, I’ll give them the hug; and you know, if they’re not as open quite yet, I’ll give them the handshake and will work towards the hug, but I have to say I do love me a good hug.

Morgan:   Good, man. Good, man. You’re a lover not a fighter.

Caden:     Exactly.

 

[03: 36- 05:45] Where It All Started

Morgan:   Now, how long have you been playing this crazy game of Pickleball?

Caden:     Oh man, I’ve been playing probably four years now.

Morgan:   Yeah, you’re a veteran.

Caden:     I, yeah, you could call me that. I’m not a rookie anymore.

Morgan:   Good, and your dad got you into it, is that right?

Caden:     Oh yeah, he was begging me for months. At that time, I was playing a lot of Baseball, so I wasn’t really looking for any other sport to play, just because I was so focused on Baseball. He eventually got me out there. I never thought in my entire life that I would be telling people that I play Pickleball. But, here I am. So it’s one of those things that I would have never expected but I’m extremely thankful and I’m so lucky to have this sport and it’s actually kind of crazy.

Morgan:   Yeah, I know. Everybody still has that…that sensation that you’ve got to pinch yourself and remind yourself how lucky you are that Pickleball wandered into our lives.

Caden:     Right.

Morgan:   How long did it take before you could beat your old man at, I don’t know if you play singles, but you know, you get a sense when you’re better than someone.

Caden:     Oh, that’s a good question. Well you know what, he had a tennis background. So, he…he was able to pick up the sport pretty quickly. And also, he did have, like, a four-month head-start on me. But I would say, it probably took me, I would say, maybe 8 months to really understand the game and kind of change my, like, lead foot of having to hit the ball hard every time, and once I kind of like got the grasp and feeling of, like okay, I actually need to, like, control the ball, and place the ball where I want to put it, and not just hit the ball hard every time, I did kind of have a small little edge of my dad, just because I am kind of athletic and also 40 years younger, so I was able to get over that hump pretty quickly.

Morgan:   Now we’re gonna hold it just there, but jeez, even that first section just had it all, didn’t it? Here’s a quick word from our sponsor.

[05:46- 06:18] This show is sponsored by CoachME Pickleball.

[06: 22 – 08: 43] Challenges of Coaching Pickleball at 19 

Coach Caden! You’ve gotten into teaching, I hear.

Caden:     I have, yeah. It’s been fun. I’ve been teaching all over the Bay Area, mostly NorCal, in San Francisco, Cupertino, Sunnyvale, Palo Alto, Los Altos, it’s been a ton of fun! Doing clinics, private lessons, all that good stuff.

Morgan:   That’s awesome, yeah, I mean, I think there’s obviously the kind of, the kind of player that typically plays this game is still sort of 50, often 60 plus, um that kind of demographic. And you, being, you’re 19 now, it’s fair to say that there’s gonna be some people out there that are gonna be a little reluctant to start with, taking lessons from someone who’s possibly 50 years younger than them.

So I feel like, have you had any of that or has it pretty been smooth-sailing, and would you like to do some role-playing?

Caden:     It’s really funny you say that because I swear, three days ago, I got an email. It was an email that’s actually sent to my dad, but he sent it to me by accident…

Morgan:   Ooh…

Caden:     …and he was like, “Oh, hey Terry! I heard your name as a coach and I wanted to, hopefully get a lesson or two.”

So I messaged back, I said, “Oh, you know, this is Terry’s son, I’m Caden, you know, I also play and teach this sport…” and he was asking me how much my dad charged, and I wasn’t sure how much my dad charged ‘cause I think our rates are like, a little bit different, and next thing you know, he sent me this long email of everything he needed to work on.

And I was like, wow, okay. This guy’s going into really descriptive detail, like it’s kind of nice, you know. So, I messaged him back. I was like, “Hey, you know, that’s a great list, I already have some things we could work on in your first lesson…,” and stuff like that. And he just goes, “Okay, great. Could you have your dad email me and give me a call?” And I was like, “Oh…okay.” Haha.

So I just gave him my dad’s number and next you know, he called my dad and he was like, “Yeah, so your son is how old?” And my dad was like, “Oh, he’s 19, but he’s really good.” And he was like, “Oh, okay… Yes, so when are you free?”

I mean, I don’t take it personally. Obviously, some people just you know, are kind of weary of learning from someone that isn’t even close to their age. But it’s all about preference. I respect it.

[08:44 – 12:27] Caden Meet Simon

Morgan:   Fair enough. So, I mean, to help you out, how do you feel about a little bit of roleplaying, so you can have some ammunition to come back at some of these people who might not take you too seriously.

I’ve got a friend from Sydney on the line. He’s an elderly gentleman. And I think it’d be good to just bounce some stuff off, see if you can sell him on the idea that you are the coach for him. what do you reckon?

Caden:     Okay.

Morgan:   Okay, alright. Let me see if he…I’ll just check to make sure he’s still on. Okay, here he is.

Simon:     Hello? Is that Caden?

Caden:     Yes, this is he.

Simon:     Pleased to meet you, Caden. My name is Simon. I’ve just started picking up Pickleball and I’ve heard that you’re quite good. Do you think you could teach me?

Caden:     Absolutely, Simon! What are some of the biggest things that you feel like you have a problem with in your game?

Simon:     Well, the biggest thing is the paddle is just so heavy, you know, and I don’t quite know, is 6 ounces a very heavy paddle? Or is that quite light?

Caden:     Well, typically, 6 ounces is a pretty light paddle. I use a paddle at 9.1 ounces, that is something to be worried about if your paddle is heavy at 6 ounces.

Simon:     Yeah. Look, I lost one of my arms in a war. It wasn’t great. So I feel like balance might be one of an issue as well. Do you think balance is important for Pickleball?

Caden:     Balance is very important for Pickleball. I think balance is one of the main things that you need to be a successful Pickleball player.

Simon:     That’s very good. And what do you think about speed? I’d like to kind of generally walk around the court. Is that gonna be good? I’m more of a, I’d say, a “single specialist”, but I don’t particularly like running so much anymore. What do you think about that, Caden?

Caden:     I have to say, if you are a “single specialist”, and you’re walking around the court, that may bring you some trouble on the court because I guarantee opponents are probably either going to be at least jogging, if not sprinting to every ball.

Simon:     Jogging or sprinting, you say. I remember doing one or two of those things back in…well, it was probably the early 50’s. How old were you in the 50’s?

Caden:     I was, negative… a lot.

Simon:     Okay. And just out of curiosity, you seem like a young person. That would be right, right?

Caden:     I am, I am, I’m 19 years old.

Simon:     Do you wear the skinny jeans? Or are you the baggy-jean kind of young person?

Caden:     You know, I’m more of actually the baggy-jean type of person. I don’t do well in the skinny jeans. I need a little more room for movement.

Simon:     That’s actually great to hear, though. That would have been a bit of a deal breaker for me.

Caden:     Yeah, absolutely.

Simon:     So, if I make my way over to San Francisco, do you think you could teach me?

Caden:     Absolutely!

Simon:     Brilliant. Brilliant. Okay, I’ve only got 10 to 12 thousand Australian dollars. Is that gonna be enough to a couple of lessons, what do you say?

Caden:     That should be more than enough.

Simon:     Perfect. Perfect. Well, I’ll book a flight as soon as this whole corona thing is done, and we will see you soon!

Caden:     Great! I wish you great health, Simon!

Simon:     Perfect, alright.  I’ll get you back over to Morgan. Thank you for your time, Mr. Nemoff.

Caden:     Thank you very much, Simon. It was a pleasure talking to you.

[12:28 – 15: 06] Playing in Singles

Morgan:   Ah, there you go, jeez, wow!

Caden:     Wow, what a guy!

Morgan:  What a guy! Yeah, he does seem nice.

Caden:     I mean, yeah. I want to meet him already. I’m so excited to teach that guy.

Morgan:   Yeah, yeah. I mean he’s… I do think based on what he said, the balance is gonna be a little issue. But…

Caden:     I think the walking part is gonna be the issue.

Morgan:  Yeah, maybe skinny singles. Maybe we’ll get him into skinny singles.

Caden:     Yeah, I mean, that may be a good call because the walking, while being a singles specialist, is gonna be interesting to watch.

Morgan:   Yeah, I’ll sort of vet him a little more and make sure he’s ready to handle. I’m really not even sure if he’ll make the flight, the thing is like, he’s 94, so…

Caden:     We’ll work on it

Morgan:   Yeah, we’ll figure it out, don’t you worry. So you, you gonna get into singles?

Caden:     Yeah! I’ve actually been working on it a little bit more. I don’t know, I’ve always enjoyed it but I never took it seriously just because I played singles at Nationals, two years ago, I’ve played in 4-5. And, I got silver in it, and I just remember that the day after I was like… my body is killing me! And after that I was kind of like, you know what, I don’t know, maybe I’ll just focus on doubles a little bit more. But I’ve gone to a couple tournaments, and I haven’t signed up for singles and I always just find myself standing there, and I’m like, why didn’t I sign up for singles?

Morgan:   It’s… it’s such a, such a different experience. I’ve found, like, the best moments in singles, arguably are better than the best moments in doubles; but the worst moments are, just, there’s no one to pick you up and you’re tired, sweaty, a disgusting mess. And if there’s no one watching, you go through this heartbreaking experience, it seems, it seems kind of daunting but…

Caden:     It is. It is. But you know what, I’ve learned to overcome my fear, and I’ve actually been working out like crazy during this whole quarantine and stuff like that, so, hopefully, I’m hoping I can come out with a little bang in singles. So I actually signed up for that Newport Beach, so we’ll see how that goes.

Morgan:   Nice! Awesome! Cool! We’re all hopeful that’s still gonna go forward, but it is kind of surprising.

Caden:     It is kind of surprising. I honestly would have expected it to cancel by now but it looks like they’re going with it.

Morgan:   Well I hope to see you. It would be good to see you, it’s a bit of a shame Terry’s not gonna be there. But we’ll take any Nemoff we can get. Haha

Caden:     Better than none, right?

[15:06 – 16: 31] Fresh Tattoo

Morgan:   So I was checking out your Facebook earlier on, not weird or anything…

Caden:     Not weird, no…

Morgan:   …but I’ve noticed you just got a tattoo, looks like it’s the Chinese symbol for “dry clean only”. What was the thought process for that?

Caden:     Well, you know, I’ve actually gotten a couple of tattoos as of late. All my tattoos are actually family-oriented, so I don’t have tattoos that are just happy faces or anything like that. I notice I have a lot of college friends that will get tattoos when they’re just too drunk but that’s not what I’m trying to do. But all of my tattoos are family oriented like or are just family quotes that, you know, I have basically been used my entire life to get me on my feet, motivated.

Morgan:  Nice. Nice. So what does the new one, looks like the one on your chest looks pretty fresh. What does that one actually mean? I honestly don’t think it was “dry clean only”.

Caden:     Yeah. It means Lee, it’s my mom’s last name, my middle name, and actually all of my cousins on my mom’s side of the family, we all have the same middle name of Lee.

Morgan:   Ah, okay.

Caden:     So it’s all, it’s kind of like just a family thing for all of us and so I think, well the plan is, well I got mine early, but the plan is for everyone to get the same tattoo.

Morgan:   Aww, that’s nice.

Caden:     And it’s just a matter of time, hopefully, when everyone does get it. But yes, I guess, I got mine early.

Morgan:  Good, good, good.

 

[16:31 – 22: 20 ] Let It Take You On The Ride

Morgan:   Alright now. So, you obviously had a solid performance at Nationals. Are any of the partners that you played with at the Nationals, are they gonna be long-term prospects? Do you find that some of the other younger players drop in and out of the sport? Or is it there to stay?

Caden:     I think, you know the whole Juniors program is super cool for almost every kid that’s starting to find Pickleball. I think the biggest thing for me when I first started playing Pickleball was going to Nationals and seeing the whole Juniors thing. Just because wow, I’m not the only teenager who is playing this sport with a crazy name, you know. And so, when I saw the Juniors playing, I was like, dang, this is really cool. And also as a young kid, when, even when you’re not really that good, you get to see the pros and you’re just wow, I wanna be like that. And that’s what really drove me, to kind of like start of taking this game seriously is just I wanted to get really, really good, because who doesn’t want to be the top person in a sport.

Morgan:  Yeah. Yeah. And ideally you want to be able to wear shorts like Tyson, right?

Caden:     Haha, I could try and pull it off. But I don’t think I could.

Morgan:  So you’ve known Tyson for quite some time. How did you guys meet?

Caden:     So actually, from the stories, so Him and my dad got really close in I think at the Lakes Tournament like 2 or 3 years ago. And you know my dad. He’s a love first type of guy, always want to make people happy, enjoy himself, you know, always trying to live the best life. And I think one day he saw Tyson go down with a. cramp and Dad instincts, you know, came right into him. And he went to go help him out and get the pain out of him and next thing you know, they were as tight as ever. And it’s been cool because Tyson’s been like a big brother to me, you know, super funny, super good guy, super giving as well. And I can’t even recall like the first time we really, really met, but the first time, I think we bonded and hung out was, I wanna say 2 years ago, when he came and stayed in our house for like a week and we just, like, played Pickleball, watched Football, hung out, it was a blast. It’s definitely a memory I won’t forget.

Morgan:   That’s awesome. It’s seems like a really fun relationship. It’s always great to see you all hanging out together at tournaments. And your dad, he helps a lot. I always watch from the sidelines, him helping Tyson, stretching him out, like finally, I got a little attention at Nationals, and he fixed me up, it was good.

Caden:     He knows a lot about the body which is crazy. I mean, he’s one of those guys who doesn’t eat dairy, doesn’t eat any red meat, I mean, he takes very good care of his body. And it’s funny because, you know what, that’s how he raised me pretty much all my life. And growing up I kind of hated it; now, I’m extremely thankful, for it you know. I probably wouldn’t be where I’m at without him. So…

Morgan:   Yeah, good stuff. So as one of the younger players in the game and one of the top younger players, what kind of advice would you give to, say, a 13, 14, 15-year-old kid who is looking to a lot of sports, might be able to play tennis, might be able to play baseball, football, you know, how would you sell pickleball to that kind of person?

Caden:     I would say stick with it. I think the biggest thing for me when I first found the sport was that I just, I kinda saw it as a game and I didn’t really take it seriously. You know, I would play once, twice a week, and of course I had my other sport which I found, you know, more fun at the time but as I got farther and farther into Pickleball, I just like, I felt myself kind of like distancing myself from baseball and really starting to focus on Pickleball. So for any kids out there that are just starting to play it, stick with it. Don’t give up on it. Start to try and take it more seriously because there is a Pickleball world that is going to accept you no matter what and it’s a ton of fun and you just let it take you on the ride.

Morgan:   Let it take you on the ride. That’s wise words, young man. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders. And great hair on that good head.

Caden:     Oh why, thank you! You know what, I have to thank my mom for that one. She’s got some thick Asian hair and I was lucky to pick that up.

Morgan:  Ah, I was just gonna ask what’s your secret. And can I buy some from you. You know.

Caden:     I can work on getting you some free. But I think my secret has got to be, you got to wash it everyday but not with shampoo. So you wash your hair once every other day. And then, but you condition every day, so that your hair stays soft and silky, you know.

Morgan:   Ooh, soft and silky. It’s honestly been a little while since I felt soft, silky hair on my head.

Caden:     Oh you have it on your chin. See, I don’t get that because, you know.

Morgan:  Oh yeah, that’s probably not in the cards for you, is it?

Caden:     No, not right now. I do this weird thing where I grow uneven facial hair? So it will grow on the right side of my face but decides not to show up on my left side.

Morgan:  Oh. Oh, dude. That’s rough.

Caden:     It is.

Morgan:  Are you gonna be okay? Will you get through it?

Caden:     Ah, you know, Morgan… *sobs*

Morgan:   Day by day, right. Just take it day by day.

Caden:     It’s tough, but you know, I’ll get through it. I’m strong.

Morgan:  Good man. You are strong. The whole family’s strong. On that note, Caden Nemoff, it has been a pleasure. We got to do this again sometime. What do you reckon?

Caden:     That sounds great, Morgan.

Morgan:  Alright, buddy. Well, I’ll see you in Newport!

Caden:     Great! Sounds good, man. Catch you later!

Morgan:   Take it easy, bud. Cheers!

Caden:     Cheers!