034 Transcript

 

Morgan Evans:
It’s the Morgan Evans More or Less Pickleball Podcast coming at you in 3, 2, 1, boom.

Morgan Evans:
My guest today might very well be responsible for basically everything. She’s our Joan of Arc. She’s our Amelia Earhart and our Florence Nightingale. The woman behind the scenes, without whom, there would be no scene. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the president of PickleballTournaments.com, Melissa McCurley. Melissa, how are you, sweetie?

Melissa McCurley:
Good. Good. Good.

Morgan Evans:
You’ve been on the road. Any fun little adventures on the way?

Melissa McCurley:
Well, I wouldn’t call it fun, but got my car started… It started shaking a couple of times on the trip over here. It’s like 440 miles. And so, that was a little unnerving. So I’ve actually now dropped it off the Jeep dealership so they can see what might be causing that. Hopefully, it’s just the wheels not being balanced or something simple like that.

Morgan Evans:
So, you seem to drive to a lot of these places. Are you adverse to flying or you just love the road trip?

Melissa McCurley:
If I can drive to a tournament, then I prefer to do that. Driving is usually if it’s within eight hours. So, that’s pretty much the Southeast region here of the country and it’s easier to pack all your stuff, everything that you need to take, but I have to fly a lot and I don’t like flying at all.

Morgan Evans:
No worries. Well, I imagine at some point, before you were the backbone of the fastest growing sport in the planet, possibly, certainly America, you must have done something else and developed a love of the game. How did you get into pickleball?

Melissa McCurley:
So, we had a relative that brought a pickleball set to my mom’s house for Christmas in Texas. And so, we used to all come to her house during that time. We just put it up in the driveway and we would play. As far as we knew, we were the only one that knew of what pickleball it was. It was this game we played at Christmas in our driveway. That’s how we learned about it and that was our first introduction to it.

Morgan Evans:
Fair enough. Now, how long ago was this? Because for me, there was no pickleball before I started and I’m always shocked that other people were playing well before me. When was this approximately, before the first nationals, after the first nationals?

Melissa McCurley:
It would have been before. It was like 2007. Then, the first nationals was in 2009. This was Texas. I got transferred with my job to Phoenix to be in charge of the global voice and data infrastructure for American Express, and I played at FLEX League tennis. I was out playing tennis in Surprise, Arizona. I lived in north Phoenix. This girl on my tennis team said something about her dad being a national pickleball champion and I said, “What?” I said, “Excuse me.” So, she started telling me, Yeah, it’s this big deal. There’s this big national tournament on November out in Buckeye, Arizona.” She’s like, “You should check it out and go see what I’m talking about.”

Melissa McCurley:
So, I did. I drove out to Surprise. I went into these active adult communities and I couldn’t believe what I saw. I saw all these people playing pickleball on real pickleball courts. To me, at the time, they looked like these little mini tennis courts. I called my mom back home in Texas and told her what was going on about this pickleball and this active adults. And so, her and my stepdad, Bruce, flew out to Arizona. They looked around and they went back home to Texas and put their house up for sale, not just to pickleball. They came because they also wanted to be closer to me as well. Pickleball was second to that.

Morgan Evans:
Of course. Of course.

Melissa McCurley:
Yes.

Morgan Evans:
Good to clarify that.

Melissa McCurley:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Morgan Evans:
Wow. So that was 2007. Well, that was about eight years before I even looked at the sport, or at least seven years. People were thinking, “How are they playing back then? Were they dinking? Were they banging, pumping in between?

Melissa McCurley:
Oh, geez. Like I said, this is just my family playing in the driveway. And so, we didn’t even know the term dinking. This was still serving and rushing the net and smashing the ball. So fast, I guess, forward to 2009, I moved to Arizona. On 2011, my mom and Bruce moved to Arizona. And then my mom is playing tennis, and then she starts playing pickleball. Yeah. She got more involved in pickleball. She was starting to play tournaments and all that type of thing. I’m spending a hundred hours a week in corporate America. I just don’t have time, but she had lost her partner. Her partner was going to take a cruise and she needed somebody to play. She asked me if I’d play in the tournament and I said, “Well, sure. Why not?” And so, we played in one of the Surprise tournaments at 4.0. We got silver that day. I was reminded that my mother normally wins gold. And so, that felt really good. Mark Friedenberg was the tournament director, so he’s the one that… He dawned to the metal, delivering that message.

Melissa McCurley:
And then after that, some friends of my moms say, “Hey, you think Melissa would come play in our Sunday pickleball group?” They would call it The Heathens because they played on Sunday. And so, I went out and that was May of 2014. When I went out, there was a lady there named Jettye Lanius. I never heard Jettye’s name, didn’t know Jettye, anything. And so, she asked me what I was doing in pickleball. At the time, my brother and I were starting to be interested in perhaps maybe we could have our own facility somewhere back home in Texas or Florida or something along those lines. So we started this little apparel thing to get to know some people.

Melissa McCurley:
That’s what I told her and she goes, “Well, my husband and I have the software called PickleballTournaments.com. Would you be interested?” We’re like, “Well, okay. We can take a look.” Now, keep in mind. I’d built a 20-year career within information technology and doing quite well for myself and wasn’t really looking for anything. So when people ask me PickleballTournaments.com, I’m like, “It found me. I certainly wasn’t looking for it.” And so, we talked to her husband, Bob, on the phone, met him in person. He sent us out to Southern California to the So Cal Classic. Back then, it was at Melba Bishop on eight courts.

Morgan Evans:
Yeah, I remember.

Melissa McCurley:
Yeah. Were you there?

Morgan Evans:
Yeah. I went to the first couple of So Cal Classics, me and Kim and Marcin, tried to make a name for ourselves back in the day. Vicente was pedaling the keys. Good old days, the all or nothing days.

Melissa McCurley:
Well, you can’t say trying to make a name. You guys not only made a name, but continue to have a make name today. I remember you guys coming in. I mean, it was a big deal and you’re still a big deal. So, you guys have been pioneers yourselves.

Morgan Evans:
We’re getting the band back together as well. Marcin and I are playing a tournament in Newport with the 4th of July weekend. His knee looks like it’s back in reasonable shape, so we’re doing it. It’s going to be good.

Melissa McCurley:
Well, I am excited to hear that. I know he had reached out to me about what qualifying tournaments were still out there. And so, I responded back to him on that and I’m like, “Yes.” Because the last time I talked to him, I wasn’t sure he was ever coming back. So, wow. How exciting is that?

Morgan Evans:
No one saw it coming, but now I can’t get out of bed without a message saying, “Can you play today? Are we drilling?” So, it’s an exciting time to be alive with the original shake and bake. We’ll get back in the game.

Melissa McCurley:
Now, is this like everyone is hearing this here first or is this on news?

Morgan Evans:
Yeah. Yeah, except for a handful of people at the club that I work. Well, the friends of theirs. There was a dog in the road that I mentioned it too. He’d probably said a few things. So basically, everyone that I’ve seen in person for the last six days knows about it, but you’re the next person.

Melissa McCurley:
Okay. Well, I am glad. I’ll tell a Marcin story just real quickly because I found myself… I can play pickleball pretty well myself. Now, back before all of these pros and stuff come in, I mean, every once in a while, a medal picture will come up and there I am. I would stand with the likes of Joey Farias and Sarah Ansboury, and then here’s Melissa, right? And so, I remember going to Spain and playing. I was playing with Daniel Moore. What a super, super guy and so much fun to play with. Daniel and I are playing this pro. We come up against Marcin and Jennifer Lucore. Oh my gosh, I’m not even sure I ever saw the ball go by me. Okay. I had never seen a pickle ball hit so hard in all my life. Literally, the two games that we played, it was like five minutes and the game was over. I mean, I couldn’t believe what just happened.

Melissa McCurley:
So, that was my first time to be across the net from Marcin. Daniel and I did get fourth. I should say Daniel got fourth. I did the best that I could. And then I got to go on to support Marcin [inaudible 00:08:48] tournament director for his Lakes Tournament. Just a super, super individual, always happy, makes people feel like they’re the most important person in the world when he’s around them. He’s so great for the game and we’ve really missed him being on the court.

Morgan Evans:
Yeah. Now, we’re all excited to see him back and I will do my best to get him somewhere near a podium somewhere, even if I have to buy a podium for us just separately here in the desert.

Melissa McCurley:
Well, you guys have such great chemistry on the court. But I need to finish my story though. We got off of that on Melba Bishop So Cal Classic, right? And so, that was in May of 2014. So my brother and I went out to help Dennis and Gail Dacey and Keith Chapman at the time around the tournament. We learned a ton. We finished evaluating the software through the summer, and August of 2014, we bought the software.

Melissa McCurley:
And so, I continued on with my job at American Express for another three years while we were trying to grow PickleballTournaments.com business. And then it was just growing so fast that I had to eventually leave my corporate career. I know my family thought, “What in the world are you doing?” I don’t know that I knew either, to be honest. I just know I’m called to do things and I don’t always understand them, but I know I’m supposed to go do them and I do. My world and my life has never been the same all in a positive way. It’s been the most rewarding experience. Because people ask me this too, “Would you do it all over again?” In a heartbeat. Now, I’ll never see the money that I saw in the corporate world, but what I’ve gained in friendships and quality of life and experiences, you just can’t put a value on it.

Morgan Evans:
For sure. Yeah, you can’t take that money with you.

Melissa McCurley:
No.

Morgan Evans:
The only people that have lost out of all this is American Express. They would never the same once you lost. I mean, I remember that day, stocks just crashed.

Melissa McCurley:
Stocks didn’t crash, but I still stay in touch. There were a couple of times they did want me to come back, but they knew I was off on this venture and in that probably wasn’t going to happen, but that was the best company to work for. Because one piece of the story about American Express is my boss wanted me to be very successful in this transition so he asked me if I would stay on part-time as a consultant to him, and he would continue to pay me my full-time salary. I about fell out of my chair when that happened. And so, you talk about a calling, I mean, and then that is followed with this super huge blessing that allowed me to try to make a go of this.

Melissa McCurley:
And then, of course, it grew so fast. And then, ultimately, I merged the business with PickleballCentral, which has been about three and a half years ago now and that was absolutely the best decision. At the time, it was my brother and I were in business with each other, absolutely best decision that could have ever been made. Here we are in 2021, professional tours and we’ve got all kinds of relationships with different pickleball companies and the game is just exploding.

Morgan Evans:
It’s crazy. It really is. You still have to pinch yourself to remember what it was like and think of it now.

Morgan Evans:
Okay. We’re going to hold it there briefly for a quick word from our sponsor, CoachME Pickleball.

Morgan Evans:
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Morgan Evans:
You’ve had a ringside seat to every major tournament that the game has ever seen basically. So because of that, you’ve got a unique perspective on the growth of the game. What do you think has been the biggest change you’ve seen in the last five or six years?

Melissa McCurley:
When I came on the scene, a large tournament was eight courts with about 220 players. They were 5.0 skill levels and you really didn’t have pro divisions. So fast forward five to six years later, an average size tournament anymore is 800 players. Now, there’s professional divisions that are included. Now, there are people that are actually making money just playing pickleball, not necessarily having to teach in that off the court. Now, it’s not large, large numbers, but we would not even thought of that was possible five or six years ago.

Morgan Evans:
Yeah, that’s totally true. I can’t think of too many, aside from Ben that could literally put down their day jobs and rely on a tournament winnings alone, but we’ve at least got one. Once you’ve got one, you can get two.

Melissa McCurley:
Or three or four, right?

Morgan Evans:
Or three or four. It’ll happen. It’s slowly, but surely. We’ll all be able to quit our day jobs. Well, I’ll just focus on the commentary and stuff like this, talking to people like you.

Melissa McCurley:
And the volunteer base, right? So, I mean, everything around pickleball is on volunteers. A lot of that transitioned, but now there’s all these pickleball companies that have started that put on events. So, there are event management businesses that are now running pickleball tournaments and pickleball events in there. Some of them would call them tournaments. Some of them will call them events, because there’s some that are really working to make this big experience around what happens at a tournament, not just on the pickleball court, but off the pickleball court as well. And so, those are some significant changes. So, you still have a huge volunteer base, but there’s so many more companies and businesses now out there than there were five or six years ago. One of the biggest statistics that really shows the difference in the growth and the change is six years ago, the top two players in the country were in their late 60s, and look where we are now. That was Pat Kane and Mark Friedenberg. There were two paddle companies. Now, there’s over 90. That just gives you some scope and scale of just how fast the game has come.

Morgan Evans:
I’m trying to think of a day that Mark Friedenberg was in his 60s. He’s one of those people. He’s like Morgan Freeman. He’s looked 80 for about 40 years.

Melissa McCurley:
He’s going to love you for that.

Morgan Evans:
I know. He still hates me. I remember it twice in a row, I did drop shot return of serves against him and Dan Gabanek in an indoor tournament. It was in Oregon somewhere about six years ago. I thought it was the funniest thing because he couldn’t reach either of them and he didn’t think it was that funny at all, but he forgave me and we had a beer. I think it was good. So, him and Heather were lovely people.

Melissa McCurley:
Mark Friedenberg, the Yoda of pickleball, now, Hall of Famer, he’s a special guy.

Morgan Evans:
He is. He is. We’ll always embrace Friedenberg. Well, maybe I’ll get him on the show.

Melissa McCurley:
You should. He would be entertaining. He’s got a very interesting background as well. He’s a very, very smart guy. I know that’s going to be hard for anybody to believe, but he is.

Morgan Evans:
No, I believe it. Actually, he was the first guy I ever played with who was a professional 5.0 player when I moved up to Seattle. It was the summer of 2014. I actually reached out to PickleballCentral because they were the first people that came up on Google. I asked them who I could get in touch with to try and play some games at a decent level and they gave me Mark Friedenberg and Don Pascal’s phone numbers, which I thought was a bit weird. But anyway, they agreed that I could come and at least watch their Tuesday games at the Redmond Senior Center and the rest is history. I met with Brian Ashworth and Chris Miller. I saw them throwing paddles and yelling at people from afar. I thought that’s the job for me.

Melissa McCurley:
Well, yeah, because then you saw some young people now for the first time too, right?

Morgan Evans:
Exactly. Yeah.

Melissa McCurley:
I mean, but now that I’m hearing you talk about this and that experience, I mean, you know this makes you an old timer too, right?

Morgan Evans:
Well, geez, it just seems like we’re breaking up there. The line is running… I can’t hear you. No. No, I get it. I’m old. I’m old, but I’m not mad. The game has just gotten younger. It’s not me.

Melissa McCurley:
No, I just meant you’re an old timer when it comes to the game. That’s all. That’s all.

Morgan Evans:
You can say veteran. That just sounds better.

Melissa McCurley:
Does that sound better? How about legend?

Morgan Evans:
Well, let’s not say things we can’t take back, but I appreciate that anyway. Okay. I do have a question. You’ve seen the explosion from the big bang, I guess, so to speak, in the game of pickleball. We’ve gone from couple of hundred players to now more than 2,000 players in the biggest tournament. The amount of money the corporate enterprise is coming in. Can we continue to have our cake and eat it too? Pickleball has always been this incredible social event, almost a circus to a large extent. Everyone hangs out with everybody. There’s no behind closed doors. Here are the pros and there’s everyone else. It’s all been one big happy family. How much longer do you think we can survive like that?

Melissa McCurley:
Yeah. It’s interesting because if I had a crystal ball, I wouldn’t necessarily predicted where we are now, but I do think that there are a lot of things that are happening and be created through the two professional pickleball tournaments that are now out there. Now, USA Pickleball has a professional series that they’ve put together that is going to be bringing in larger non-endemic type sponsors. That’s going to bring more exposure to the game. This is going to have some of the media outlets that give exposure to the game in ways that we have never seen before. As that type of exposure and sponsorship comes in, more money comes into the game, more players come into the game, more fans come into the game, more spectators are coming into the game. I think it’s very possible in the next five to six years, we could very well see a separation in professional pickleball and an amateur people pickleball, where professional pickleball is standing on its own.

Morgan Evans:
Yeah. I mean, I think that to some people that’s basically the sign the sport has made it, where we’re not piggy-backing off the entrance fees of amateur players.

Melissa McCurley:
You know that doesn’t happen.

Morgan Evans:
Oh, I know. I know, but purists will always want the two to meet and to be played in conjunction with each other. It’s not something that happens in other professional sports. You don’t see Wimbledon amateurs playing at the same time as the professionals. The question has to come at what point can the professional game stand on its own two feet and what’s it going to take to get there, but I think you’ve answered those kinds of questions wonderfully.

Melissa McCurley:
Well, thank you very much.

Morgan Evans:
Now, I have a couple of random questions. You’ve pumped out so many matches in a day. I hear some astronomical numbers, five, 600. What’s what’s your record for being able to pull off these big tournaments?

Melissa McCurley:
So records in a day, and that we just pummeled this record just at the US Open this year in 2021, 951 matches in one day. The most number of matches run in a single tournament, 4,194. Of the matches, then if you break it out into games, we’ve done single tournaments that had well over 7,000 games that were a part of those tournaments. So, it’s mind boggling to think about that. But when you’re running a tournament that has 60 courts, like in way of Naples, I mean, you can be running about 80 matches an hour. It’s a pretty fast paced.

Morgan Evans:
That’s amazing. Were those all refereed matches?

Melissa McCurley:
We’re not all refereed. They did make an attempt to referee all of the matches at the US Open this year. I believe 67% of them were actually achieved. All the others were handled with a match starter in which somebody went out, got the match started, make sure everybody understood how the match was to be played, what help and assistance that they could get in the event that they had an issue, and then how to make sure their matches processed once their match was completed.

Morgan Evans:
That’s fair enough. I think to a large extent, certain levels are less requiring of referees and others. We certainly always support all the efforts of the refs. Without them, it doesn’t have quite the shine.

Morgan Evans:
It’s time now for another episode of my One and a Half Cents. I’ve noticed in recent times, the art of sandbagging has become less Picasso and more monkeys throwing their own crap on the wall. It’s bad and it’s getting worse. A few months ago, I met a delightful bloke. After training with him for a few hours, I found out he was competing in 5.0 men’s and 3-5 mixed. He reported that all he did was asked the tournament director and explain that it was his mixed partner’s first tournament. What happened? What happened here, people? When did this begin? To be clear, it’s different these days. It used to be the players simply weren’t rated accurately, and therefore weren’t technically doing anything nefarious. That’s obviously still a problem. These days, however, they’re being allowed by tournament directors to compete well below their rating. Because of this, we’re getting a snowball effect.

Morgan Evans:
When tournament started running again, honest players saw quickly that there were Olympic level sandbaggers. And so, the only way they could compete on a level playing field was to do the same. This has to stop. It’s getting out of control. The ratings aren’t perfect, of course not, but that’s all we have right now. We can’t descend any further into chaos. Clearly, the buck has to stop somewhere. So if you’re a tournament director with the power to take someone’s money and allow them to sandbag, stop, just stop. If you’re a player that knows others in the field that are playing well beneath their level, confront them, pull out of the tournament. Tell the tournament director if they don’t already know. Don’t wait for a governing body to make a foolproof rating system. That may never happen. I’ll tell you, if I ended up losing a 3-5 mixed tournament against Ben and Simone, then I fear all will be lost. In short, let’s get it together, pickleball. Come on. Okay. That’s enough of a rant from me. Let’s head back over to Melissa.

Morgan Evans:
Do you think refs are incentivized enough in the modern game for the whole referee pool and the referee accreditation process? How many we can actually start building? Do you think it’s on point at the moment? Does it need any changes?

Melissa McCurley:
It needs a lot of changes. I’m sitting out here looking at the Finley Center right now here in Hoover, Alabama. Mark Peifer from the director of the officiating is here. It’s the USA Pickleball Indoor National Tournament. All certified reps from everywhere are coming in to be a part of this and to be a part of history. It’s the first one ever. They plan to ref every single match here. But to your point, as the game continues to explode, the ability to be able to ref every single match and every single tournament becomes a harder and harder goal to achieve. The referees are not getting younger. There’s not a big influx of referees that are coming in. And so, I think that there has to be a rehaul, overhaul, if you will, I guess I should say, to the entire referee program that really outs more into local communities, like how they have officials that they may be doing soccer, they might be doing basketball, or they could be doing volleyball.

Melissa McCurley:
Pickleball needs to be added into those programs, because there’s so many referees that are in the game now that have been doing the heavy lifting for years. It’s difficult to find people who want to come into the game and do jobs, if you will, and not be playing the game as much as they might want to. So I think there has to be some creative ways to continue to grow pickleball, do better reaches into other officiating type programs that adds pickleball to them so that you can reach out into that local community. To do that, you’re going to have to be able to compensate them in a way that’s going to be appealing. If you have more local resources that don’t have all of the costs associated with having to travel to those locations, then that’s where you can really grow your pool. The referees that are in the game today, what little compensation that they get does not cover their expenses. They are no doubt doing it for the love of the sport.

Morgan Evans:
Yeah, it’s a labor of love. You can tell the ones that really enjoy it because they’re there week in, week out. There’s only so many Byron and Marsha Freso’s on this world and we certainly need more of them. Do you think it starts at the top though and that if USA Pickleball can accumulate enough corporate sponsorship, that they can really subsidize the whole program and make sure that every ref when they’re playing in a sanction of event, especially are well-compensated? And so, suddenly, it would be ref can reach out and realize that, “I can make 50 or 60 grand traveling the country and refereeing tournaments for a year, and that’s not a bad gig.”

Melissa McCurley:
Perhaps professional pickleball could eventually drive that. You know you have umpires in major league baseball and there’s these umpire teams, right? They travel from different events, depending on which league that they’re actually assigned to. These are very highly skilled umpires in their particular profession. So, I could see that as something that could occur with pickleball, especially on the professional side of the sport, as these referees hone their skills and become professionals themselves and their ability to consistently referee professional matches. That, I think, is something very possible as more sponsorships come in through different types of corporations. But I think the USA Pickleball has done a tremendous job creating a structure. I called you an old timer. I mean, what does that make me, right?

Morgan Evans:
Still a spring chicken, don’t worry.

Melissa McCurley:
You’re so kind. Always the smooth talker you, Morgan.

Morgan Evans:
Wouldn’t have a microphone without it, really, would I?

Melissa McCurley:
No, but I hope you got clothes on. Okay. Because I’ve seen some of your stuff. This is just a voice thing, right?

Morgan Evans:
This is just a voice thing.

Melissa McCurley:
There’s no video. All right.

Morgan Evans:
I wear the same smoking jacket/robe. Well, I’m not going to describe the rest of it, but-

Melissa McCurley:
Okay.

Morgan Evans:
… it’s fine.

Melissa McCurley:
All right. I guess I will move on. I’m sorry to digress. And so, back when I came in, there wasn’t a training program or really a structure to be able to grow and certified referees at the time. And so, I think about this a lot. As I was growing up in Surprise, Arizona, and I didn’t have any idea when I came on to PickleballTournaments.com that the demand for the services to actually come and run tournaments would be so high. I can remember Lynn and Linda Layman looking at me and saying, “Melissa, if you would have told us that you would have been in demand like this to go all around the country to run PickleballTournaments, we would have told you you’re crazy. That would never happen.” Now, look where we are now. We’re really not a software company at PickleballTournaments.com. We are a services business, consulting, registration, training, tournament management, that type of thing, but I’m in surprise growing up and pickleball. I watched this entire referee program evolve right in front of me.

Melissa McCurley:
The Layman’s created this training program to continue to evolve. It turns into a certification program and it’s very structured. And then the USA Pickleball puts a director of officiating in place. And then they’ve got regional directors in place. And so, they’re very consistent. It’s a great quality program. Some people think it’s too rough, too tough to actually get through. But like anything, you’ve got to put a commitment to it. It’s going to be a learning curve. You’ve got to be committed to get through that learning curve. So I think that they’ve done a great job, USA Pickleball, in putting the foundation together that allows an entry point for people to come into the program, and this be being the referee program, to have the skills that they need to improve the quality and efficiency of pickleball tournaments.

Melissa McCurley:
But just like I said, I think that those skills can go to another level for people that can become professionals at it. And so, I think that based on that foundation and that structure is then what has now going to allow that pipeline for that next level ref to be put in place. I haven’t had any opportunity to talk with USA Pickleball about what their vision is for this type of future that we’re talking about, but now you got my brain spinning. When my brain gets to spinning like this, you just better look out.

Morgan Evans:
We’ll just look out.

Melissa McCurley:
Look out.

Morgan Evans:
Yes. No, everyone around you needs to be aware that something could happen and a light bulb could go off and wake everybody up in the middle of the night.

Melissa McCurley:
Well, because I wake up 2:00 in the morning. I mean, wide eye and then the brain kicks on and you can forget it. I’m just not going to go back to sleep after that.

Morgan Evans:
It’s the worst thing, isn’t it? I take melatonin every night for that reason. For me, it’s the only chance to get the hamster to get off the wheel at 2:30 in the morning.

Melissa McCurley:
Well, you know what people say about people like us, right? We’re like we’re-

Morgan Evans:
Alcoholics.

Melissa McCurley:
Yeah, that’s what I was going to say.

Morgan Evans:
Okay.

Melissa McCurley:
No, they’re driving on the brink of being mad men or mad women or geniuses, right?

Morgan Evans:
Oh, I see.

Melissa McCurley:
Now, I got a third one, an alcoholic.

Morgan Evans:
Okay. Yeah. No, I just always figured it was that moment where the alcohol turns into carbs and you’re just kind of… Just why, because of that, but I like your idea much better and I’ll just edit all that other stuff out.

Melissa McCurley:
Yeah, very good. We’re geniuses. Forget the alcoholics.

Morgan Evans:
Okay. All right. Okay.

Melissa McCurley:
Oh my goodness.

Morgan Evans:
I do remember the first time I ran a tournament. In the beginning before I actually got to the site, I was planning on trying to do it all manual or using some antiquated tennis software. I quickly realized that going that route versus using the PickleballTournaments.com software was going to be a nightmare. I obviously had some questions early on and I think I got in touch with you. I’m just emailing info@PickleballTournaments.com. I remember feeling shocked that it seemed to be you from the website that actually got back to me and I thought, “Well, there’s got to be hundreds of schmucks like me trying to figure out how to get a bracket out in timely fashion. How is it possible that this woman is able to answer all of us?” I still don’t know. There’s only so many hours in the day. How do you do it? Would you tell me if it’s Adderall?

Melissa McCurley:
Yeah. It’s definitely not Adderall and things have really changed. So back then, when you’re talking about… And I remember, Shadow Mountain, I think, was the name of one of your tournaments.

Morgan Evans:
The Andalusia Pickleball Challenge was my first one. Yes, you sent your brother to come and do it for me, which was very kind of you.

Melissa McCurley:
Well, there you go. So back then, my brother was handling the technology, but literally I was the only one that was handling all the emails and all of the phone calls and everything that had to do with the business aspect of our business. And so, when I would tell people in literally 18 hours a day, every single day was what the requirement was. I can remember, I was getting ready to run the Southwest Regional Tournament. I had brought my motor home, put it on site in Surprise. It was being run at the Surprise courts. I had the US Open registration that was going to be opening at the same time. So last minute, I asked a couple people, Dee Davison and Becky Gibbs, that they could handle the Southwest Regional for me so that I would be onsite if there was any issues, but I had to handle this registration that was coming out, because when US Open registrations would open, you’d be humbled with over a thousand people, right?

Melissa McCurley:
I can remember Kelly Gent happened to call me about something. She had been someone who’d run a few tournaments for us out of North Carolina. I had originally met her in 2015 and I just told her… She called me and I’m just in about all the things I’m trying to do. She just asked me the question. She goes, “Could you use any help?” For the first time, because I’d been doing it for three years, burning at this pace, for the first time, I thought, “You know what, I could use some help.” She came on to help me and continued to do amazing things and helping me be able to do more without working myself 18 hours a day. I could get back to 16 hours a day, right? A couple of years later, she became a full-time employee and continues to do amazing things for us.

Melissa McCurley:
But I would say the work that I was having to do in corporate America, I was in charge of infrastructure that were very important. I would work a hundred hours a week. I always say, I’d slept with one eye open, right? Because at American Express, if your infrastructure is down, that’s a million dollars a minute for that particular company. When I was with the Navy, if your infrastructure is down, literally people’s lives could be at stake. And so, now I’m running an operation that’s about run in brackets and people ask me all the time, “How do you stay so calm?” I’m like, “No one’s going to die here.” These are brackets, and I’m not stressed out about brackets anyway that-

Morgan Evans:
Interesting. That explains it. You were desensitized to stress by doing something so much more difficult in your previous life that this seems like a walk in the park. That explains it.

Melissa McCurley:
I was already used to those kind of hours. People would literally ask me, “Melissa, do you ever sleep?” Because if I wake up in the middle of the night, I will check email and I will answer them. And so, even though I may have just been asleep for a couple of hours, I’ll wake up, answer the emails, go to sleep for another couple of hours, wake up. That’s just a pattern that I’ve had for a lot of years.

Morgan Evans:
Wow. It might not be healthy. I don’t want to be the one to tell you that. You should shoot for seven or eight hours sleep. That’s what I hear anyway.

Melissa McCurley:
Yeah. Well, I get that on Sundays, so I’m good.

Morgan Evans:
Okay. As long as you get a day off. Melissa, what’s next on the horizon? Someone like you doesn’t sit still for long. What? Are you going run for office? We could use a president.

Melissa McCurley:
Oh, no, no, no, no, no. We just released a lot of new capabilities. There’s some functions with PickleballTournaments.com. And so, now, one of the things that I’m going to be moving to next is bringing Dee Davison on. She’s going to help me continue to build our PT Pro Team and do some development around growing that team and is also going to be assisting me with building an international training center in which we will train tournament directors and tournament operators how to efficiently and effectively plan, prepare, and execute pickleball events.

Morgan Evans:
That’s genius. That’s genius. World domination is next on the list.

Melissa McCurley:
Well, if you say. But Morgan, I am driven to serve. I truly feel like I have a purpose through that. Back when I came in six years, seven years ago, I guess, I used to be able to get door to door and help people all around the country learn how to run these pickleball events. Now, it’s gotten so large, right? That now I have to have another way to reach more people. This is my vision for doing that.

Morgan Evans:
The operative word there is driven. I think that’s what people remember the most when they meet you. They come away from the experience, knowing this woman is driven. There’s no doubt about it.

Melissa McCurley:
And I care.

Morgan Evans:
You do.

Melissa McCurley:
I truly, truly care. I have a real passion for the people and a real passion for the game. I’ve seen it change so many people’s life and give purpose to many people’s lives. The stories and the people that you meet, they truly touch your heart. They truly do.

Morgan Evans:
Well, on that note, sweetheart, it’s time for us to wrap it up. Thank you so much for all your time. I really appreciate it. I know you’ve just driven for eight hours straight. So for you to make some time for a little me, that’s much appreciated.

Melissa McCurley:
I can’t think of anyone I would have rather spent my time with this evening. It’s been a true, true pleasure.

Morgan Evans:
Oh, you’re very sweet. Which tournament will I see you at next?

Melissa McCurley:
So, I’m coming to the San Clemente at the end of this month. So I’ve just completed eight tournaments. I have 11 more to go. And then I’ll be at Rocky Mountain. I’ll be at Newport Beach and I will be at the Tournament of Champions all in August.

Morgan Evans:
Perfect. Well, I guess, I think I’ll see you at Newport.

Melissa McCurley:
Well, good. I will look forward to that. I can’t wait.

Morgan Evans:
Fantastic, sweetie. Well, take care of yourself. Good luck with the Indoor Champs and we will see you soon.

Melissa McCurley:
All right. Thanks a lot, Morgan.

Morgan Evans:
Perfect. Take care.

Morgan Evans:
This podcast was powered by Selkirk. This podcast is also brought to you by the next generation of Selkirk paddle, the VANGUARD.

Morgan Evans:
Well, folks, that’s all we’ve got time for. It’s been an adventure. Hope you’ve enjoyed our time together. Please tune in next time for another episode of Morgan Evans More or Less Pickleball. I do remember that documentary, Top Gun.