Life advice, a newsletter update & this weekend's big tournament | Week 10

Want to meet awesome people and find yourself on cool adventures?

Here’s some advice…

Do interesting things & share them publicly. 

Let me explain…

1 month ago, I received a message on Instagram from Shae. He said, “Hey, I think we’re doing the same thing. Tryna to go pro and creating content along the way.” After realizing we were, we messaged back and forth and quickly became friends.

Now, we’re both flying to Texas at the end of March to play a tournament and film content together.

Do interesting things and share them publicly — you never know the friends you’ll meet. 

2 months ago, my old college basketball teammate, Colton, saw an Instagram post I made about pickleball. He messaged me and said he too, was training to become a pro pickleball player.

Cool thing is…

…we hadn’t talked in years, and this reconnected us immediately.

Do interesting things and share them publicly — you never know who you’ll reconnect with. 

3 days ago, I received a cool message from a friend who had a random encounter at a Phoenix park.

 

Do interesting things and share them publicly — you never know who’s watching. 

I get it…

Not everyone wants to share publicly and that’s okay.

But for those who do, it’s amazing the like-minded people you meet and the cool adventures you go on.

Believe it or not, the people closest to you in life want to be a part of your story. They want to cheer you on. I know this because I spoke to every human on earth before writing that sentence and they told me so. 😉

Okay okay, that’s a lie. I spoke to my Mom, and after encouraging me, she spit some wisdom. (That’s just how she said it too — “Kyle, let me spit some wisdom.”)

I’ll share what she said in a moment. But first…

Here’s an update on where’s this newsletter’s going.

Up to this point, I’ve shared mostly about my journey to become a pro in 12 months. I’ll continue to do that.

And here’s what my Mom said…

“People want to know more about the sport. Why it’s so popular. What does it even mean to become a pro? Tips to get better. Can one make a living doing pickleball full time? How does the whole ranking system work? Will pickleball be a 2028 Olympic sport?”

So in the coming weeks, I’ll be exploring these ideas.

Do interesting things and share them publicly — you never know the random text you’ll get in the middle of the night from your mom.

On another note…

This weekend, I’m playing singles and doubles…

…in the PPA (Professional Pickleball Association) Foot Solutions Tournament. I’m playing at the 4.0 level in singles and 4.5 level in doubles (more on those ranking systems in a future newsletter).

The top players in the world will be in the pro division on nearby courts. I fully expect fans to choose my matches over theirs when looking for exciting pickleball to watch.

The last tournament, my body didn’t hold up very well in singles. I suffered a slight hamstring pull which affected my game. I’m feeling better and excited to get back on the court to compete.

This is one of the biggest tournaments of the year with over 1307 people participating across all divisions, from 16 year olds to 87 year olds. That’s the cool thing about this sport. It attracts people of all ages and backgrounds.

My singles division has 13 players competing. And the doubles will have 21 teams. Both are the biggest draws I’ve played so far. So it should be a fun couple of days.

To see results and updates from this weekend’s tournament, make sure you’re following me on Instagram @thatpickleballguy.

…because, as you already know, I’m going to share publicly.

Until next time,

Kyle

PS: If there are topics you want me to cover in this newsletter, hit reply on this email and let me know what else you’d want to learn and read about.