The Heart of Pickleball

Chapter 2 Pickleball Crazy The Pickleball Pilot When Dean Matt, aka "The Pickleball Pilot," and his wife moved to Florida from the Midwest for recreation, their plans took a surprise turn. "We moved to a golf course community, because we thought we would be playing golf," Dean said, "but instead, we've been playing pickleball." Dean combined his love of flying and his pickleball addiction to set a world record. He played pickleball games in forty-four states in thirty days! Most days, he played in two different states; some days, it was three different states. A pilot since high school, he flew his Turbo Cessna 206H six-passenger aircraft 8,122 nautical miles and logged eighty-two hours of flight time for this challenge. Dean was joined by fellow pilots, members from the pickleball community, his wife, and others at various stops along the way. Dean's trip began on May 1, 2023, from Southwest Florida to his first stop in Mobile, Alabama. He then marched southwestward across the United States, looped up toward Washington state, continued eastward through the Plains and Midwest, scooted southward along the East Coast, and ended in a final match in Sarasota, Florida, where he lives. The route included fifteen state capitals, a few Chicken N Pickle restaurants, lots of tennis centers, and a motor home resort in South Carolina. "The event was mainly to showcase all the different places pickleball is played," Dean said. Throughout his journey, he played with a variety of people in public parks, at private clubs and homes, and even on an airport tarmac. He's played against professional pickleball players, local players, and celebrities. At his stop in Virginia Beach, Dean played against former Virginia governor and the United States senator George Allen. He played with a ninety-seven-year-old woman in Kalamazoo, Michigan. In Wilmington, North Carolina, he played with Wayne Bigg from the Cape Fear Pickleball Club. The duo faced off against City Council member Clifford Barnett and Jimmy Santangelo, a pickleball player who met up with Dean at his Rhode Island stop and played the last eight states with him. Originally, Dean and his friend, Shannon Yeager, a professional private pilot and pickleball player, wanted to set a Guinness World Record by playing one game of pickleball in each of the forty-eight contiguous United States over a forty-eight-day period. When Shannon had to bow out of the adventure due to a business commitment, Dean felt it would have been disingenuous to continue to attempt a Guinness World Record. Dean's favorite parts of the trip are the people he has met and the places he has seen along the way. What a great way to get the word out about pickleball all around America! "On Thursday, May 25, 2023, Dean flew to Wilmington, North Carolina from Virginia Beach for a game of pickleball. All of us spectators were thrilled that he chose our city and enjoyed the game and the hoopla of the event. The historical happening was hosted by the Cape Fear Pickleball Club and was well covered by our local news media." -Carol, Social Events Chairman, Cape Fear Pickleball Club You can keep up with all of the showings and awards for Dink at www.dinktheshortfilm.com Pickleball Gets Its Name in Lights Rachael Silberman and her dad showcased their love of pickleball by writing and producing a short film about the sport called Dink, a pickleball comedy. It is about the "Grab the Gherkin" Pickleball Tournament that comes to Wilmington, North Carolina. In the film, four regional champions enter to compete for the Grand Gherkin Trophy and become legends in pickleball history. Rachael Silberman is an award-winning filmmaker with four short films to her credit. She and her pickleball-addicted dad, Andrew or, "Sir Lobs a Lot," wrote, cast, directed, and produced Dink. Their short film won the Best Mockumentary Film Award at the fall 2023 Oregon Short Film Festival. Pickleball had become part of the Silbermans' lives several years earlier when Rachael's parents moved to Compass Point in Wilmington, North Carolina. Andrew loved basketball, but back issues took him out of the game. "I felt like over the past ten years, my dad just wanted something to get back into and he hadn't found it yet," Rachael said. "When he moved to Compass Point, he found pickleball and it totally changed him. He gets so much joy from playing, he's lost so much weight, he's never looked better, and he's so excited. Pickleball has given him his life back." Rachael has caught the pickleball bug as well, though on a far more social and casual basis. She plays when she visits her parents or has free time. But she will admit that it's in her blood and she has a little addiction. While she doesn't watch all the latest YouTube videos that her father does, she is all about the "Let's go, I want to play now, and I want to teach you" mentality. One day, she saw the young sheriff who lives across the hall from her with a paddle in his hand. When she asked where he was headed, he said he was going to play pickleball. As it turned out, he had never played before. She offered to join him and teach him the rules. "There are rules?" he said. "I was just going to smack the ball around for a bit." She set him straight and off they went to play. According to Rachael, "Everyone who plays seems to get a new lease on life. It is truly a positive experience." While Rachael was laid up from a broken leg (not a pickleball injury), her dad said, "Wouldn't it be great fun to do a spoof about pickleball? Then we would have a project we could do together like in the past." She thought it could be fun but reminded him that making an independent film is a big undertaking and takes a lot of prep work and a lot of money. First they talked about the spoof concept and how they loved the movie Best in Show and slapstick comedies like Dodgeball. Rachael said she probably wrote most of the script and her dad came in with the last twenty-five percent to help "zhuzh" it up. They decided to film it at the House of Pickleball in Leland, North Carolina, using local cast and crew as well as family and friends to complete the project. They held casting calls, hired the crew, and recruited extras from local pickleball clubs, friends, and family members. A local councilman has a role in the film, and Benny's Pizza, a local pizza joint, got to be in the movie as well. "There was this wise-guy-type from Compass Point," Rachael recalls. "He was a typical guy from New York or New Jersey. He was just wonderful, and we used his persona as one of the main characters. Basically, I told him, "We'll write lines for you, but you need to be who you are." When they held casting calls, only he and one other actor knew how to play pickleball. The other two main characters had never played the game. As the days of filming moved on, everyone learned what pickleball was and how to play the game, and everyone became addicted. "Initially the crew knew nothing about pickleball, and then they got really into it," Rachael said. "During the off times when they weren't shooting, the crew could be found playing." As Rachael told her story, her emotion and excitement were palpable. It was obvious that the community she had created while making this film had moved her and the others involved, fostering friendships and camaraderie. "What a labor of love this was to work with my dad," she said. "He was so excited about the project and his fire was so contagious. Honestly, it was a joy." We've Played (Almost) Everywhere Mari Jo's story We've all heard that you can't have your cake and eat it too! That might be true most of the time, but there can be exceptions. Recently, we found an amazing way to put two of our greatest passions, travel and pickleball together. We weren't going to postpone one dream while undertaking the other or choose one over the other. It all started in 2017 when I asked my husband, Rich, what he would like for Christmas, and he said, "Something we can do together." Although we had never tried the game, I chose to give him a pickleball paddle for Christmas, and we haven't stopped playing since. We are fortunate to have lots of time together on the courts as Rich is retired from a career in computer programming and I am a retired public health nurse. We met in a church choir where we both played guitar and have been married for over thirty years. While fulfilling our travel dreams and enjoying the irresistible game of pickleball, we have found our favorite places to play, met wonderful people, and formed friendships that have endured both on and off the courts. When wanderlust takes over and we go off on a road trip, we now seek out pickleball venues where we can get in a game or two during our trips around the country. It got to the point where we never leave home without our paddles. In the spring of 2023, on a trip down to Florida to visit family, we got the notion that we could try to play pickleball in all fifty states of the...