PTATC Event Coordinator, Lisa Mushett and past "participant," Josh Anderson discuss the exceptionally successful Tennis event that benefits Children's Minnesota Hospital and a variety of other great causes.
welcome to the Kindness Chronicles, where we hope to inject the world with a dose of the Minnesota nice that it desperately needs. It's cold outside. It's cold and uh, a little, a couple of moments we're going to, I had a little frog in my throat there. Oh, okay. Must be the weather. I hope it's not COVID. Um, only had that three times. Um. We're going to be talking about tennis in just a few minutes, outdoor tennis, which is quite lovely, but we have a whole gaggle of people here. We've got our usual suspect, Steve Brown is with us. Hello there. Hello Steve. KG. is delivering spaghetti to his mother in law which is just lovely. What a great guy. I'm quite the chef. Uh, prego, three cheese, two pounds of hamburger, a little garlic salt, and you're on your way, kid. There's a lot of protein in that. Yes, that voice that you're hearing is Josh Anderson, and I'm going to be talking a little bit about Josh here in a moment. Special guest in studio. In studio, that's right. Welcome to the Fireside Dine studio, Josh. It's an honor to be here. And then, um, we will be, uh, conducting our interview with Lisa Muschett from the Pine Tree Apple Classic. But first, we always have to ask KG about this week in Minnesota Wild Hockey. This has been about the weirdest week in Wild Hockey history, wouldn't you say? Yeah, we bottomed out over the weekend. That, that Arizona game was a complete and utter fiasco and, uh, you know, you hate to see it. The guys were just, you know, they're, they were struggling all week long, but you get beat six something at home, you get booted off your home ice by your own fans. Uh, they held a players only meeting. I know that gets over thought and over talked about in sports but um they were really, I would say, rock bottom for the season because they've already had the coaching change. They've had all these injuries. They're starting to get healthy and they just got fair. Now, on the flip side of that, after a week of just really, really tough times for the wild, they had a magical night last night where Marc Andre Fleury walked into the history books with his 552nd win and I gotta tell you. Um, the genuine joy that he brings this team with, speaking of Kindness Chronicles, is just the way he treats people. Um, so all the hugs on the ice, but people didn't see on the, you know, on the, on the broadcast last night was when they got to the locker room. Flower had done an interview with me on the ice, so they had about five minutes to get set up. They had, uh, Tina Turner, simply the best blaring. Ah, and the boys were all in there singing it to Mark Andre Flurry. That's cool. And, uh, they had a big little in the, in the locker room. You go from rock bottom to one of the more memorable nights that we've seen in wild history, so that was pretty cool. And Mats Zuccarello, is that how you call it? Is it Mats? It could be Mats or Matt. It's like tomato or tomato. I go Matt, but you're fine going Matt. Okay, Matt Zuccarello. Um, I read a great quote from him that, Marc Andre Fleury is now the second greatest goalie in NHL history, but he's even a better guy. Which, as a Minnesotan, you just love to hear that, don't you? Of course we do, yeah. We just love it. We love it. And we got him. We got him. He's ours. See how nice he is? We love it. He was from Minnesota. So speaking of swell guys, in our studio tonight, we have a young lad named Josh Anderson, and Josh and I go way, way back, and I just want to tell a quick story about Josh. Back in the third and fourth grade in house baseball draft, Josh was, I think he's a sandbagger, I think his dad or somebody said, yeah, don't look too good out there because we want you to be on Ole Olsen and Doug Bartholomew's team. So we're going through and we're doing the draft and we're drafting these players and, and Doug got really excited, I think his third round pick was Josh Anderson. I think that the excuse that he said that he really needed to have Josh on the team is that his mom needed him to give him a ride to the games. Well, third and fourth grade baseball, uh, continues. And Josh Anderson's like the most lights out fourth grade pitcher in the history of, uh, Mata Midi baseball. so here's what happened. How do you remember all this stuff? I remember it because it got me deep. Best season of Rec Baseball ever. Cool. Yeah, let me hear. So listen to what happened. During the regular season, Oli and Doug And I know you're listening out there. Those guys throw the game. They literally throw a game so they wouldn't be undefeated going into the playoffs. That's not true. That is not true. No, it is true. Everyone's saying it. Zach Ponick hit it to the woods that game. That is true. So we had a guy who looked a little bit like Sasquatch, Zach Ponick, who. I think he had puberty at the age of seven. Zach Ponick hit the longest ball I've ever seen in 3rd and 4th grade baseball. Josh, um, comes back during the championship of the, uh, of the season. And he just absolutely lights out. Here's what kind of a guy this guy is. He was, I would say, one of the best, if not the best. Pitcher in Mata Midi for that, grade until he decided, I'm going to be a tennis player. Oh. So, kind of left us high and dry. That left a position open for Jack Schweitz though to become the, the P1, which he worked out for Jack. I think he was, he was definitely P1 though. Well, he Maybe not in 4th grade. Not in 4th grade, but you were, the guy was an incredible baseball player and he said to hell with baseball, I'm playing tennis. Yeah. And he was a very good tennis player too. That was a weird year. That was a weird year. That was. Rock on for life though. I'll never forget it. Rock on for life! They were the great team. I actually still have my sheet where I drafted the order of the guys that I drafted. Yeah, those were the good old days. I don't, I don't recall that much in fourth grade. Listen. That's crazy. I peaked as a third and fourth grade baseball coach. That's exactly how I'm feeling right now. That's great. So Josh is with us because Josh as a tennis player has participated in the Pine Tree Apple Classic. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And we have with us the event coordinator, Lisa Muschett. Lisa, hello. Hi, how are you? Thanks for not getting bored with our banter, but we just had to Kind of set the stage as to what, uh, what tonight was going to look like. The fourth grade sports roundup earlier there. Lisa, have you ever coached third and fourth grade baseball? Actually, I have two daughters, so I actually was a, uh, kindergarten, first and second grade softball coach. There you go. And I actually played softball growing up, not tennis. So you understand the feelings that I'm having about that draft and how I kind of felt like we got suckered when this guy who should have been a first round pick Sandbag the tryout, so he would fall to third, yeah, anyway, I'm over it. A lot of strategy for a fourth grader. I'm not sure you are over it. No, he's not, he's not. When I, when I saw the teams, I was, so my mom was my teacher that year in fourth grade, and she said, everyone on my team, and I didn't know anyone, and I remember crying. All day, because I didn't know anyone on my team. Oh, boy. And, uh, yeah, turns out I'll always have those memories of being a Rockhound. Flew a game, uh, in the World Series, or 3rd and 4th grade Rec Ball World Series. And, uh, the rest is history. It was, it was very big. Classic, yeah. Okay, Lisa. Yeah, Lisa. Tell us about the Pine Tree Apple Classic. how did this start? What was the purpose of it? Just give us a little history. So the Pine Tree Apple Tennis Classic actually started back in 1986 when Ron and Mary Ann Peterson found out that their 12 year old daughter Julianne was diagnosed with leukemia. And while she was in the hospital, they were trying to figure out what they could do to say thank you to all the medical professionals at Children's Minnesota where she was being treated. Um, So, um, They wanted to say thank you but they also wanted to figure out how they could possibly find ways to continue the research, to enhance research while still being able to perform the day to day duties of treating children with cancer. Um, that, I think that's one thing that's really lost on a lot of people is that when their child is, no child, no family wants to have their child diagnosed with cancer. Um, It's, the whole family has been involved, is involved. And so, every day they would come in, they would be there while Julianne was being treated. And Ron and Marianne were just so grateful to not only the doctors who were providing the treatment, but really the nurses who were coming in and were, You know, they're with them every step of the way, holding their hand, getting them through each day because it is not easy going through, um, this with a child and your own child at that. So, they were trying to find a way to give back to Children's Minnesota. Um, and this actually, this tournament was kind of born in a bar, where Ron was out with his buddies, Dan Aberg and a few other people. And they were As they were thinking about ways that they could raise money and give back to the hospital, they thought, well, wouldn't it be fun if we created this community tennis event? And so they reached out at that point to, um, some of their friends, but then also to the Jacobson's Pine Tree Apple Orchard and asked them if they would be willing to step in and provide the seed money. to start the event. Cool. And, and the Jacobson family and the Orchard did. And so that first year, back in 1986, the event raised 15, 000. Wow. So, which is pretty good for a local startup community event. I'd say for a start, yeah. Was it, was it at Delwood? Um, yeah, so it ran many years at Delwood. Um, we've also had it one year at the Fredwell Tennyson Education Center. And currently, the event, which is now going to be celebrating its 39th year in August, is being held at Lifetime White Bear. Very cool. is their daughter still with us? She is, yes. good. That's fantastic. I was hoping I wasn't going to have to edit that out. That's always kind of the difficult question. That's great. No, she is with us, yes. Is that family still involved? yes. sadly, Mary Ann passed away three years ago. But Ron, um, come to, he lives now in Tucson, but he has come back the last two years to come, um, to the event and to just be a part of it, to say hi to all of the people who have been a part of this really incredible, incredible, um, Tournament for the past almost 40 years. So it's it's really great to have him come back And he's got other family members that come back and and see what we're doing If we all are you know, we're we still haven't found a cure yet So we're still working each and every year to raise funds to provide more research so that we can find a cure Um, I have a question for you. Why, so, how did it, how did you guys arrive at tennis? Why, why tennis? Was that, um, because it was a good spectator sport for the area? Like, just curious how you arrived at that. I don't know what else, it could have been many things, right? I don't think Lisa had anything to do with that decision. No, I'm asking her if she knows. I watched the videos, I was trying to see if, if it explained why tennis. So they just were in the bar going. You know, it'd be great if we watched tennis. I think, well, they all were tennis players. Okay, okay. So they would all be playing tennis together. Ron and his group of friends were all playing tennis together. Cool. And that was after, so after they had played tennis together one night, they went to the bar to, uh, Talk about how great they played that day and they came up with this incredible idea. And I, I'm, I'm not sure if they thought that it'd still be going 39 years later and 7. 5 million. How about that? Wow. Yeah, but it's pretty amazing what this little community event has turned into. KG, are you still there? Yeah, I, I'm amazed, you know, the, the 7. 5 million is the most important number. And I, I think we're also programmed with. Correct. Yeah, yeah. I think it's pretty easy to put people on a golf course and have them play like a scramble. I, I came to tennis not by choice, but my, my high school sweetheart was a, uh, a tennis player and she used to kick my, my butt on a regular basis. I thought because of my background as a hockey goalie, I could keep up and it was totally embarrassing that I could not, but tennis is a lot harder. To get everybody kind of synced up, if you know what I mean, Lisa. So how does this play out when the tournament actually happens? Are there different levels? How do we match players up? So, this event really started with wanting to bring together the best tennis players in the area. So, when Ron and Dan Aberg and this group were trying to find people to play, they actually started at the University of Minnesota and at the college level and found former players, elite high school players, um, professional players. Actually, Minnesota used to have. the most tennis players per capita of any state in the country. Do you believe that? And I'm not sure if that's still the case, but tennis was extremely popular, especially during the late eighties, early nineties. Um, But it's such a community and everybody seems to know everybody and I think that has to do with that for nine months out of the year, we're having to play inside. So many of us are at the same facilities playing inside and we see each other all the time, whether it's at your local. facility or you're playing a, uh, USPA league match, which there are only six or seven facilities in the area, right? So you are bound to run into people as you're playing at these indoor facilities. So we've built this very big community of tennis people and they just all came together and decided that. They wanted to play tennis for a cause. And one of the unique things about the Pine Tree Apple Tennis Classic is that it's actually a mixed doubles event. So, um, we have three, three adult divisions. An open division, which anybody can play. A master's division, which both partners have to be 35 and over. And then we have a grand master's division. Which both partners have to be 50 and over right? That's us John John you peaked in you peaked in about 86 What's that as big in 86 tennis? the girls that played tennis were that was important back in 86, but speaking of Of, uh, elite high school tennis players. I don't know about that. Josh Anderson, you know some of those guys, don't you? I know a lot of them, yes. Yeah, I know quite a few of them. But Josh, you participated in this event once upon a time. Yeah, so I, I grew up like five minutes from Lifetime, where the event has always taken place, at least since I've played tennis. Um, so I grew up going there and. And it was like, that weekend was a weekend that I made sure I had open so that I could just spend. And dominate? So you could spend the whole weekend dominating? Watch. Watch. Oh, okay, watch. As a seventh grader, yeah. That's cool. Seventh through twelfth grade, I watched and then, um. After my senior year, uh, there was somebody that had to withdraw from the tournament. So then I got the nod. Uh, I don't know how, but I got the nod. Um, so it was, it was such a cool event to plan. Um, like Lisa said, there's a lot of Gophers players, a lot of former Gopher, former Gopher players in there too. Um, So it's serious competition. Oh, they are very, very good. And I am not, so. Well, I don't know. You got the nod to play. Yeah, uh, career 0 2 in pine tree. Um, looking for my first win. I don't know when my next time that I play will be. But, uh, it is, it is some serious competition. Um, Lisa, I know you could probably vouch for it. It's some of the best players in Minnesota and just kind of the Midwest, I would say, um, you know, between guys and girls. So I have to interrupt. How does it work? Like, how does the money get raised? Do you have to get sponsors? I know that you do pledges cause I wrote a check and I keep getting emails, which I've responded, which is great. That's a good fundraising tactic, but how does that work? As a 12th grader, that's never done anything like. Um, charitable, charitable or a nice, uh, um, it was a, it was a cool experience because I wrote an email, um, and sent it out to a lot of people just kind of a, a template and sent that out to people that I think, um, would be interested in donating like yourself. That's right. Thoughtful people. Yeah. Thoughtful. Yeah. Some of the, some of the leaders in our community. That's right. Very good. Keep going. Um, And then I got a lot of positive enforcement from that, or positive donations, um, and a lot of really nice notes from that too, and then I threw it on my social medias, and that was a really cool, cool way to see who has been impacted by something like this, and, and the reach that, um, an event like this has, I mean, I'll remember people that, Have that donated just a couple of dollars, but it's like, why did they donate? I don't talk to them. Um, just saw it on my Facebook and they, that's cool. They threw 5 on there. And that's the world we live in. It was, yeah. I mean, there's a couple of names I will always remember and they probably have no idea, uh, or don't remember that they donated. That is cool. Yeah, it was, it was really cool. John, did you actually watch him play? Do you remember? No, he didn't. I remember. Oh, no, but, um, since we're going to go there, do you pluralize medias when you say social medias? Yeah, I said that, and I heard medias. A little laugh, because I sounded really old there. Yeah, I have a book upstairs that I'll have to share with you. Yeah, it's alright. Okay. I won't do it again. Okay, so, so Lisa Anything goes on social media, John. You can make stuff up as you go on Twitter. Yeah, but you don't want to say social medias. Yeah. I mean, that's, come on. There's so many of them. This guy's an engineer. I'm gonna, yeah. He's a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Madison. Oh, thank you. Right? Turn that mic on and people freak out sometimes, John. It gets pretty intimidating. I know. With KGs on the other end of the phone. I know. Right. Never been around something like this before. Local celebrity on the phone with us. Yes. Okay, let's Yeah, that's fabulous. Yeah, let's get back to, let's get back to Lisa. Yeah. Lisa, you said that, you've raised, over the years 7. 5 million dollars. does all of that money go to Children's Minnesota? right now we do give the majority of it to Children's Minnesota. We are open to other hospitals, but right now we have formed a very healthy partnership with a group at Children's Minnesota, who's one of the leaders in rare cancer tumor research in the world. And so we work directly with that group at Children's Minnesota. In providing them the money so that they, in turn, can do all the research. They have formed two international regist tumor registries that are used all around the world. So now our impact, even though Children's Minnesota is our home base, they have reached out and now we're in over, uh, 200 hospitals in 49 countries around the world. Jeez. is Jenny Soderholm still the president of Children's Minnesota, the foundation? She is, yes. She is the president of the foundation. Yes, every year I get to give her a big check. That is fun. I'm sure she likes that. Yeah, I just gave her a check for 340, 000. Holy cow. obviously you've had some great tennis players that have participated. who's the MVP for fundraising for you? That's kind of like what I'd like to hear about. I think what's really incredible about this event is that the players have, um, played for years and years. So our board president, Kevin, where we, he was a player at the university of Minnesota and he got involved. He's going to actually be celebrating his, uh, 30th anniversary of the tournament this year, but he started as a player and fell in love with the cause and then Continued to play but then became a volunteer and then Became involved through our board. And so he's probably raised in excess. I'd say Well, i'd say probably about 250 to 300 Thousand dollars during his time. Holy cow but we've had other players and That in the past have raised as much as seventy thousand dollars In one year one person We have no Fundraising requirement. We have a recommended ask for them to participate but if Which is 750, but oftentimes 750 is like a drop in the bucket for what everybody raises. So this year, our highest fundraiser raised almost 20, 000 and we had, uh, 20 or 20 players who raised over. Uh, 5, 000 this year. That's pretty incredible if you think about it. What kind of a, what kind of a participation in an audience, like how big of an audience is there? Uh, a crowd watching? Josh, what would that feel like and how many people were kind of So there's for that weekend. the four courts, um, outside of lifetime. We also have a giant food tent that, uh, we do all of the confessions ourselves. We have the pine tree apple orchard provide all of the desserts for the weekend. Um, and we probably on the weekend have about 5, 000 people who come through during the four day event. It's been pretty exciting. We started a Thursday night happy hour and everybody loves happy hour and last year we actually were jam packed from bleacher to bleacher end to end with people coming to watch. It's really been incredible to see how the tournament has grown and you know during COVID we were nervous because we We thought we were going to have to take a year off and we actually were one of the few events that occurred during COVID. We ended up playing outside and we didn't play at Lifetime that year. We played actually at Bethel University. We played on their beautiful outdoor courts there where we were able to have people come in and space out and social distance. And we were still able to run the tournament and that year we raised about 275, 000. I used to love going to Lifetime because of the chicken salad that they had in the little cafe thing and I found myself going to Lifetime specifically for the chicken salad and not working out and that was the beginning of the end for me. So I, I apologize. Have you ever had the chicken salad at Lifetime? I have not. Oh my god. It's so good. Do they have a drive thru for you? I have. I used to work in a Lifetime. Lisa knows! And I know. That chicken salad, every day, it's so good. It's like a D'Amico salad with a chicken sandwich. The chicken sandwich? Oh, I haven't had that. You know what though? Well, during the Pine Tree Tournament, we actually have our own special recipe for a barbecue chicken sandwich. Now wait a second. Stop the spaghetti train. And then you'll have to top that off with a beer and then with an apple turnover or a piece of apple pie. Oh, because Jacobson's is still involved? Oh, yeah. They are involved more than ever. It's the pine tree, man. And we are so grateful for them. They provide not only the tremendous desserts and food for the weekend, but they, last year, we hosted a Friday night party that was actually emceed by K Fans Justin Gard, who also plays in our tournament every year. Um, but They actually hosted our Friday night party out at the Orchard last year, and it was just such a cool venue for people who have been to this tournament for years and years to actually come out. There are so many people who've played in this tournament who've never been to the Apple Orchard. So for them to actually go to the apple orchard and see the orchard was such a special thing and kind of brought everything full circle. You know, the orchard kind of bugs me though, and I just have to say this. When I go out to the orchard and they always run out of their chocolate chip cookies, you know what? Make as many as you can possibly make because you're never going to throw them away. They always run out and all they have left are the ones with the raisins in them. Ick! You gotta get the donuts. Huh? The donuts are great! You gotta get the donuts. The donuts are great, but I like those chocolate chip cookies. I put them in the freezer and then I get another thing and I hide it in the basement freezer. So Becky doesn't know. To make a quick trip to a lifetime and then you go to the orchard for a cookie and then boom, you're back working out. I'm starting to think I might have a food problem. I will say you're one of the few people I've ever heard go to the apple orchard for chocolate chip cookies. A lot of people go for apples or for apple donuts. Do they have apples there? Yeah. No, they got really good chocolate chip cookies. So, this is a shout out to Mr. Jacobson, Mrs. Jacobson. Start cooking the cookies. Let's go. Bacon. Let's go. All over time. Yeah. Sponsor the podcast maybe? So, Lisa, we don't do that. Oh, okay. Lisa, what do you do for, where do you get all your volunteers? Do you just rely on past years or do you, are you right now looking for more new people for this year? Give us some more information. We're always looking for volunteers. We have had Family of volunteers that have been a part of our group forever, but we actually were trying to expand our base. We were finding that, you know, during the pandemic, people found other interests. And so we lost some of our volunteer base. And so we were so fortunate that we had an anonymous donor who partnered with us and with, um, United States Tennis Association, Northern section. And provided what we call the volunteer give back program, where we would go out to local high school tennis programs or college programs, and they, for every hour that they would come and volunteer at our events, the anonymous donor would pay 10. U. S. T. Northern would match that with another 10, and then the anonymous donor paid another 10 to support the cause. So, for coming out and volunteering for one hour, they were raising 30. 20 for their tennis program and 10 for the cause. Cool. Smart. And we have had incredible success with that, with so many local high schools and colleges participating and being a part of it. Steve, as a matter of fact, the, uh, the reason that we're talking to Lisa happens to be because of the recommendation. of a volunteer, a gentleman named Michael Yates. Oh. Um, KG and I were sitting behind him at a, uh, concert, um, Cary Noble concert that we get dragged to every year by our gals. Oh, it was in December, right? In early December? It was December. Yep. And we were coveting Michael's pizza. He had a pizza in front of us. And we were looking at it. It always comes back to food, Lisa. It does, but you have to admit that pizza looked awfully good, didn't it? It did look good. Um And I love that through that little conversation, we're shining a light on this now. And I think, you know, we hope anyway with our podcast and the loyal listeners we have that we can bring more money and more volunteers. As we talk food and mixed in work, Lisa, is there a website that our listeners can go to for volunteering, for donating, if they want to be a spectator, just to get caught up on this and maybe get more familiar with it? Yes, our whole story is located at P T A C F dot org. And you'll be able to find everything on there about our history. Some of, one of the things we haven't really talked about is our Honored Patients and Honored Angels program. So each year we bring, um, cancer patients from the hospital to the tournament and we celebrate them and their families. And you can go in and you can read about all the patients that this tournament has benefited over the years. Um, another part of our tournament that, And our support, that's really special, is that, um, Children's Minnesota is one of the leaders in rehabilitation services for cancer patients, and that's actually Uh, an avenue that really hasn't been explored much around the world, and Children's is taking the lead on that because there are so many side effects from the chemotherapy and the different treatment, um, while receiving cancer treatment that affect your body physically, immediately, but also down the road. And so, Children's Minnesota has now formed a specific treatment area that focuses just on this, so that we can create a holistic approach so that our patients can experience better lives as they continue through treatment and even once they're cancer free. And so that's really an exciting, um, avenue that we're exploring. And it's really fun to see the entire world learn more about it. It's so funny when we talk about what we're doing. In this field in this area and they say I've never even thought about that. We don't do that We need to learn more. So I think that's the next direction that we're going to go It's very cool But PTACF. org is where you'll find out all about our organization the tournament how to get involved how to donate how to be a Sponsor we love sponsors video in the history, too. Yeah Very cool. Um, typically when KG asks for the, uh, the website that's code for my food's getting cold. Can we move along here? No, he would never. I already ate. I was delivering spaghetti after having dinner. I'm, I'm loving this conversation. I know you are. Come on, man. Speaking of As an aside, Justin Gard He is one of my good buddies from the fan, and we need to have him on, uh, to also pump this tournament up because he's got a great group of people that follow him, and he's not a local minor celebrity, he's a local major celebrity, and I love Justin Gard. We like to have those. We're very grateful for Justin Gard when he won the initial tournament on K Fan. Um, he actually was representing Great Clips and Great Clips donated 1, 000 for both his semi final and his final victory during the tournament. And he was so gracious and gave it to the Pine Tree Apple. That's really cool. So we are extremely grateful for all that Justin does for our tournament. And I promised him I'd get him a better draw next year. He always seems to lose in the first round. That's like Josh. I've heard a little rumor that he might have a celebrity, uh, Partner, play with him next year as well. We'll see what that comes to fruition or not, but she is an intense training. I just read about her, uh, her interest in tennis after leaving the basketball court. Oh, wait a second. Lindsay Wayland. Oh my, it could be Maya Moore. Maya Moore. Oh, well, you know what? We don't want to spill the beans. Hey, I have a question for, uh, for Josh. Does Olivia paradise play in this? She has played in it a few times. Yeah. Yeah. That might get some. People to go. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Her Brooks granddaughter. Her Brooks granddaughter. Yeah. Yeah, I've had breakfast with her a couple times because she's, uh, looking at getting into either, not broadcasting, maybe some journalism. Um, I, I feel short every day. I feel extra short when I have breakfast with her. Yeah, she is something. My mother is friends with her grandmother, her Brooks's, wife, Patti, we always talk about, if only those Paradise kids had some, uh, had some good looks, you know, the three of them are like three of the most attractive people you've ever seen. You see them on Facebook, and it's like, come on. Well, their name is Paradise, for God's sake. And their name is Paradise. Yeah, it's a great name. Yes, Olivia played two years ago. She was hurt last year and couldn't play. Actually, she was doing an internship down in Florida and couldn't play, but we're hoping that she'll come back and play again this year, but she's been a long time supporter of the Pine Tree Appleton club. That is very cool. What's the dates this year? Good. God, you're good, Steve. Well, I'm curious, you know, I want to, I want to go get some of that salad. Sit down with you. We'll meet you in cage. You won't eat some, uh, chicken salad. Watch this thing. What is it, Lisa? So our 39th event will be August 1st through the 4th. Admission is free. So, we just encourage people to come. Um, we're also going to have a little event in May, on May 9th. Oh. Where, um, to bring new people in to learn more about Pine Tree Apple Plastic Fund and the tournament. And so, information about that will be appearing on our website in a couple days. But, um, we would love to have anybody who's interested in learning more about the tournament, about our organization, or about all the great work that we're doing with our partnership with Children's for locally and around the world to come that day and just learn more. Free lunch! I don't know if it's chicken salad, but it will be free lunch that day. All you have to say is lunch. You know, one of the things that I am extremely proud of, and I think that we should all as Minnesotans be proud of, is just how strong the pediatric medicine community is in the state of Minnesota, especially in the Twin Cities. I mean, there are four really meaningful children's hospitals it's pretty amazing. Actually, our honored patient from last year, she started at, um, the Masonic Children's Hospital, and once they diagnosed her, they figured out that she really should be connecting with Dr. Chris Ann Schultz, who One of the things I didn't mention is through our fundraising, we have created an endowed chair at Children's Minnesota for blood and cancer research disorders. It's only the third ever endowed chair at Children's Minnesota. So again, the small little tournament that happened, community event that happened, uh, started back in 1986 is now endowing chairs at one of the world's greatest children's hospitals in the world. So that, I think that's something that we're really proud of as well. And we're actually in the process now of possibly endowing a second chair. Wow. Down the road. So that's kind of what our fundraising is really focusing on now. The possibility of endowing that second chair, maybe toward the rehabilitation services side as we go. Move in that direction. Now, KG, you said that your tennis career didn't last long. Um, tell us about your pickleball, uh, career. Cause you're, you're, you're big into pickleball these days, aren't you? Yeah, I started during, uh, during COVID. And, you know, I find pickleball far more enjoyable than tennis because I think with tennis, Less movement. You have to match up. Well, there's less, less movement for sure at age 56. But. It's easier to match people up, I think, with Pickleball because I think the game is the great equalizer, whereas tennis, I really think if the skill sets don't mesh, you're in big trouble because one person's just gonna walk all over the other. Pickleball's not that way. And in Pickleball, the net Really matters and being an ex goalie. I still love Don't have the cat Can I reflect as I had 30 years ago, but I can hold my own up to that and I love it There you go. Cool. Look at you It all goes actually looking at starting a pickleball. Oh, here we go Yep, yep. So we're trying to get all of our ducks in a row. Josh? Yeah. He's one of the first people I invite to participate in our experiment. Oh, I would love that. Josh, are you Yeah, my better half ended up at, uh, in the hospital a couple of Fridays ago. Oh, boy. It was nothing too serious, but, uh, she ended up with, uh, some kind of a calf issue. Yeah. So she ended up at TRIA. They took good care of her, and she's, uh She's still going to make the ski trip, right, John, with your better half leading Saturday. I think they're going to be okay on those slopes. They'll be just fine. And, you know, what's funny is, is I've heard from a few of my orthopedic surgeon friends that pickleball has been the greatest boom to their, uh, Yeah, I was going to say. I love it. In fact, I have a friend Who is in the process of building a number of pickleballs and his investors are orthopedic guys, and we're not kidding What's the most common injury you think Achilles Achilles? Okay. Yeah, cuz you get all these old people out there And we're all, yeah, we're all, you know, we're all in our fifties and we're out there. We're not all in our forties and fifties. We don't, well, a lot of pickleball players are forty and up. I'm just telling you. And we all think we can still do the same things we could do in our twenties and thirties, and that's not always the case. I just want to add that I have never had an injury lying on the couch watching Netflix. Yeah, just throwing that out there. Or eating though. It's a good record. Or eating. Or eating. Yeah. Well, you know, you know, that's a whole nother situation. It's actually really interesting right now because a lot of our former tennis players of the Pine Tennis Classic have migrated to pickleball, and now they're all professional pickleball players. What? Whoa. So actually one of our same strategy years played Jack. Was a very famous pro tennis player. Yes. Davis Cup, the United States is one grand Slam doubles title, and they played each other on the pro pickleball tour the other day. There is this mo you're talking about. Guys are amazing. I've watched on, uh, ESPN, the ocho, and I am telling you, I, I think I'm halfway decent at pickleball. I suck at pickleball just like I sucked at tennis. I'm just playing with the right people. Professional pickleball games. I don't know if you guys have ever watched them. They're incredible. Who are you gonna, what are you gonna say, Josh? Lisa, is that Moe? Yes. Yeah, you know Moe? I mean, I know the name just from watching, uh, Pine Tree. Who's Moe? He's played at Gustavus. Does he have more than one name or is it just me? Lisa could probably say it. His name is Mohannad Alhouni and he was a tennis All American at Gustavus and is actually a teaching professional at Lifetime Fitness Oakdale Village. Um, but he, in his spare time, is a professional pickleball player. And yes, he was the one that was playing jacksock the other day. So let me take just a real quick jacksock story. Strange name. go to YouTube, when you're done listening to this program, and Google Jack Sock, sportsmanship. There is one of the greatest videos of all time. He's playing Leighton Hewitt, who's another professional, uh, tennis player. Leighton Hewitt serves the, uh, the tennis ball, and the line judge, I think that's what they call him, calls it out. Yeah, you talked about this before. Yes, and Jack Sock, and Jack Sock says, It, there's like a, it's quiet, you know, during a tennis match and he goes, that was in, if you want to challenge it. And the crowd kind of laughs. And Leighton Hewitt looks at him like, are you kidding me? And the guy up in the, uh, the chair, whatever you call that guy, is that the referee? Chair ump. Chair ump. Chair umpire. He goes, he, he, he has this look on his face like, what are you talking about? And he goes, I'm, I'm telling you, it was in if you want to challenge it. So he says, okay, I'll challenge it. And the TV announcers are like, you know, this guy's going to look like a real goose. I don't know what that is. It must have been in Australia. He goes, if this was out. And they do the slow motion replay. I love when they do that. And it was in, and the crowd went absolutely wild. Yeah. And here's how rare that kind of sportsmanship is. It was the second story on the Today Show. When they do the, the beginning montage. They talked about just this, unique moment of sportsmanship. So look up Jack Sock Sportsmanship. It's been viewed like 15 million times. It's so cool. You know why he did that? Because he had character and he didn't want to win that way. Right! And the thing is, is the lesson to be learned from that is, in a In a five set tennis match. I read that there's like 300 points contested with all the loves and de keep going, deuces and all those. Is it deuce? Is that the word? Yeah, that's one of them. Yeah. Add in, add out. I watched tennis, love. Yeah. Research. You know tennis guy. I know Tennis. Yeah. So anyway, 300 points and that one stupid. Point of that one match made Jack Sox sort of the sportsmanship hero. Yes. Did he win in the end though? Do you know what? I don't know the answer is saying if after all that of course, that's really Matter sir, but but how cool is that? He won on his terms like he went I'm gonna play this fair and blah blah. That's just I mean It was just absolutely cool super cool. Okay We, I, we promised 30 minutes. We're now going on 45. Holy cow, Lisa, this has been delightful. Um, we will look forward to August 1st through 4th. I'm most looking forward to the chicken sandwich that you mentioned. Let's do it. Um, any other final words of wisdom, Josh? I appreciate you coming in. Yeah. I mean, anytime I get to put on the headphones, yeah. Sit around the, the, uh, table here. It's, it is. Very, very good tennis. really some of the best tennis I've seen, especially mixed doubles, super, super fun to watch. if you're not super familiar with tennis, some long points, and it, it really is competitively. So I'm sure you can talk to that more. I don't know if there's a lot of other events that you've done around. that can put up the level of tennis that Pine Tree does. It's so true. It's just such a unique event. It's a big community party. Um, it's a celebration of not only tennis, but of all the great work that they're doing at Children's Minnesota. And we're getting so much closer to finding a cure every single tournament, any donation, any time spent volunteering just helps us get even closer to that goal. So hopefully one day we will do it. a shout out to Michael Yates, Mr. Yates. It was nice meeting you at the Cary Noble, uh, concert. Uh, hope to see you there. He did offer a slice. He of course recognized KG and I thought, Oh God, here we go. And he was just, he was a very nice man. He actually He's a huge sports fan. He's our, he's actually our tournament photographer. I know. Oh, cool. And his wife helps coordinate all of our volunteers, so they were, they both just retired and had extra time on their hands and their daughter had played in the tournament. Well their daughter was a collegiate tennis player at Very good. Oh, you know her? I mean, I know a lot of the names that were in Pine. None of the names know me. I know a lot of the names. Um, but that's Melanie, or Mal Yates. Yep, Melanie Play the Guns, I guess. during intermission, KG and I had to get out of the hot room and we went out into this kind of anti room and we were sitting there and I'm going to figure out who this guy is. daughter was. You were creepy. It was, it is a little creepy, but all I got was that she went to, Moundsview High School and she played at Gonzaga, so KG and I pull out our phones and we said, okay, it was just me that pulled out my phone, 2013 14, so I'm looking through the rosters, and I finally found this, this Yates person who went to Moundsview at Gonzaga, Melanie. So then I thought, I'm gonna find out what this guy's name is, so I went on LinkedIn, Michael Yates. I think he was a Medtronic guy, and uh, when we came back, I like knew his whole history, his whole LinkedIn history. And I started asking him some questions. I'm sure he was like, this guy is super weird. And he'd be right. Well, his daughter became, or she is now an emergency room, um, physician and she actually In the hospital that Demar Hamlin went to. Oh wow. Oh. Wow. She was on call that night. Yeah. Wow. So, Division I tennis player became a physician. I know that she won some big awards for being this academic achiever. What a disappointment she must be to her parents. She's really doing it. Was she working the night that DeMar Hamlin was brought in? She was. Wow. Did she just say that? Yeah. I was formulating my next question. I stopped listening. I'm sorry. It's good podcasting. It's good podcasting skills. I don't know who DeMar Hanlon is, but that's fine. I'll just keep going. You know what, seriously, you need to start watching sports. It sounds kind of familiar. Are you familiar with what tennis is? It's like big pickleball. It's yeah. Or big ping pong. Yeah. Huge ping pong. You can watch it tonight because the Australian Open doesn't come on until six o'clock and runs all through the night. Oh, cool. There we go. I'll get warmed up. We've had three of our players who've played in the Pine Tree Apple Tennis Classic who've gone on to play at. open. In fact, I was there last year and one of the girls in our, that played, um, probably about eight years ago. She actually was playing in the Australian open when I went last year and I saw her play in the Australian open. So from pine tree, apple to the Australian open, who was that? Her name is Ingrid Neal. Oh, okay. She played, yeah. And then, if you also know Eric Boudirac, he also played in the Pine Trail. You're kind of like a, like a I tell you, I grew up, all these people were celebrities to me. Is that right? I Did they know about your 3rd and 4th grade baseball promise? Yeah, I tried to tell them. I tried, and they just wouldn't listen. Did you get out the t shirt and everything? Show on. So, real quick, I have another just couple things to say about Josh. Oh, gosh. So, Josh, this is about your mother. Oh. Can we talk about your lovely mom, Leigh? Yeah. So, Josh's mom, Leigh, is the coordinator for the Minnow Tank program, and if you recall, we did a podcast on the Minnow Tank program. It's for fourth grade students at Willow lane. Willow Lane. I always get it wrong. Willow Lane Elementary. Willow Lane Elementary in White Bear Lake. Willow Lake. Willow Lake. Willow Lake. And, uh, I just got an email from her today to, to get the Minnow Tank coaches, uh, on board again. So, exciting. I listened to that podcast on the way over. You know what? That is, uh, that was our, our most downloaded podcast It really was. Kids just love John. That's the thing. Well, you know, what's not to love? All the podcast kids are into John. That was, that was a fun one. It was cool, actually. So, okay. Enough already. Lisa, thank you so much for your time. Uh, we will see you August 1st. If there's a pickleball tournament, you can count on KG. Josh, thank you for coming in. Absolutely. You drove all the way from, are you living in St. Louis Park? St. Louis Park. Okay. Josh is good buddies with my, my son, Jack, and everybody seems to live in St. Louis Park. So it was a long drive for you to come all the way out to Matamide. And thanks Lisa. Good luck with everything. We hope to hear more about it. Thank you, please come out. Josh, if you want to play, let me know. I talked to Matt Nahr. I talked to Matt Nahr today. He's going to try to get me back out there. Is Spencer still playing? Spencer, he didn't play in it last year, but he still plays in it. Because he's in dental school or something, isn't he? Yeah, yep. Ryan Negger, I don't know if you remember that name. Yeah, sure. He's a very good tennis player. Jack, that was Jack's first girlfriend, it was his sister in 8th grade. They were gonna say Ryan. No. Here we go. You know what? We're cool with that. That's all fine. This is the 52nd minute of podcasting. That's where we're at. Jack, you could be a ball boy in this tournament. Yeah! Like Kramer! People would pay to see the hands on the ball. You always bring in us, Lisa, we always have a Seinfeld reference. And the ball boy, remember when Kramer was the ball boy at the U. S. Open? Absolutely, yes. KG, does that mean you could be Georgia eating the ice cream? Yes! Yes! I'll bury my face in that sundae and John can get all the balls. This is just, what a show. It all comes back to Seinfeld, we love it. This has been great. Alright, well thank you guys. Thank you. Appreciate it. And, off we go.