Life Lessons from Pickleball™

E78: Anna Glotova: Hope, Healing, And Pickleball in Ukraine

• Shelley Maurer and Sher Emerick • Episode 78

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When war forced her to flee Ukraine, Anna Glotova found unexpected healing through pickleball. What began as a way to cope with loss grew into a movement of resilience, inclusion, and hope. As cofounder of the Ukrainian Pickleball Federation, Anna is helping veterans, civilians, and adaptive players rediscover joy and unite a nation through the simple, powerful game she now calls a language of connection. Listen now at http://www.lifelessonsfrompickleballpodcast.com

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SPEAKER_02:

Hi, I'm Shelly Mauer. And I'm Cher Emmerich. Welcome to Life Lessons from Pickleball. Where we engage with pickleball players from around the world about life on and off the court. Thanks for joining us.

SPEAKER_03:

Welcome everyone to Life Lessons from Pickleball. We are so honored to have with us today Anna Glotova. Anna, you divide your time between New Zealand and Ukraine, and today you're actually speaking to us from Ukraine.

SPEAKER_01:

You are the co-founder and director of strategic partnerships for the Ukrainian Pickleball Federation, an organization that was founded during the full-scale war in Ukraine.

SPEAKER_03:

Unbelievable. And recently, the Ukrainian Pickleball Federation became the 60th member of the Global Pickleball Federation, which is so exciting. Such a powerful milestone that connects your players to a worldwide community of hope and support.

SPEAKER_01:

That's so powerful. And you know, it's hard for many of us to imagine what daily life is like in a place that's been through war for so long. Can you start by sharing what it feels like in Ukraine right now?

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, I will do this. It was a big, big pleasure because it's uh my opportunity to talk to the whole world about this. And when the war started, I left and I uh moved from Ukraine to Poland. And I didn't experience this really terrible beginning of the war, and I just read about everything that has happened in my country, and it was every piece of information I was feeling how really how even being outside of the country, how all the Ukrainians suffer, and I was really thinking about every minute of time and every real sort of air Ukrainians who are really went through all of this. However, for me it was a kind of you know having this information from outside. But now I'm in Ukraine and now I'm in Kiev and I feel everything from inside. And having this distance between leaving and coming back, I will tell you it's terrible. It's terrible because I was the witness of the attacks, and I've heard it with my own ears, and I was listening to this on top of the building block I am living in. And for me, it's again and again the question why someone would like to kill me. And it's something that you cannot describe, really. It's something that you would not be able to describe, the sound you hear on top of your head. And I really admire the brevity of all the people who are in Ukraine because even we can say that oh, they got adopted, they actually got used to this because it's going on. It is not something that you can get used to at all. No, no way. They are brave, their resilience is enormous, the level of resilience is enormous because they do really unbelievable things. But this feeling is something you cannot get used to. So, and this is on the one hand, and on the other hand, I am really and I'm so proud that I represent this nation because this is something that we have in our blood, this feeling of freedom, that's something that no one will be able to take away. Yeah, and this is something that helps us to do everything we do in each area. So, and I really think that all the Ukrainians they are heroes, and I'm so happy that they can be with those heroes too.

SPEAKER_03:

We are just so glad to know that you are still alive. We've been watching the news, and we know that Russia has bombed the power stations just recently. I mean, the devastation that's happening there, the bravery of the fighters in Ukraine, your being there to be a messenger of hope and awareness. That's the key. We really need to be aware of what's going on and support all of you who are wanting your country back to where it was when you were safe and sound. I'm just very moved that you are joining us on this pickleball podcast of all things, right? Pickleball podcast and bringing in the world's challenges. So you came across pickleball, how, and then what made you think about using pickleball there in Ukraine to help those, especially who've been wounded? So, how did how were you introduced to pickleball?

SPEAKER_00:

Actually, pickable appeared in my life exactly uh at the needed time, I would say honestly. And pickabol has been introduced to me by my husband, but to those times he was my boyfriend. So and we met before war started, and our relationship started to develop parallel to this horrible story, uh part of the history of my of my country. And yeah, I knew that he is the pickable player, but actually, being in Ukraine, I never heard about pickable, of course, and because of him or pickable, something is interesting. Of course, I would wanted to uh be a bit of on the same page as him, at least when he said pickable, I would look like, oh yeah, I know something about pickable. So I started to research. And then yeah, it's interesting. But then somehow, okay, pickable is probably a very interesting sport, but yeah, war started and I forgot completely about this. And then when he visited me in Poland, we accidentally actually found out that in Poland pickleball was was actually in those periods of time that it started to develop. And my tennis coach he said, Oh, by the way, why do you why do you have you decided to play tennis? I said, actually, because I need to refocus a bit, because I'm consistently thinking about what's going on, because my family, my friends, my colleagues, and everything was going on was terrible. Really, I switched to I decided if I work a lot, then probably I will think less. And I started, I I started to be focused on my work, but it didn't help because I just started to think that to feel that I'm tired and I don't have any energy. I have more and more stress, and I can get rid of anything because when you read news, it cannot get out of your head at all. So and then he said, actually, tennis is good, but I play pickable. I said, that's pickable words, it's actually following me. So and then I said, Okay, let's introduce let's meet and yeah, let's play pickable a bit. And then since those times when pickable was introduced, I really started to feel that something new is going on in my life now. Uh because this is such a really social game. Yeah, me being in Poland, even I love Poland because Polish people they helped us a lot, and language is really really similar because I understand 60% of Polish because I speak Ukrainian. Oh, that's interesting, and our culture and our food and our traditions, they are sometimes pretty similar, sometimes they are almost the same. So I felt like almost at home, and then I started to meet new new friends, pickable friends. It was really, I was they became my almost the second family because it doesn't matter who I am. They said, Anna, come in, we will show you how to play. I started to be there often more often, and then I tried not to miss any lesson, and then wow, I know two people, three people, ten people, twenty people, and they are all lovely people because they play loveless sports, they are all positive, they all support, they are all supportive. So, and my kind of introduction into that society was so easy for me, and I started to feel that someone is happy to see me, and oh wow, I'm happy to see those people too. And yeah, it's my integration and my integration into a new country, into new society became easy peasy, and then wow, a lot of friends. So, and yeah, and then when I moved to New Zealand, the story happened again. Doesn't matter who you are, the only thing is my new New Zealand friends they struggled to pronounce my surname a bit. Because yeah, it's just yeah, a lot of new people, and then I remembered all of them because of Peekaboo. And then, yeah, everyone was so lovely, everyone tried to help, everyone tried to teach you the best way to play, and everyone was asking you how I am, and what is very important, everyone was ready to listen how I am. So it was for me such a release, it was for me such a really recovery, because it doesn't mean that I forgot about war in Ukraine, it doesn't mean that I forgot this problem, this problem, it's everything that's going on and what is happening. The issue here, or the the best thing here is that I started to feel support, and not only because I'm Ukrainian, but because people just are happy to see other people. People are just happy to play with other people, they are happy to introduce the new sport to other people, and then wow, yeah, it's this is how it happened, and yeah, my husband is a very good pickable player, he is one of the best in New Zealand. He represent yeah, and he represented New Zealand last year in pickable World Cup and New Zealand in 50 plus category, they became the second. So, and this year he also made a lot of gold and bronze and silver medals in New Zealand and Australia. So I am in the society, and for me it's sport without borders at all. Because I can meet people from all over the world. Yeah, yeah. That's amazing. It's my previous experience working in a big global company and talking to people representing different countries in the world. Impeccable, I didn't have the feeling that I quit my job behind people uh world. I started to meet people from all over the world again. I said, I like it. Okay. It was really it was really such a relief, such a sign that yeah, the whole world is speaking the same language, actually, pickable language. So instead of new pickable, pickable definitions, pickable standards. And when you say dinging, everyone knows what does it mean. Everyone starts to scream, kitchen. Okay, everyone knows what kitchen means, and many other things. So it's just a new language. And I speak four languages, but now I can say that I speak five languages because of tell us how this all led to uh the Ukrainian Pickleball Federation. Oh, yeah, it's um it's also very personal because I was involved in the Speakable Society, and then um this is the sports that is so easy to learn and everyone can play really. You don't need sophisticated equipment, you just need your passion, you just need your time, your friends, a bit of equipment, a bit of knowledge of uh how to convert centimeters in foods, etc. So it's kind of whether you need to be a good mathematician or you need to have your phone and calculator. So yeah, yeah, but really it's so easy. And then I was thinking, yeah, when I look at children, when I look at people, senior people, they can move really, and sometimes I even think, oh, I'm not able to move like those people, so I need to I need to practice more. And then I was thinking, how how many categories of players this fantastic game can cover? And then I just found out in the internet that oh, by the way, wheelchair pickleball, we have two, and then someone is playing using prosthetics. Uh-huh. So then I was thinking about this, and then I was thinking now in Ukraine we have so many veterans and so many civilians affected by by the war because they were injured, and then after the recovery, they are using wheelchairs and they are using prosthetics. And I was researching the uh statistic and I found that to those times, more than a year ago, it was 180,000 official registered amputees. Wait a minute, wait a minute. This is oh my god, I it's official statistic. I would say probably it's not probably, but surely even more. So because it's every day it's changed, those numbers are changing. So that's hard. It's yeah, I'm I'm sorry for bringing you to this. No, no, you have to share this.

SPEAKER_03:

You have to share this. It's so important. Yeah. That statistic is just horrifying.

SPEAKER_00:

Horrible, horrible, horrifying. Yeah, and then I thought, look, this instrument became a really powerful instrument for me to recover, to feel that I am in this society, that I'm involved, that I can do something. And then I was thinking, it's actually a fantastic instrument for my country, for my home country, for Ukraine. And then I again started to research it deeper, and then I just reached out to uh several rehabilitation centers, and they said, Yes, it's interesting, we would like to try, we would like to start. However, again, being removed from Ukraine and also it's as an idea, it was fantastic, but how to implement it was not as easy as I thought at the beginning, and that is why I just reached out to my friends. They are the founder of the charity organization Future of Ukraine 2050, and they were very active in supporting people and in humanitarian uh direction, it's called rebuilding direction, and they had also a massive experience in uh running sports events in the past before war started. And I reached out to them and they said, Look, I have an idea, I need your help. Just I explained to them and I said, Let's be a team, let's help each other. And since since those times we started, and yeah, now very active actively, I would say more than a year we really ago when we started, and now we have uh two directions of or two, I would say, yeah, two directions of pickable: the adaptive pickable and standard pickable. And adaptive pickable is really focused on uh veterans and civilians who got injured and recovered, and we use this tool as recovery for them. And we have also a team of veterans that we train constantly on the constant basis. Um we did it a long year two times a week, two hours. Everyone on the wheelchair came to those trainings and we did it in Kiev. We started the same activity in other Ukrainian big cities like Edessa. Then we did it in Rivna, in uh Tomir. We did uh tournaments uh for standard players and players with some limitations, and yeah, we had a team, and this year we represented Ukrainian adaptive team in English Open. And yeah, we brought six wheelchair players, two of them were veterans, we brought four prostatic players, and all of them they are veterans too. We brought also standout players, and we represented Ukraine first time having so many people, and also here I would like to say thanks really a lot to Karen Mitchell, the president of uh Pickable England. She supported our idea, and I reached out to her and said, Look, Karen, you have a wheelchair player section. So, and we would like to bring our players there, but you don't have separate prosthetic pickable player section. And she said, Yes, Anna, we don't have, but okay, we can introduce, but I cannot guarantee that we would have a lot of people coming to us. I said, probably not this year, but maybe next year, because this year we will bring our players. So and brought up it was the really first time in the pickable history and the pickable tournament history where prosthetic pickable category was introduced as a separate category. Wow, yeah, that was fantastic. I've agree with it. Karen and Hugh, they made a fantastic job to make it happen, and we made our best to train those those players and to bring them to English Open, and together we changed the history.

SPEAKER_03:

So my goodness, Ukraine changing the history of pickleball. Come on, that is so cool. Say again the name of the charity that you mentioned.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh, charity uh uh future of Ukraine 2050. Okay. This charity foundation exists and uh is active together with the founders. He founded the Old Ukrainian Pickleball Federation, and we started to act as uh Old Ukrainian pickleball federation since this time.

SPEAKER_03:

That is so exciting.

SPEAKER_01:

Just a year, you're part of the global pickleball federation, so you guys really put that together. Yes, amazing.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow, yes, and we are part, and because of this, really of course Ukraine has now a lot of people who need it. And Ukraine has different categories of those people who need it, and those those categories they are not included in and the specific is not was not included into the pickable rule book yet, because there are this experience is now in Ukraine on Ukrainian side, unfortunately. However, with the speakable development, we expect more and more people join us, and that means that it's also a challenge to the pickable society how to adapt the categories, common categories. And we started to I was invited into the special group for USAP to uh work together on those categories and on those rules, because uh yeah, we have to adapt not only our players to the rules, we have to adapt also the rules to those types of players.

SPEAKER_03:

That's right.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so because this is also yeah, two sides are always involved in this process. That's why uh yeah, because of this terrible experience in Ukraine, we have people who can change the um at least the categories now, but probably also the the entire approach to the adaptive pickable in general, yes, yeah. And here I also would like to say really huge, huge thank you. Really huge thank you to Sandy Halkett. Sandy Halkett. Yeah, you surely know Sandy, and she was the first person who actually believed in my idea about adaptive pickable in general, because I found this organization in the US. I uh just asked her about a couple of minutes her time to talk about this, and then we found a bit more than a couple of minutes because everything she is doing and the way what she is doing is actually it's inspired me that I can move forward and I can bring even more than just working with adaptive players, like physical injuries, because she's working also with mental part of the story, mental challenge, and everything what she is doing is an is enormous and fantastic. I went to the US and I visited her, and I took part in the adaptive tournament together with adaptive players because yeah, because when I when I introduce something like this in my country, I need to I need to feel it, I need to try it before I start to talk about this. So and yeah, we are constantly in the contact, and really she she inspired me enormous. Because when we talk about PTSD, after it's not only about veterans coming back from the front line, even without injuries, no one is coming the same way when they left.

SPEAKER_03:

That's right.

SPEAKER_00:

And that's right, the whole and many people in the country, even they don't fight on the front line. To live within, it's a big challenge too. So and pickable could be a fantastic tool for them just to release it, just to refocus. And this is actually something that we are experiencing now. People joining us because they think that's fun, because they can just change the activity, it's easier. And then everything is doing, people with mental disabilities, we got those people before war two. Yeah. Even before war started. So we don't have to think about Ukraine only kind of after war issues or after war needs we cover with speakable. We think about the whole population because Sandy is working with this population, and yeah, all the syndromes she is working with is just amazing, really amazing tool to have the families together because we know how difficult for family it could be to have this type of child. And not every family remain the same family, right? Yeah, but we can keep families together. We can, I would not say everything will we will succeed with everything, but we will at least try to do this. And we can try to work with those children and adults trying to do something from pickable to develop their skills, their reflexes, and all the things. It's really it's this sport is for all. And if we talk about standard pickable, especially men now, they need to feel that this in overall this feeling to win, it could be done also with this simple and very social sport. You can win, you can play for fun, but if you want, you can be professional, you can also win. And for some people, it's now a focus because they try to find and they started to find the new uh actually the new sense, what they are doing. Today we've done our biggest tournament, one of the biggest tournaments here in Kiev. Yeah, and uh we did it because of the uh Peekable World Day, and at the 60 years, pickable is 60 years old now, and we had also 60 players competing. So we did also two categories now. It's a big achievement for us because more and more people join in, and we have also delegates from different cities, different parts of our country. So, and everyone is asking, What's the next? What's the next? And of course, it's not easy to develop it here. However, we have really good friends in the US at the same time. So, we have, for example, Aaron Trost, who came over to Ukraine, even war is going on here. He came over, he trained children, he uh trained and coaches also veterans, and they all someone is not scared to come. So, and uh for us, it was also first of all, it's also motivation that someone is coming to us and is not scared to do this, and same time, it's good to have though this level of players coming to us that we can also kind of match our level, what we have now, and his level. If I know that he is 5.0, what does it mean for us where we are? When we play with him, we understand that we need this coach.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh my goodness. Well, it's developing, it's developing. It's incredible how quickly you have made this happen. And Anna, right before we started, you mentioned that there had been an air raid siren, and you weren't sure if you'd have to go down to the bomb shelter. And happily, so far, so good here. But now, is all of pickleball happening in Kyiv or is it anywhere else in Ukraine?

SPEAKER_00:

Different cities, too.

SPEAKER_03:

Uh really?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it's uh Kiev, it's Odessa, it's uh south part of the country. And by the way, in Odessa we had the case, we even mentioned it in Facebook. We started our tournament and then Siren Girl went on, and then we went to the bombshelter, and then we came back and we completed the tournament. So we just continue it, we we've done it. So and then here is a lot of interest from Zaporozhia. This is the frontline area, from Rivna, it's another part of the country. We are looking for really rapid development in Lviv too. So, and then Kharkiv and Dniepro and Zetomir and small cities too, small communities too, and especially where, by the way, it's it's also very important to mention because usually countries don't have this issue, this kind of uh yeah, because of because of our reality. We have people coming from the occupied territories, and they have their communities in Ukraine and in a safe places, and those communities they are also very interested to start pickable because this is the fantastic tool to keep people together, yes, and those people they lost their homes, they lost their places they were born. They are like me traveling everywhere, but they also they've lost their homes, and some of them they also lost their uh their relatives and friends, so and then they still are settling in one place, and then not to focus on the issue, just to try to think about something else. Again, this sport is a fantastic tool for this, and those communities they are around the country now, and those communities they can feel this attachment to something that can unite on top of being united through the war conflict. There's something that people that gathers the people with the new purpose, and this is very important, and actually something that what we are doing, we are trying to introduce the new culture of sport in Ukraine. That sport is not only competing, sport is also uniting communities.

SPEAKER_03:

Uniting and healing, and healing too, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

I think you have a couple stories to share with us. Yeah, I have um before this, I have a lot of stories, of course, to share. Uh, but again, this conversation is happening really at the right point of time because you know now that in the US Pickable World Cup is happening in two weeks. And of course, having in mind that our powerful and motivated and very enthusiastic players would like to take part in it. So we had this this tournament, this cup in our plan for the next year. Because we did this year English Open, we worked hard, and okay, we said okay, next year, next year. And then I was talking with um the uh founders of this tournament and the directors of those tournaments, and then they invited us this year to come. I said, I would love to come, but I said we still have many issues to enable it because first of all, we need to train hard. And this first and secondly, even we would be the best players ever. We have we have some restrictions for our men to leave the country, so we won't be able to bring the men team to the tournament and then. I said, however, probably we would be able to gather good players from all over the world who have Ukrainian heritage. And then the idea actually worked, and then we decided we discussed how we can do this, and we started to look for Ukrainians who are outside of Ukrainian but have Ukrainian passports, and they can play peekable. And then, yeah, idea was great, and I said, okay, idea is great, but let's do this next time, next year. But it was not enough. I realized that the team started together, and then more and more people joined, and we take part in the Pickable World Cup in two weeks in the US. Oh wow. We have the Ukrainian team now in the Pickable World World Cup. What city?

SPEAKER_03:

What city will it be in?

SPEAKER_00:

Uh this is Fort Lauderdale. I I'm not sure I pronounced it correctly, but it's not far away from Miami.

SPEAKER_03:

Actually, I like the way you say it. We say Fort Lauderdale, but I like how you say it better. Oh my goodness, that is so exciting. That is so exciting.

SPEAKER_00:

And the players, I I really was so happy when I contacted them. When I started to say, look, we have an idea to take part in Peakable World Cup. And would you be interested to introduce our country there? And everyone was said, I would be the I would be honored to do this. And I said, Wow, this is again about uniting people, coming back to Peekable, uniting people is about this game, even outside, inside, in the whole world.

SPEAKER_03:

It's amazing. I am just um in awe of how you have turned what is such a painful hardship in your own life with your family, your friends, and all that's going on in the entire country there in Ukraine. And you've turned all that into a way to find hope and healing and community. And as you say, even before the war, people were lonely, some people were struggling, and this pickleball, silly little game pickleball, is making a difference in everyone's lives. And especially our hearts are with those who are at the front line and those who are losing loved ones every day. I just can't bear it that this is a part of our world, but I am so grateful that there are people like you who are making a difference every single day. And you have done so much in this one year. So it's almost not fair of me to ask you, but what are some life lessons that you've learned either while you started playing pickleball or while you've made pickleball such an important part of Ukraine or as a part of being there in the war? What are some life lessons that you can share with us? I would do this really.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh it's it's it's uh it's even easier than just think about and and pronounce it. Because it's your own experience. It's not because someone told you, it's because of really you went through this and you can feel this impact. For me, my my the biggest life lesson from pickable for me that if you want something, nothing can stop you if you do this really with the with an open heart, with with a clear mind, and with really the this energy you have. So it's exactly like if you play pickable, you can have strategy, you can have the best pedal, you can have the finest chord, whatever. So, but if you don't play honest to yourself, so you won't have fun. You have you you don't have to be positive. Actually, as a person, it's always nice, easy, wonderful if person is positive and this positive approach. But you can also be focused, you can also have some really some day you don't want to remember, or anything else. But if you step into the court and you have those really open minds to the game, you will see those fantastic people around you. You will see that, oh by the way, your play is not as crap as you think, yeah. That's oh someone helped you, someone, someone was really just without even doing anything, just encouraged you, and then wow, everything has changed, and then you have fantastic mood, and then your day has was saved, and then you have another idea, and you could be ready for any other challenges, etc. So be open and really just play the real and honest game and yeah, and have fun. And this being easy, my life lessons from this explanation now. Don't really try to overcomplicate. Keep it simple. Keep it simple. Life is hard, it's true. But you can focus on those unnecessary things that could really they they they could mean nothing, but you can so you don't need it. Just just play, play honest and play positive, play with open heart.

SPEAKER_03:

This from a woman saying, be positive, have an open heart in the middle of a war. I mean, that alone, my dear, is so moving. You are such an inspiration, Anna. And I know that you have touched so many hearts just in your messaging. Can you tell us how we can be supportive of you? How can we follow you? How can our audience support the work that you're doing?

SPEAKER_00:

The best support for us is that you guys here don't forget about us.

SPEAKER_03:

We will not forget about you, Anna, or anyone there.

SPEAKER_00:

We are trying to impeekable, we are trying to tell about Ukraine in a different way. Yeah. We try to yeah, everyone knows about war now, unfortunately. Everyone knows that something is going on there. So it's three and a half years. Everyone is tired. Three and a half. And for us to use the sport to go to international competitions, cups, tournaments, and represent the country in the sport area, it's also a way how to tell people again and again about Ukraine. And I'm not alone in everything that I am doing, and I am so happy that I have a fantastic team that we are together. We are not a big team, honestly. However, we are the team of the same people that are sharing the same values. And even we split a bit of our responsibilities now because we are growing, and I'm so happy that we are growing. I am doing a bit of international job, and the rest of the team they are doing local job, and together we do really this. It works well and it works good and it unites us. And I learned something from them, they learn something from me. But all of us we do one thing to tell about Ukraine in all possible ways, and in this case through Peakable. So, and all the support we have now from the whole world, it's that they know about us, that they recognize us, and they when they say, Oh, we are from Ah, yes, I've heard about Pickable in Ukraine. This is the kind of music to my ears. And locally and globally, we've done really a great job with a great support. And peekable federations and uh individual representatives, and uh people in the US who are sending us pedals, for example, because they would like to support us. And another big friend of us is uh uh Angus Wong, was and the company's name is Anywhere Pickable. This project is amazing. Together with the Ukrainian designers, we created a special puddle and special project for the US and for Ukraine. And that's coming, uh coming very soon. The announcement that uh yeah, that is related to those pedals. And yeah, it's it's not only no, it's not only to um say, oh, okay, we've we will uh gather some money and we will send to Ukraine to develop. There are many other ways how to talk about pickable in Ukraine, and this project is exactly thus. So it's coming soon. Fantastic. We introduced this pedal yesterday to our Ukrainian audience, yeah, and it will be introduced also in the US then later.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Oh my goodness, that is so exciting. That is so exciting. Well, Anna, we can't thank you enough for being here with us today, sharing your story with our viewers and listeners, and especially for what you are doing to change the world right there in Ukraine. And my goodness, the way you're even changing pickleball in this world. I'm telling you, I it's such an honor to know you, Shelly.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, and just know that we will never forget about you. And I think about personally Ukraine every day, and you're all in our hearts.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, indeed. Thank you a lot, though. Really a lot for doing uh for this invitation and for this idea, for this uh for for this podcast you are running. And for me it's a big honor to be here and uh to talk and to share my story to you, and thanks for your interest and support, and and also thank you so much for your emotions. Because feelings and emotions they have to talk about instead of us, and uh, thanks for for living this moment with us too. It's very important. This is the this is the best support.

SPEAKER_03:

And well, we love you and we love you all. We love everyone there, and uh Putin stop the frickin' war. Honestly, this is just insanity. And thank you for representing Ukraine with such dignity and heart and grace. Thank you, Anna. Thank you a lot. Thank you. And thank you all. Oh my gosh, this is such an important episode. I hope you share it with everyone in the world. Please do. This is such an important message. And look at what Ukraine is doing to help the world, to help pickleball around the world come on in the midst of a war. Okay, I'm gonna have to stop or I'm just gonna start boohooing all day long. Okay, thank you all, and we do look forward to another conversation next week. Bye-bye.

SPEAKER_01:

Bye-bye. If you love our podcast, we'd be so grateful if you'd take a few seconds to follow or subscribe to Life Lessons from Pickleball. This ensures you'll never miss an episode and helps us continue these wonderful conversations.

SPEAKER_03:

On Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen, go to the show page and tap the follow button in the top right corner. And on YouTube, click the subscribe button under any of the episodes. Thanks so much. Hope to see you on the court.