A Boomer and GenXer Walk into a Bar
Wit and wisdom, some smart assery, and a Mother and Daughter questioning “Are we even related?”
A Boomer and GenXer Walk into a Bar
Pickleball: The Fastest Growing Sport - It's not just for old people anymore S:1E:35!!
Grab your paddles and head to the courts! We're diving into the addictive world of pickleball, America's fastest-growing sport, with special guest Saed Ibsais, a National Pickleball League player and Central Iowa district ambassador.
Contrary to popular belief, pickleball isn't new, nor is it "just for old people." Today's champions include teenagers and twenty-somethings, while tennis legends like Andre Agassi are joining professional competitions.
Saed shares his journey from pickleball novice to professional player, explaining how the sport balances accessibility with challenge. For beginners, the barrier to entry is refreshingly low – grab a $40 paddle from Amazon, find a free court at your local park, and join the welcoming community that makes this sport special.
We explore the basics of gameplay, terminology (what exactly is "the kitchen" and "dinking"?), and practical tips for newcomers. Whether you're looking to stay active, meet new people, or pursue competitive play, pickleball offers something for everyone. The sport's unique culture emphasizes fun and inclusion, making it perfect for all ages and athletic abilities.
Want to see professional pickleball in action? Saed competes with the Princeton Bruisers in the National Pickleball League, with matches streamed monthly on YouTube. Join us as we discover why this quirky-named sport has become America's favorite new pastime!
email: boomerandgenxer@gmail.com
welcome everyone to today's show. Boomer and a gen x will walk into a bar, coming to you from the rabbit hole studio, where you, as our listeners, will experience some wit and wisdom, some smart assery and a mother and daughter questioning. Are we even related? My name is Jane, my co-host is my daughter, bobby, and for I don't know the next 20, 25 minutes, we are here to entertain you, bobby. What's going on?
Speaker 2:girl Not a whole lot today, but a little scared about the topic today because I don't know anything.
Speaker 1:Well, that's not unusual on many topics for you. I hate to tell you this, but it is probably one that you have not been real familiar with, and we are so happy today because we have a guest on the show today. His name is Saad Ibsace, and Saad is a National Pickleball League player and he is also my coach for Pickleball, and he's here to talk to us a little bit about Pickleball. Hi, sod, hi.
Speaker 3:How's everybody doing?
Speaker 1:We're doing great. How are?
Speaker 3:you, I'm doing well, you know this thing, you know whoever came up Pickleball.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's crazy, isn't it? And you know, what's really funny is a lot of people think it's like new, it's not right no, it's.
Speaker 3:This is created in the late 70s. That's when pickleball was created, and it's been played secretly in a lot of different uh you know, retirement. It started with like a lot of retired folks just having pickleball playing every day just for entertainment.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so a lot of people initially, and I think it was initially for, maybe, the older crowd, because a lot of people go oh, it's just for old people. We know better than that, don't we?
Speaker 3:We do, we do and, and you know the last five years it's just gone where it's not just for old people Now. You see people from the age of eight years old all the way to the age of 88 years old.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and actually the world champions right now are Annemarie Waters. She's 17 years old and 18. Okay, and Ben Johns who's? How old is Ben now? 24, maybe, he's 25. 25. Okay, and so pretty young players. And you know people think that it's just. You know, you shuffle up to the net and you shuffle back from the net and that's not really what goes on at all. So first of all, I want all I want to know, sod, how did you get involved in pickleball?
Speaker 3:so about five, five and a half years ago, my friend you know, shadi, came by and says hey, let's go, this place opened up. It's called smash bar, let's go check it out. Yeah, so so we started going there and we see these pickleball courts and we're like what are these things? You're like, oh, let's just pick a paddle, you know, not a racket. So you know, it took a while to adjust to that and that's it. So we kind of invited, you know, one of Shadi's good friends and he came over, showed us the rules and, sure enough, we all got addicted and we started playing a couple times a week at smash park and that that just kind of.
Speaker 3:You know. We'll start meeting more people that are just coming in and getting to know familiar with pickleball and I think that's what a lot of people find is.
Speaker 1:It is so truly addictive and, you know, it is the fastest growing sport in the United States right now, maybe even in the world, because they're playing it everywhere, right.
Speaker 3:They are. You know, and you're starting to see like big names, like Andre Agassi. He's getting involved with a lot of pickleball and he's starting to do more. He played in the US Open last week. He played with Annalie Water in the pros, so you're going to start seeing a lot of big name tennis players coming in. You know, jack Sock is another player, yvonne Lindell those are the tennis legends that are now starting to kind of come in and play pickleball.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so tell us what it entails. Tell our listeners what pickleball really entails.
Speaker 3:So what pickleball is about? I think if you have a lot of tennis or racket background sports so for example, if you have tennis background, racquetball background, table tennis you'd be able to kind of jump on the court and just start playing right away. And what that entails is, you know, if you have, you know someone that can teach you the rules. It's pretty easy Once you know the rules, you know with the scoring. Scoring is a little tricky at the beginning, but once you know the scores and once you know how to move on the court, you know there's, you know you have the kitchen, which everybody's like.
Speaker 3:What is the kitchen? Right? And you know you have. You know like Dinkin Somebody says, what do you mean by Dinkin? So, and then you have you know drives, which everybody knows from tennis. And then you know there's areas where around like baseline court, but it is think of a tennis court just a little smaller, uses the same net and just, and then with just a little bit lower than the tennis net but other than that, and it just a paddle, looks like a, like a ping pong paddle, just a little bit bigger than that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so you know, I encourage anybody who is, you know, just even thinking about it and people go oh, I'm not really athletically inclined and I really, you know, I don't think I can do this. Yeah, you can, you can get out there and you can do it.
Speaker 2:Do you play Bobby? No, no, no no there and you can do it. Do you play bobby?
Speaker 3:no, no, I don't, I bet. I bet brenda's beaver would play a little play around, wouldn't she?
Speaker 1:thanks dr domain now.
Speaker 2:Mom did get one of my children very addicted to pickleball. Uh, very quickly yeah and she has enjoyed it or used to enjoy it when she was living with me.
Speaker 1:So, Bobby, do you exercise my mouth?
Speaker 2:You run your mouth a lot. I run from my problems.
Speaker 1:I run from situational things. Yeah, so, yeah. So you said you've been doing this for about five years and you are, uh, considered a pro? Of course, because you do. You are on the national pickleball league and you just got drafted again, correct?
Speaker 3:I did. I did so. The, the national pickleball league is. You know it's, it's it's for senior professional pickleball over the age of 50. You know, you hear the, the word the wo think like it's for seein of 50 plus. And there in t league started about thre. It is just to encourage a pro pickballers to compet. So I got into it three ye started as a sub last year. I got drafted into the Kansas city stingers team, which was a new team, and then this year I got drafted by one of the existing teams, which is the Princeton bruisers. So if you look at Princeton bruisers, yeah, he's showing us.
Speaker 1:he's showing us his thermos cup, All the goodies, you know we.
Speaker 3:So if you look, Princeton Bruisers Yay, he's showing us his thermos cup. All the goodies, Us pro players. We love all the goodies.
Speaker 1:You get all of the gifts. You get all the gifts the swag, the swag.
Speaker 3:So when we travel to a lot of these tournaments as a professional, we get the royal treatments in a lot of whether it's the National Pickleball League or whether it's in any other tournaments Just because you know we've worked so hard to reach this level. And for me, you know I started playing professionally about three years ago when I entered the professional circuit. I remember playing against, you know, like some of the younger pros, and oh my god, it was like standing in the court. I was so scared because you know, it's like all the training that I did over like that summer just all paid off, of course, you know. You know I mean I won maybe one game but hey, you know I was happy one game is good, yeah, you know.
Speaker 3:But but when you, when you, when you say, oh, I beat this guy, yeah, I beat, you know, I beat. Like a guy named deco bar, I breed a guy named rob nunnery, those are the big names that you can say, yeah, I mean jay devlier, you know, I beat him in the game down in kansas city. So those are the young pros that you know. Do you know play pickleball? You know? For professionally, me I'm, you know I'm. I'm just, uh, I'm still a network engineer by day.
Speaker 1:That's your real job, that's your real job, and then you have another job. Yes, I do have a real job. That's your real job. And now you have another job.
Speaker 3:Yes, I do have a real job that I have to attend, but pickleball I fell in love with it and for me I've never done any other professionals before. So kind of diving into it was just something that's fun, entertaining and the best part, and this is still working and so I really didn't have time on the court.
Speaker 1:I didn't have time because I was working and, to be honest with you, me and a mutual friend of ours started playing singles and we knew nothing about anything. We knew nothing. We didn't know how to hold a paddle, we didn't know anything about the rules, we and we were playing singles. And I mean, if you play singles, that's a workout, man, that's a crazy workout, Were you thinking?
Speaker 3:maybe we want to lose some weight, build some muscles. I mean, what is? Come on, tell us the real reason. Here it was really.
Speaker 1:It was really just to stay active and, let's face it, you know, five years ago I was probably in a little bit better shape than I am today. So you know, we really did want to stay in shape and I think it's a great way for people to get involved Now. Dr Domain, I introduced him to pickleball and he's playing now, which I'm very proud of him because he's doing really great. Bobby, do you think one day you might be interested in playing some pickleball?
Speaker 2:not with you. No, no, it wasn't meant to be hurtful. It's just you're so damn competitive and, and you know, you get out there and you're like I try, and you're like that's's not how you do it. I'm just like, oh God, I quit.
Speaker 1:So I told everyone here that Saad is my coach and he's a coach to a lot of people and he trains people, you know, and um, he's a great trainer and he's a great player and I love playing with him and we just we have a blast, is the whole thing. And, let's face it, I am not in his league. I'm not even remotely close. I'm like the ball girl for him.
Speaker 3:And you know what I'll say, that you know. Talk about Jane being competitive, and I agree with you, bob. You know we get out on the court and she's standing on the opposite side and then she goes Coach, bring it. I said, you really don't want me to bring it, do you? And she says yes, and next thing, you know, she's getting hit everywhere yeah.
Speaker 1:So what he does is he hits me so hard with the ball and literally tattoos me, and and, of course, we all have a good laugh. I have tears running down my face, but, but we all have a good laugh. And what have I done to you, though? All the players against you? I have always said if you can body bag him, meaning if you can hit his body with that ball without him getting his paddle up and hitting it back if you can body bag Sod, I'll pay you five bucks for every time you body bag him. I've never paid out yet.
Speaker 2:I mean speaking of tattooing people.
Speaker 1:You know you used to tattoo me pretty hard with a softball, so I know how that goes, that's true, I did play a lot of softball with you, but so you know, just so people know Sod, there are obviously rules and there are levels, and so the pro level is like 5.0 and above. I'm not remotely close. I'm like a 3.5. So I'm like an average, maybe a little bit above average, player, you know. So typically those of you who do play a harder game, like you and some of the other guys and gals that you hang with you enjoy playing at your level, and I know some people have gotten insulted like oh, they don't want to play with me. I don't think that, and you can comment on this, but I don't think that it's not that they don't want to play with you. I think our time is valuable. When I go out on the court I only have so much time and I want to play hard against somebody. How do you feel about that in?
Speaker 3:the pro level or anybody. I always get out there and say if you're not out there having fun and enjoying playing on the court, then you should not be out here. Pick a ball is meant to build relationships, meant for you to exercise, meant for you to socialize, and you should not look at, you know, if somebody I play with people at all levels just because you know's, I want to get out there and have some fun, yeah, and then I mean, as a coach, sometimes I'll throw a challenge. I'll be like you know, hey, you know, get your paddle up. You know I'm always you know the biggest words, I'm always saying eye on the ball and get your paddle up. So to me, if I can, you know, help you in certain way while we're playing and having fun, that means I accomplished something and that's part of part of me being, you know, like a pickleball ambassador.
Speaker 3:It's always fun for me to get out there and encourage people to play pickleball, get involved and find your groups. You know, if you're going to sit back and just wait until somebody invites you, you're going to be sitting down and just kind of like, who's going to invite me today, who's going to invite me tomorrow? So take the initiatives. I tell that to people, don't be scared, somebody is better than you to ask them to play. I mean I always get people ask me to play. If I have the time I'll go out and play, because I mean I'll play with everybody if you come and I also, you know, go out and invite people to play, just because sometimes I just, you know, playing competitive, you know I can do that so much, but also I want to get out there and just have fun with my friends.
Speaker 1:So getting started for our listeners who really have heard of it but don't know how to get started. You know we both belong to several clubs and you mentioned being an ambassador. I believe are you the regional ambassador for pickleball.
Speaker 3:I believe are you the regional ambassador for pickleball For the USA Pickleball? I'm the district ambassador for all of Central.
Speaker 1:Iowa. Okay, so yes, and so you know, when people say, how do I get started? And you're right, they have to take the initiative to get out there you know what advice would you give them? Would you tell them to look for beginners classes, because I like to see beginners playing with beginners. Because, let's face it, if I ever had to come up against you, or if somebody even had to come up against me that has not played before, we're going to kill them, and nobody wants to get discouraged when they go out to the courts.
Speaker 3:So they are on the USA Pickleball website. There are sites that tells you where to go play, all these parks that you can go play there for free. Of course you know there are other places that you can go, like indoor to rent courts, but I would suggest get a paddle. You know I got my first paddle from Amazon for 40 bucks. Get a cheap paddle. Get out there and just kind of get a friend or two and say let's go to this park and just walk in and introduce yourself and say, hey, I'm a beginner, I would like to play with other beginners. If you see beginners on the court, just say can we play together and just have fun. You know, don't be scared to ask people to go play on the course because you know everybody's friendly. That's the one thing about pickleball. Anybody you're going to meet along the way they're just so friendly and want to help you get better and improve your game.
Speaker 1:And I think that's an excellent point because I have met so many fantastic people. Now let's face it, there's always going to be some a-hole in a, in a sport right. That is kind of nasty, and bobby is looking at me like I'm the a-hole and I'm not, am I?
Speaker 2:I mean, I'm not people, I I know that you are fabulous, but when? It's your own kid and you're just like get your head out of your ass.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, okay but, um, dr domain, you started here what a year and a half, two years ago and you're doing great, and you know what were some of your apprehensions as a new player going out on the court. Well, I think that's relative when you say good, so I would say I'm okay, I think you're doing well I mean, I think you're doing well, you know you have to consider how many times do you get to go out and play? I don't get to go play every single day If I did.
Speaker 1:I'd probably be a better player. I don't get to go play every day, and neither do you, and so I figure, based on the amount of time that we spend on the court now with somebody like coach was sod, he obviously has to be skilled, highly skilled, because he is a part of a national pickleball league, right? So he has to continue to train and work hard at it. You and I, we hit it when we want to hit it, right, and that's, that's about it. But you know, what would you say were your apprehensions when you first went out?
Speaker 3:what one of the things that people don't like to do in pickleball is.
Speaker 1:There is drilling, and what that means is getting out on the court, finding one other person and then focus on specific skills and when you say drilling then, coach, you mean just like if we talked about dinking, and dinking is really just dropping the ball right over the net right into the kitchen.
Speaker 3:You know practice on certain things you know. You know whether it's serving, whether it's dinking, whether it's dropping the ball. You know know where your foot position is. You know that's very important on the pickleball court how to move. You know from one area to the other around the court and you know the biggest one, which you know jane doesn't do, is you know sliding I'm working on that.
Speaker 1:I did really well last time we played, didn't you think I slid, I, I was sliding, I was sliding yeah, a little bit.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you might work a little bit on sliding, you know what that means is like you slide on from the right to the left to the right to the left.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes.
Speaker 3:You're just country dancing. But you're just country dancing on the pickle clip.
Speaker 1:Oh so mind dancing, slide to the left, slide to the right, right, exactly.
Speaker 3:Stand up, sit down, fight, fight, fight. You know, that's something a lot of my I teach. A lot of my students I said one thing you can do at home grab a paddle in your hand, sit in front of the TV and just watch your favorite show and, as you're doing, just move, slide to the right, slide to the left. So it's simple things that you can do at home to practice on something. Find a wall in your garage, grab a couple of pickleballs they all look like.
Speaker 1:They look like Well, we're not on camera, so nobody can see it.
Speaker 3:Saad, it looks like it's something that's A wiffle ball. It looks like a wiffle ball. So if you think about that, grab a ball and just practice at home. On with the ball. Yeah, you know, find somebody, finds a partner that you can go out with and you can just play together.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So the reason so I wanted to talk about this topic again because we have a pro available to us and because a lot of people ask me hey, how can I get started? And we do offer, you know, beginners classes. I think there's a lot of us that help a lot of beginners, you know, show them how to hold a paddle, where to stand, how to play, what the rules are, how to keep score, that sort of thing. And the other part of that is it is such great exercise and so we want to keep moving as long as we possibly can. Right, we want to be mobile that's what it is, it's.
Speaker 3:You don't require a lot of skills to move on the court. You know you could be, you know, 50 years old, 60 year old, 70 year olds, 80 year olds, and you can be out there playing and having fun.
Speaker 1:That's right. That's right. So what, um? So? I have to ask you this though, coach Um so you are originally from Palestine. You were born in Jordan. Is that correct?
Speaker 3:That's right, I was born in Palestine.
Speaker 1:In Palestine. Okay, and did they have pickleball?
Speaker 3:So, growing up, my dad played tennis, so I got to learn how to play tennis when I was a very, very young age and so, but you know, that's the only thing that helped me with coming to the States is, you know, going to college here in Iowa State. I never played anything professional, so everything we did back in Palestine was just like tennis. Ok, it's like soccer. You know, I played soccer for many, many years, like almost, you know, 40 years.
Speaker 1:Well, we really appreciate you joining us today and talking through this, us today and talking through this and, you know, I think all of us would, uh, encourage anyone who's interested in playing or you're just even interested in going out and watching it and getting to. You know, know, some people there's great people out there. They're super nice. Uh, they'll definitely help you through it and, um, sad we're to have you on the show again because you are from Palestine and I am so curious about growing up in Palestine and you know what's different between here and America and I really want to bring you back for that. In the meantime, we appreciate you being with us. And, dr Domain, did you have any questions that you wanted to? Uh, no, I know everything.
Speaker 1:okay, so, uh, you know everything well, he thinks he does, so sod tell us again your, your uh team name and how we can watch you so the my my national pickleball league team is the Princeton Bruisers, and how you can watch that.
Speaker 3:Once a month we play in different parts of the United States and all the matches are all televised on YouTube. Okay, so go on YouTube and you search for the National Pickleball League and look for the different weekends. This coming weekend it's in Columbus, next month it's going to be in Florida. So every month we play and the schedule for every weekend is publicized on the NPL website with the locations and the links to where you can go watch the live streams for all the matches in the National Pickleball.
Speaker 1:League. Okay, all right. Well, that's good information, and again, we really appreciate it. Before we go, though, I do want to know what's my worst habit out on the court besides not sliding, what would you say I need to really work on?
Speaker 3:Go ahead, coach, probably more you know, being nice to your partner. Oh my God, I was going to.
Speaker 2:Go ahead, coach, probably more you know being nice to your partner. Oh my gosh, I was going to say that. That or profanity. No, I don't even swear on the court. No, I don't.
Speaker 3:Oh my gosh, I was going to say about the swearing, but you know everybody's swearing Okay.
Speaker 1:Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, okay, well, being nice to my partner. Oh my goodness, okay, well being nice to my partner. Oh gosh, okay, well, I think that's probably all we have today.
Speaker 2:Bobby. I think that is all the pickleball insanity that we have for today. We do appreciate all of you joining us here at the Rabbit Hole Studio. Be sure to follow us, like us on Facebook, and we look forward to spending time with you each week. And we look forward to spending time with you each week. If you have some positive feedback for us or if there's a topic you'd like us to talk about, drop us an email at boomerangenexter at gmailcom. If you have any hate mail, well, you know where you can put that. So until next week, I'm Bobbi Joy and I'm Jane Burke.
Speaker 1:And you're stuck with us. Peace out.
Speaker 2:Later. Thank you.