Pirates, Pickleball and Podcasting

🔥 From Somali Pirates to Pickleball: Kyle Trenga's Incredible Journey | Between the Rallies & Kitchen Conversations

What do Somali pirates, the U.S. Navy, offshore oil rigs, professional pickleball, and podcasting have in common?

Kyle Trenga.

In one of the most remarkable conversations we've had on Kitchen Conversations, Kyle shares a story that goes far beyond pickleball. Raised in a challenging environment, Kyle found purpose through the U.S. Navy, took part in a real-life anti-piracy mission off the coast of Somalia, worked on offshore oil rigs around the world, became one of Idaho's top pickleball ambassadors, qualified for the USA Pickleball National Championships, and built one of the fastest-growing podcasts in the sport.

Along the way, we dive into:

🏴‍☠️ The real story behind boarding a pirate ship
⚓ Life aboard the USS Kidd and Navy special operations training
🛢️ Working 100 feet above the ocean on offshore drilling rigs
🏓 Discovering pickleball—and becoming obsessed
🏆 Winning a Golden Ticket to Nationals
🎙️ Building the hugely popular Between the Rallies podcast from scratch
❤️ Why pickleball changes lives far beyond the scoreboard

This episode is about resilience, second chances, community, and finding purpose through sport.

If you love inspiring stories, leadership, personal growth, or pickleball, this conversation is for you.

🎙️ Subscribe to Between the Rallies with Kyle Trenga:
👉 

https://youtube.com/@dinksmashmedia?si=4_3Gu16am87THzCL

👍 If you enjoyed this conversation:

• Like the video
• Leave a comment with your favourite part of Kyle's story
• Subscribe for more conversations with the people shaping the game of pickleball

#KitchenConversations #BetweenTheRallies #KyleTrenga #Pickleball #USNavy #SomaliPirates #Veteran #Leadership #Resilience #Inspiration #GoldenTicket #USAPickleball #NationalChampionships #PickleballPodcast #Podcast #SportsPodcast #LifeLessons #Success #Community #NeverGiveUp #DinkSmash #PickleballLife #AthleteStory #Motivation #IdahoPickleball 

And that wraps up this episode of Kitchen Conversations.

If you enjoyed the conversation, be sure to follow the show, leave a review, and share it with someone who loves the game as much as you do.

And if you want the full experience, including the visuals, head over to YouTube and watch the episode at

https://www.youtube.com/@KitchenConversationspodcast

Or search Kitchen Conversations Pickleball Podcast

That’s where these stories really come to life.

You’ll also find links and show notes in the episode description.

Until next time…

more than dinks, drops and drives…

these are stories from behind the paddle.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hi, and welcome to the podcast. Welcome to Kitchen Conversations. I appreciate you stopping by. Today's guest is very inspirational and has had quite a life. Everything from pirates to pickleball. It's a story of resilience, survival, and success. Kyle, good morning, and welcome to my little podcast. Welcome to Kitchen Conversations. And it is so great to meet you this morning. We've been chatting a bit back and forth in the background. Uh reached out a couple months ago to say hello, and you've been so generous to stay in touch and agree to be here. So I want to start by saying thank you and welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Hey Mike, thanks again for having me on. I'm, you know, always it's always an honor to be on anybody else's podcast. You know, I'm used to having the guests, so it's always fun to be the guest.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

Absolutely. Well, we'll expect perfection then. Nothing but perfection. You're uh you're a trained professional, right? You're uh I'm the guy on the side of the mic with no idea what he's doing. So I'm gonna rely on you heavily today to carry us along. But uh listen, you have got one of the most fascinating stories beyond the courts, beyond the game of pickleball that you and I both love, Kyle. Just the research that I've done, you've led a life.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

Absolutely. So uh a little about me. So I was born in San Diego. Um, I had a pretty rough uh upbringing. Both of my parents were um addicted to methamphetamines. They're both recovered, they're both recovered addicts now. So shout out to them. Um, so you know, as a child, I moved a lot um in California. I ended up moving to Idaho the summer going into the third grade. I came up here. My parents were split. They split in when I was in kindergarten. So I actually did kindergarten twice because I didn't take the divorce very well. So did kindergarten twice. Summer going into the third grade, I moved to Idaho. I came up for the summer to spend with my dad, who was living with my grandmother. And I think just like the stability of how it was going there, he was working on getting clean. My grandma was definitely a pillar in my upbringing going forward. I called my mom and I was like, hey, I'm not coming home. So third grade, I moved up here, uh, Idaho. You know, growing up, I was big into sports, uh, football, skateboarding, rugby, snowboard team. If you could compete in it, you know, track and track and field, I did shop putting discots. If you could compete in it, I wanted to do it. Um, I kind of got into video a little bit with skateboarding. My mom actually one Christmas bought me a high-eight sharp camera, and I started you know filming some skateboarding videos and downloaded a uh pirated version of like Sony Vegas and Premiere Pro or Premier back then and did a didn't get good at editing, but like for a kid I was pretty good. So, you know, making some skate videos. So I loved I loved video, and then uh football became kind of my big sport. I was a bit I was an offensive lineman, uh, second team all conference. Uh had a few offers to go play college ball at really small schools, and but they weren't full ride offers, so I would have had to work and play football, and I don't come from a family with money at all. So in my head, I'm like, how am I gonna play football and work? That sounds awful. So I decided to join the Navy. Um, joined the Navy as an electronic technician. So what that entailed is basically went to Great Lakes, Chicago area, did my boot camp, and then Norfolk, Virginia. I did a school because I worked on identification friend or foe radar. That was like my specialty, was that radar? So went to school in Norfolk for about a year and then ended up in San Diego, ironically, where most of my family was. That's where I ended up on my ship. I was on the USS Kid, it's a destroyer, and um, you know, we did two deployments. So my first deployment was a very basic deployment. Uh, just did my job, came back, and I wanted to do more. So we there's this team called the uh visit board search and seizure team, BBSS, and you have to go to like a separate school for that, and you gotta you have to have your captain approve it, and you gotta pass it. And it's uh basically you have to get second-class swimmer qualled, you gotta learn how to shoot, you go through like kill houses, like it's all taught by um ex-Navy SEALs, Marine Force Recon. Like they were like, it was American Training Group, was the name of the guys that taught us all the like close quarters combat stuff. And so you go through that, you learn how to climb and repel and stuff like that. And so I got on that team, and then on the second deployment, this is kind of where the pirates came, and on our second deployment, we were actually specifically doing counter-piracy operations, so we're just floating around um approaching various vessels, and you know, really just like reaching out to them, seeing how it's going, if they've seen any weird activity in the area. And that was when it was in January 2012, we came across an Iranian fishing vessel. And so we radio them, and then they radio us back, and our they speak a language that so they're come to find out they were being held hostage by Somali pirates. But they spoke Urdu, which our chief engineer spoke, and the Somalis didn't speak it, and they basically were like, hey, we need help. So that night when it got dark, we sent our Hilo out with Fleer, and there were supposed to be about a dozen people on board, and there's like 20 something people on board, so like obviously they're uh they're being held captive. So that night we got the call, and they're like, Hey, tomorrow morning, real boarding, and we're all kids. We get like we get all pumped up the next morning to go. Um, I'd say like the oldest guy we had like a couple older guys on the team, but I'd say the average age of us was like honestly 19 to 22. So, you know, being 37 now, I'm like, man, we were kids.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:35

So that next morning go over, do a boarding. Uh, these pirates they're hiding on the ship. So essentially we go through clearing rooms, tying them up, get them off the fishing vessel, send them to the Seychelles to be prosecuted. And it this was in like the New York Times. This is my 15 minutes of fame. Like, this was in the New York Times and like every paper in America. And like I'm on the cover. And what's funny is when this happened, they basically shut off all communication. So, like, I can't talk to anybody at home for like two weeks. And then when we finally get communication back, I get all my friends from high school like, dude, you were on the paper and this and that. Like, it's unreal. Like, two two weeks have transpired already before I can even talk to anybody.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

Um, oh, Kyle, but take me to that moment though. I mean, you you realize the night before that it's happening, this is happening tomorrow morning. We're we're literally like, you know, no pun intended, we're pulling the trigger. This operation's going, we've got the green light. That that that had to be hard to sleep, number one, that night.

SPEAKER_00 6:37

Number it was like Christmas morning.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

Oh, I can't imagine. I mean, I think a lot of guys train at the highest levels, which it sounds like you did, and very few get to execute. And so for you to have that chance, you know, to I mean, do what you train to do, it must have been a moment.

SPEAKER_00 6:53

Oh, we were so excited. And again, I mean, this is probably from my upbringing, you know, living in fight or flight for so long, but like I'm a huge adrenaline junkie. So it was like this was legitimately like going to Christmas Eve, waking up to Christmas morning. We were so excited.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

Wow, what a story. What a story. Thanks for sharing a bit of that. That's I mean, again, I you know, we talked off camera, and I told you I met the girl next door and I love her to death, and we've been married 33 years, but we are as vanilla as ice cream gets. I mean, we're we're this boring bucket. No one's put a scoop in us in 30 years, Kyle. Like no one, no one's interested in what we're doing. And this podcast is the most interesting thing that I've ever done in my life. And not because of me, I'm on the wrong side of the mic, but it's guys like you and your stories, and we haven't even touched on pickleball yet, which is you know a story unto itself. But what a life, what a moment for you to have done that, though. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 7:41

It was so awesome. And then basically the rest of my Navy career is pretty pretty vanilla. Um, but I do very uh cliche. I meet my first wife uh in the Navy, get out of the Navy, move back to Idaho, get married. Um, that marriage lasts about a year, a year, and it happens. But from the Navy, I went directly into offshore oil. So my first assignment, again, I'm an electronic technician in the oil field now. So doing kind of the similar stuff that I did on radars, but now I'm working on um motors and radars on the rig and anything that has electronics, they expect us to work on. So I don't know if you've seen drilling equipment like out to sea, but essentially we have like drilling the drilling equipment can be 100 feet in the air, and I'm having to hang, and again, this is where adrenaline junkie comes in. I'm basically sitting on a piece of wood hooked up to a winch that's operated by a guy from Louisiana with the nickname Pig. And no, I'm not kidding, pig, big head, these are all guys on my rig. And you know, they're operating this winch, and I'm up there a hundred feet suspended in the air, working on like uh electronic J-boxes and wires and stuff, and again, feeds into that adrenaline. Um, so I end up doing that for five years. I work in Thailand for a year, Singapore for a year, Gulf of Mexico for three. Um, and I get we get super into ping pong. So we got a ping pong table on the oil rig, and we start playing for money, and we're being paid way too much money. So there's a couple times we've played for like a hundred dollars a game playing ping pong. Um, so we play ping pong, we get super into it. Then I'm still in the oil rig, I meet my second wife, and this is where pickleball actually comes in. So we're I forgot what how it exactly happened. It was in March of 2019. Uh her parents were like, Hey, have you ever heard of pickleball? And I'm like, No, what's what's that? And they're like, Well, it's kind of like tennis, but it's kind of like ping pong, but it's like you're standing on the table. And I'm like, wait, I'm like, well, that sounds cool. So I get on Amazon and I order a four-pack of Rally Tyro Pro paddles, and then the first ball that pops up was like the Onyx fuse, I think. It was like a the soft onyx ball. So, like, their SEO is great. This is the number one thing to come up. So I order them. We play one time, which uh my ex-wife's like grandfather's partner pops his Achilles like the first time we play, which is pretty common. Um, but I'm addicted. So like I come home and I I get on Facebook and I'm like, hey, where do we play pickleball in Boise? And one of my friends that I had met from uh drone racing, because I I flew like the FPV drones, um, he's like, Hey, go to this park and this they'll teach you how to play, and this is where you go. So I I show up by myself with my paddle, and like I'm just met by like the nicest people I've ever met in my life. It's like one of the it was one of the most popular parks in Boise, rest in peace. Boise Parks and Wreck killed it last year. Uh but you know, I'm welcome in. I'm the youngest guy by a lot at this point. Like we see a lot of young people playing now, but at that point, you know, I'm you know, roughly 30 years old. I'm like, I'm very young to be playing pickleball. So I'm addicted. My first game, I'll never forget. I played against their names Chin and B. Lee. They were ex-badminton players, and they beat me 11-0. I don't remember who my partner is, but I remember get being beat so bad that I'm like, I am going to learn how to play this game, and I'm gonna beat these guys.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

Yeah, I love your story. I mean, all of that, thank you. I mean, that let's just not lose focus of everything you've just shared about the rig and the the work that you've done. You know, I just unbelievable. Uh to I mean, we could end the podcast right now. Thank you for being here. I appreciate it. And uh we'll catch up to you, you know, just amazing, Kyle. What a story. And I think the resilience of the human spirit, you know, you've been through a lot as a kid, obviously, and and a not a typical upbringing for sure. But yet through that, the success that you've had, you know, as a person and and and and to find pickleball at some point in your life, and it all just kind of comes together and just a great story, just a terrific story. I appreciate you sharing some of that today. It's very personal, but thank you. It's um, yeah, it's such a funny path that we find ourselves following, you know. And I think I'm at a I'm 59, so I'm at a point now, Kyle, where I can just start to begin to draw lines backwards to decisions perhaps and choices that I made or maybe didn't make that have led to good things for me. And, you know, you must be able to do that at this point where you made a choice at one point to go this way, not that way. And look what happened. You know what I mean? And and yeah, and pickleball is part of it.

SPEAKER_00 12:25

Yeah. 100%. Yeah. You know, and I I pickleball is part of I was to say joining the navy. I always tell people like that was probably the decision I made in my life that made me go the right direction. Um I could have very easy, I was set up to go the wrong direction.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

Absolutely. You had every reason to, you know, and and no one would would blame you for that. I mean, in all fairness, but you know, I've got two boys, 28, 25, and we we're trying, I'm trying to teach them, but you can't teach it. You've got to you've got to learn it, you gotta earn it. And you can't, you gotta live it, my friend. You do, and you they can't quite get their head wrapped around what's happening to them right now in their life and the significance of those choices 10, 20, 15, you know, 30 years from now, whatever. So yeah. So that moment for you, you fell in love with it. Walk me through what you did next because clearly it motivated you to get better. You wanted to beat these people, and I assume that's what happened.

SPEAKER_00 13:13

So I did. I I basically dove in. There's like we have a Facebook page called Boise Pickleball. So I get on there and start like looking for other places to play. And then the first thing I do is I find they have this Wednesday night um thing that one of my best friends, Kirk, had set up. He wasn't my best friend yet, I didn't know him, but so he was actually like a national champion wrestler, you know, big athlete coach, coaches MMA fighters. Um, and he was like one of the OG 5-0s in Boise. And he had set up this thing on Wednesday where they would go to the park with a lot of good players and they would play mix in with everybody to kind of help bring just the level of the community up. So I find out about this, I'm like, ooh, I gotta go check this out. It was called Wednesday night at Willow. So I go there and I meet, you know, uh, his name's Kirk White and his wasn't his wife yet, but Kelly. I actually just posted a real plan with them last night because I I was playing with them and kind of wrote about like how it's just amazing how you know I met them in the beginning and like they're still playing with them, but you know, and they they start giving you advice and they're like, hey, like they can tell when somebody was like athletic, and they're like, hey, you know, this is what you gotta do. And like they teach you, um, because you know I mean you can get a lot of bad advice in pickleball, where you know I know some of the first advice I got like, you know, run to the kitchen, run to the kitchen. They're like, no, no, no, no, no, no. Don't do don't run to the kitchen. They're like, hit your good shots, move to the kitchen. Exactly. Like, don't be in a rush to get there, be strategic about getting there. Um, and it'll take you far and quick. So I meet them, I start getting a little better. I play in my first the first tournament, um, happens. And back then, like, there was no money. Like, you played for it was, I think it was a food drive. So you brought like two cans of food at your entry. Um, and it was like the Willow Lane classic, is what they called it. And I entered the 3-0 division, and it was like a two-day tournament, and I didn't lose a single game at that point. And they're like, All right, you have to play the 3-5 division, which I get smoked in, but it was definitely a better better uh level for me to play in was the 3-5. And again, I just I'm addicted. I'm like, all right, now I need a better paddle. So I start like then I start like looking into paddles, I'm like, what's the best? And at that point, Selkirk Amped series was like the paddle, but it was $150, and I'm like, holy smokes! Like, I paid $20 for my paddle. Like in my head, I'm like, spending $150 on a pickleball paddle seems insane, but I do it anyway because I'm addicted. And it's the I remember like it was yesterday. I bought the it was the Selkirk Amped Omni was the shape, which is like this super elongated like shape and this tiny tiny handle. And I hold it like I'm holding a ping pong paddle with like two fingers up on the face, and I'm super wristy because I still think I'm playing, you know, ping pong. And so that was my first paddle.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

Yeah, but Kyle, that moment, when that happens, you know you're in. Like you're in so deep, there's no getting out. And and we've all been there. And and you know, those that haven't played, those listening to this today that are maybe thinking about the game. This is fair warning from both Kyle and Mike. Be careful because the next step is the last step you'll take. Like once you're over that line, there's no turning back. There are no yeah, and your point about the advice is great. I'm still getting it, you know, three years into the game. And um, and the you know, part of the problem is it's all well-intentioned. But the truth of the matter is, you know, everybody can develop their own style in this game, and I love that part of it. You don't necessarily have to follow a certain way of playing. I mean, there's, you know, obviously some basic stuff that makes sense, but you know, we all develop our own court management style. We all develop, you know, how comfortable are you and I in the non-volley zone versus someone else or the transition zone. And so, you know, if there's something about the game I love, it's that. There's not one recipe for success. You can sort of take some of the basics and apply them, and and that's good. But uh boy, the advice that we get, we get you know, and not just pickleball advice, by the way. Pickleball people love to tell you how to live your life, not just not just and so, but some of it's great.

SPEAKER_00 17:05

I'll say some of my best mentors have been met through pickleball.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

So 100%. Yeah. Wow, what a game. So let's talk about today. I mean, you just played in a pretty big event. Uh, you and I had originally booked to do this last weekend, and then you realized that uh you were playing in a pretty big tournament. Uh, and uh let's talk about how that went. I hear it went well for you.

SPEAKER_00 17:21

It did. So this last weekend I played with my partner Molly. We played mixed doubles four or five um for in a golden ticket event that was local, and we took gold. It was uh it was fun. There were five teams in our division, and none of them were local, which is my favorite. There's nothing worse than spending you know a hundred dollars plus to just play teams you play every week. So it was very it was fun to get a bunch of different looks. We went out, so it started with round robin play games to 15. We lose game one, we lose game one 15-13. Um, so close game. We played really, really tight, and then you know, we kind of took a step back, talked it out like, hey, just play our game. She's super athletic, she played D1 basketball. Um, I'm like, and she hits the ball harder than probably 90% of dudes. She crushes it. So I'm just like, you know, just let it rip. Get out there, let's rip it and rip it. Like, um, like our bet our strength is that we are very good at playing organized chaos. So then we don't lose a single game again until the finals, and we end up playing that same team we lost to in the finals, um, which was six games later. So because you played round robin and then into brackets. And then so we end up playing that number one team again in the finals, and but it's best of three to eleven. Game one, we go out there and get smoked two to eleven. So then we're like, I mean, what do we do? And you know, their girl, their the female on the opposing team, she's really good at dinking. Her name's Amy, and I'm like, we just get I'm like, I'm not gonna let her dink. Like, she's she's better dinking than us. So I just I start speeding up down her line more, and uh, we end up winning the next two games 11-6, 11-5 to win the gold.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

That's a great point you've just made. But I think a lot of people get into a tournament situation and they don't adjust. And I think the players like you that can see it and recognize it, that's where the success comes in tournament play. Because if you get trapped into playing your game, quote unquote your game, uh, it doesn't work against everybody. And you clearly recognize that against Amy and said we just can't give her that ball. And if you don't give it to her, she can't use it. So yeah, good on you guys. Where does this lead now? So that ticket, for those of us that don't follow it that closely, tell me what that ticket does for you.

SPEAKER_00 19:35

So that qualifies us to play in nationals, which will be in San Diego in uh end of October, early November. So basically the national pickleball, USAP national pickleball championship. So we'll uh I'll go down there and play it. It'll be at the Barnes Tennis Center. And so that'll be my first time ever playing in nationals, and I'll be playing at the four or five level, which is super exciting.

SPEAKER_01 19:55

So absolutely. Well, congratulations on that. It's like we're with this like Willy Wonka in the chocolate factory. You've got the ticket, you know, you're going to the big show now. Good for you. Wow, what a story. That's awesome. You know, for those that have never done a tournament, Kyle, give me your insight on that. I'm a rec player, I'm a social player. I've done some regional tournaments, you know, I've done okay at the three, five level. It's kind of where I plug into things. But my real love for the game, as I mentioned, are the people behind the paddle, you know. So I find I get most of my enjoyment from the game in just going out to those Tuesday morning, you know, paddle rotation kind of social games, mixing it up, meeting people. But I do enjoy the tournaments, but my stomach is just grinding. You know, I it it it's a different feeling. And then there's, you know, depending on the tournament, the structure of the tournament, the tournament organizer, be a lot of sitting around on a tournament day. And that that's you know, people who have asked me about it, it's always what I've told them is, you know, it's much, much different than being out of a social game because you've got to manage the mental side when you're not on the court. You've got to be game ready. And so I'd love your professional insight. What would you say to someone that's never done a tournament? A, would you recommend it? And B, what advice would you give to someone that's going into their first tournament?

SPEAKER_00 21:00

So I'm gonna be brutally honest. I don't think tournaments are for everybody. And I do think as you get if we all we joke about this, like pickleball almost gets less fun the better you get. Um, like you said, that that three five, like I still want to go to the park and play with all the three fives because the enjoyment is there. Like it is so much fun to just go get in a paddle rotation, meet new people, you know, hit some stuff that like maybe you wouldn't hit in a regular game, work on some like more unique shots that are more fun to hit. Um, because dude, tournament tournament play does, it's definitely way more high pressure. The nerves are higher. You paid a hundred dollars to play in this tournament. You don't want to let your partner down. So you, you know, depending on how you are, you like you're putting a lot of pressure on yourself. Um, some people put a ton of pressure on their partner. I'm not one of those. I'm a very positive partner where I know I'm you know, I want to bring my partner up, but I've seen partnerships where they get really down on their partner. And I'm like, in my mind, I'm like, I don't think like if somebody was that negative towards me, that's not going to make me play better. Honestly, it's going to like stress me out more.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

Yeah, I'm so glad that you went there, and I'm glad you did. And I was kind of hoping to lead you down that conversation because I don't think tournaments are for everybody. I really don't. I think that there it really can take a lot of the fun out of the game. You know, the reason we fell in love with the game, tournaments can sometimes take take some of that off the table for sure.

SPEAKER_00 22:18

So I will say the exception to that though is when the tournament is like a fun-based tournament or charity-based tournament, like dink for pink for breast cancer awareness, you know, all that kind of stuff. Like I'm a hundred percent. I have a mental health tournament coming up in May, and it's like a fun MLP style format. And like those tournaments, though, I feel like everybody should get involved. But the the very the the you know, the PPA, the APP, the USAP tournaments, that's more so if you were like super competitive. Um, but if you want like a little bit of competitiveness, look for those local tournaments that are supporting a cause. I think everybody should get involved in those.

SPEAKER_01 22:56

That's an excellent point. Yeah, we do a team challenge here a couple of times a year. The club will run one. And it's just, you know, they put a couple of three O's, a couple of three fives, four or four fives. And it's just a mixed team event over a three-day weekend, and it's some of the best pickleball you'll ever play. And it's a great chance to step into quote unquote a tournament environment, get that amped-up feeling, you know, because it's a little more pressure when you're playing for a team because you know, you've got to go in and do your part, win the points, and hopefully move up the ladder. But uh yeah, good, good advice, great advice. But I want to go back just very quickly. You said something about your partner, and I I can remember one game, Kyle, uh slightly more competitive game that came out of the social group. Um, and we're going along, and my partner's rolling his eyes and he's sighing, and you can just feel him. And I I remember stopping the game and just kind of pulling him aside. And I said, Listen, it, you know, we just went from you and I against those two guys to me against three. Like, I'm I'm more worried about you than those two guys. Plus, we've got the net in the way, and that's you know, sometimes the third opponent. So like knock it off. Like, and and the other pat pee or pickleball pain point is when someone tells you your partner that, you know, the one that was a foot and a half over your head that you swung at um and ticked with your like when they look at you and say, that would have been out, you know. Yeah, I know, I know. And I don't, I just don't see an upside to telling somebody the obvious. And so I'm glad to hear you don't do that. But there I just think it's a reaction. People can't help it. But when I'm I'm six foot two and I'm reaching with an arm this size, and I and I'm I knew that was probably going into a whole different postal code. Like, there's no reason for you to tell me that, but there's some people just can't help themselves.

SPEAKER_00 24:24

Well, so I was gonna say, sometimes I know I have the problem is like you're react, like you're you react faster than your brain. I mean, like, especially when a ball is coming towards your face. I mean, like, sure it was out, but like my instinct was to put a paddle up there. Like, so that that's definitely a skill. And again, that's again, like you said, it's really not something unless it's my friend and I'm poking at like fun at him, like, hey man, that probably would have hit the back wall.

SPEAKER_01 24:45

Yeah, for sure. That was heading to the next town, just until you got in the way, until you touched it. It was well on its way to the next town. But yeah, that's a whole different conversation. We're picking on our buddy, that's fair play. There's no rules around that. You can do whatever you want.

SPEAKER_00 24:56

Not at all. No, if I body bag my buddy, I tell him to eat it. You know, if I body bag somebody that I don't know, then I'm like, sorry.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

You know, no, yeah, it's yeah, it's trial and error with your buddy. You can do whatever you want, see how he reacts to it. So, well, that's all great stuff. Well, congrats again on the big winning. Good luck. Yeah, this fall. I hope, I hope you enjoy that. A four or five level will be some good pickleball for sure. Yeah, love it. So, outside of that, where do you plug into the game today? How often are you getting to play? How often are you drilling? Do you have a promise to yourself that I'm playing less than I'm drilling, or where how does that set up in your world?

SPEAKER_00 25:28

I don't well, I don't want to say I don't drill. I drill, I have a group that I do drill with that when I play with them, they're out of town a lot because they work out of town, but when they're in town, we probably drill more than we play. But we our drilling is playing. Like we play a kitchen game a lot where we call it's dink dink go. So basically you start with the two dinks and then any shots open from there. And I think that is it's it's fun, but it's a drill that I think everybody can benefit from. Yes. Because you learn how to speed up, then slow it back down, then speed up. And a lot of times, if you do just play a straight game, especially if you're like that open play, you're not gonna get the experience of actually having to work the point at the net. A lot of times the point's gonna end the second somebody's at the net.

unknown 26:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:13

So that's that's a fun one. I try to play two days two days a week. I I have a lot of jobs, so I'm gonna I'm an electrical engineer and I work at a semiconductor facility. I also do the podcast, and I also am the sponsorship director for uh some pickleball facilities. So I do a lot of juggling. Um, so I try to play two days a week. That's like my my goal is to play two days a week.

SPEAKER_01 26:38

Well, the whole drilling concept, we could talk about that all day, Kyle, but it's you know, it's an interesting thing. And I'll watch people who think they're drilling and practicing. And, you know, it's a fine line between whether you're wasting your time or actually benefiting your game. And I think what you're suggesting, get into something where there's an actual purpose to it. I think that's time well spent. But I do see a lot of people coming out to our local club, they'll they'll spend 30 minutes on the court. And and listen, every time your paddle touches the ball, it's good. I mean, there's no, you know, there's no no one's gonna argue it's a downside to that, I guess. But you know, I think if you can step back and you think about the game and where do you want to take your your game personally and you know, put some purpose behind your practicing. And you can tell the seasoned players, even just before a game, as they're warming up, you know, they're starting to dink, then somebody will drop back, they'll do the third shot drops, they'll come up, they'll do the speed ups. You know, there's a real system to the seasoned players. And if as a rec player, if you step back and kind of watch those guys, you'll learn something. You'll learn that what they're doing isn't just they're not freewheeling, there's actually some purpose behind all that. So yeah, that's great. Good stuff. Well, listen, let's jump into rally three. I'm watching the clock. Um, so just a couple more minutes of your time would be great. But uh, let's talk about your podcast. Because as I said before this started, I'm beyond nervous talking to you today. I've never done podcasting. This is my first run at it. And uh, you know, I'm loving it. I'm I'm enjoying it. I'm trying my best, but I'm enjoying it. But you know, I've been watching your podcast from behind the scenes and I've been following you, and I know a bit of your podcast journey. Can you just run with that for me? Give me a sense of, you know, where did it start for you? Where is it today, and where do you see it going? And let me just finish that uh question by, you know, saying to you just how impressed I am with what you're doing. I your your attitude, um, you know, I'm I'm trying to mimic you in some ways. You're so laid back, you're so easygoing, you're so generous. And there's a certain warmth to your podcast. And I hope that I'm I'm okay to say that because I love it. I just you're just you're the kind of guy that's just sitting around chatting about the game. And so I admire the work you're doing, and I want you to know I'm watching closely and hoping to learn. So I'd say thank you for that as well.

SPEAKER_00 28:38

Of course. I love that. I appreciate I appreciate those kind words, seriously. Um, so my podcast journey. So about two years ago, honestly, if we go two and a half years ago, I actually had several people tell me, like, hey Kyle, you should probably start a podcast. Because I've always been, if we go two and a half years ago, I was selling, I was actually like the lead diadem salesman in Idaho for like two years running. If we go all the way back to the Selkirk, so I'm playing the Selkirk amps, I keep breaking them. And Selkirk's customer service is amazing. They keep sending me new paddles, but I'm like, I gotta figure something out. Like, one, I don't want to buy paddles anymore. So I find Diadem, who Diadem's owner is actually from Boise. So I reach out to them and they're they were relatively new in the time. And I'm like, hey man, do you like do you guys need some ambassadors? So they hooked me up as an ambassador, and back then you paid you actually paid to be an ambassador. So you paid like $300, you got like a big welcome package of a set of demos and clothes and the backpack, and then I started selling paddles as an ambassador, and I quickly realized that I was good at it just because I'm friendly and I go to the park, and um then I'm like, man, I should find a better way to do this. So I file an LLC with Dink Smash Media, and then I become a wholesaler. So I start getting the paddles from Diadem Wholesale. I give a few paddles out to some of my good friends that are kind of pillars in the community, and people see them using the paddles, and like essentially I start selling a ton of paddles. I I love to tell the story that like we did a 4th of July sale, and I sold 63 paddles at one park in one day. Um rolled up in my Volvo, opened my trunk, I got I had a license plate that said Dink Smash on it, and you know, unloaded these paddles at this park. Um so I was big into I was big into selling paddles, uh, and I had friends that are like, hey man, start a podcast, start a podcast. Yeah, I don't know, I don't know. And I was kind of known for being very blunt um on social media. Okay. If I if I saw something that you know I thought was worth calling out, I'd call it out. No, I wouldn't pull any punches. So and I've I've always been known to do that. And so Braden had the pickleball effect, and he'd been growing his brand the whole time. And I'd been watching him, he was doing reviews and he had his podcast, and he had you know Logan Brown, then he had Porter, and they had actually talked about me on two podcasts. And and then Braden reached out to me, um, and he was like, Hey, would you want to do a podcast with me? Because he he knew that I had some more video experience than he had at that time, and I was like, Yeah, let's do it. So then I got on the pickleball podcast, uh, the pickleball effect podcast. That was um honestly almost two years ago. Um so we did that, we grew it. Um at that time, but Brayton had like 8,000 subscribers on YouTube. Um, a lot of those obviously were from his uh paddle reviews, not the podcast. And I think he was averaging he like 1,500 to 3,000 type, depending on what they were talking about. Uh that's how many views he was getting on the podcast. So we started we started shooting the podcast at the flying pickle, which is the facility that I now do the sponsorship coordinators for. Um and we just had like a plain white wall. If you go back and watch, we just had like a plain white wall, nothing on it, and it were just two dudes sitting at a like a conference room table just talking about paddles. Um, so that started to grow, and then about three months into it, I landed our first sponsor, and then we eventually go to Eagle, Idaho and rent a studio for a bit. Um, so we're then we're doing it in somebody else's studio, and so we started shooting, and we learned a lot. I learned a lot about editing and stuff from that guy, and you know, at that point I was like manually watching through the podcast and clipping it, and he's like, No, no, no, no. He's like, watch it at four times speed, watch the audio waveforms. This is how you clip it. So he showed me some stuff that honestly took my editing of a podcast from hours like eight hours down to like two hours. Um this is before Autopod was a thing. Now Autopod can clip your podcast just like instantly. Um so we learned a lot there. We have we got a couple sponsors, and then Braden's like, hey, let's just let's build a studio at my house and just shoot this at my house. And then that was how this the set you have now. He started, you know, got the lights and all that stuff, and he had two cameras, I had one camera, and so we had the three cameras going, and then you know, we kept growing it. He's got over 20,000 subscribers on YouTube now. So we ran that podcast till I think I got on at episode 2020-ish, and I ran it with him till episode 102, 103, um, something something like that. So, you know, over 80 episodes. And then during that, we did, you know, lots of cool stuff. Went flew down to Vegas, played with Agassiz, did the YOLA launch, flew out to Florida, did the bread and butter tournament. Uh, we went down to uh MLP Salt Lake together, and um, I got like media passes, and I got a you know brush you know elbows with all the pros and take photos and had a great time. Um but then you know, come December a week before Christmas, I got a text from Braden basically saying, Thanks for this year. Um going forward, I'm getting a new co-host. So like out of out of the blue, I had no real warning. So I'm just like um obviously right then I'm like super angry. And I'm like, in my head, I'm like, what do I do? And like within 30 minutes, I came up with between the rallies. Like, no, no joke. I got that text, and I'm like, well, I don't want to stop podcasting, like I'm so used to it now that I want to keep going and I don't want to just fade away in the industry because I love pickleball and I want to keep growing. Um, so I'm like, you know, life throws you lemons, let's make some lemonade. Um, so I come up with between the rallies and I'm like, all right, I gotta think of you know some sections, what do I want to do? And previously I had thought about coming out on my own podcast anyway, called Hop on a Call, where I was gonna do brand owners and stuff because I already had all these connections and I sure I talk to all these people regularly anyway, and some of the conversations I have, I'm like, man, people would be really interested to hear some of the stuff we talk about. So I'm like, let's just run with it. So I came up with between the rallies, um, started building my own studio. It's a little different looking, you know. I got my Legos and uh just got my neon sign, but so started building my own studio, had some I I do it solo, but I try to have some guests, and then you know, I wanted to focus more though. I still love the paddles, but there's enough great reviewers out there that get into the you know, swing weight, twist weight, you know, add three grams of weight here and this and that. And I'm like, I'd rather just talk about how I think the paddle plays personally and then dive into some stories that are kind of what's building the community around pickleball. So I had a guest, I don't know if you saw Roger Belair, he's doing pickleball in prison. I had him on. Um, it actually makes me sad that like my podcast isn't huge yet because I'm like, man, his story needs more views. Like, I think that's really important. And I'm I do hope like as I grow, people go back and watch some of those older episodes because I've had some really good guests. Um, so I did Roger Belair, pickleball in prison, and then I had Fit to Serve. I don't know if you're on Instagram, but he's hilarious.

SPEAKER_01 35:59

Okay, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I saw him.

SPEAKER_00 36:01

Yeah, so I had him on, and he uh great story. He found Pickleball in rehab. Um, he was also a vet, so great story there. Um, the brand owners are obviously really fun. So I'm having a great time doing it. I just want to keep growing it. Um, and then the sponsorship coordinator thing came to me. They reached out because they knew you know I was doing a lot of the interacting with the sponsors with the podcast, so I'd already had experience working with brands, so that kind of clicked there. So um I don't know how far that could take me. I could end up because that's a franchise, who knows what where that could lead. Um, that could pickleball could end up being my full-time career here in the next year or two. Um, and I'm gonna find a way to do it.

SPEAKER_01 36:43

I love it. Listen, I appreciate all of that. It's Roger Beller is fascinating. I had the luxury of chatting with him as well a couple weeks ago. Did you do a podcast with him? Yeah, I did.

SPEAKER_00 36:52

Okay, I'll have to go watch it.

SPEAKER_01 36:54

Where do you see your podcast going? Uh, and what are the hopes for it, let's say, in the next couple of years? Do you have sort of a long-term vision or are you just taking it podcast by podcast at the same time?

SPEAKER_00 37:02

I mean, I mean, my vision is to eventually just grow. You know, I want to be a podcast that everybody watches. Like I want all the I want to have all the best guests get into like the real stories. Um the because every everybody has a story. And you know, there's a lot of people we only see surface level um of what's going on. And you know, I I I would like to grow my podcast into you know having you know 10,000 plus views where people are you know learning more about what's really going on in the community. I want to have you know the adaptive athletes. I want I want to dig into all those stories that are you know going around pickleball that you know some people just don't see. You you just see the surface level, you know, the pro game and the amateurs. Um, but there's a lot going on, like with you know, helping people with addiction, helping people with PTSD, um, all kinds, all kinds of stuff. Like there's there's an endless amount of stories that I can go out and find. And I just want I just want to grow into a podcast where people come to my podcast to see that kind of stuff. I'm still gonna talk about paddles and stuff because I I gotta make a little bit of money. I mean, I'm not I'm not this big, I'm definitely not retiring off my commission codes.

SPEAKER_01 38:13

But it's a it's also a passion. I think you've got enough playability and knowledge to to weigh in on that with some intelligence and to say something that means something. And then that's part of it here. But yeah, I'm I'm with you. I just think, you know, when I got into this, I, you know, I kind of jumped in in a hurry. I was heading off to play in January, thought I'm gonna do a podcast, and I ran it by a few people. And then I kind of pull back and I thought, well, this is a dumb idea. Like, A, I'm not a podcaster, B, I've never done it, and C, there's enough of this out there. So, what what do I possibly have to offer? And I got you know, some really great advice from a buddy at the pickleball club. He said, Mike, think about how many hamburgers are sold every day in the world. And McDonald's is not selling every single one of those. So Harvey's gets a bite, Burger King gets a bite, Wendy's gets a bite, five guys in and out. Like he said, there's always room for another cheeseburger. You know, we kind of had a laugh about it. And so he said, do it for legacy, do it for, you know, no other reason than just to be able to say one day you did it. And so I did. So I bought the gear, and you know, I've got it a little bit of a studio set up here, and uh, you can appreciate that more than others that are listening to this today, what it takes to get to that point, uh, time, energy, and money. But nonetheless, you know, I'm happy I'm here. And and my goal is very simple, Kyle. I just want to inspire somebody to try this game. I go back in the history of it all back to 1965 and that first game on Bainbridge Island and the founders, you know, the Barney McCallums and and that whole group that brought us this incredible game. And I want to end on that note with you. I just want to pay uh tribute to the to you know the legacy of this game. I talked to Steve Peranto a couple weeks ago, you know, of course, a Hall of Fame guy. And and um, you know, when you talk to someone like that, you can't not be touched by what this game has meant to him and the work that he continues to do to try to promote and to encourage people to give it a go. And so if I one day get a comment that says, Hey, Mike, I listened to that podcast with you and Kyle. I really like Kyle. You weren't so hot, but I decided, yeah, you suck, but he was great. Thank God he was there. But I I you know what I went out and played on Tuesday and I love it. And if I get that, then to me, I've that's my measurement. Yeah. If you say what, how do you, you know, how you can define success in your podcast, Mike? It's that comment, Kyle. I just want it once. Hey, Mike, listen, took your advice, went out and tried it. So yeah, well, listen, this has been amazing. And um, thank you so much for being so generous. A answering my text because I'm creeping people out in February. Will you please come on a podcast that doesn't exist with a guy that doesn't do podcast? And here you are this morning with me. So I appreciate that. And uh congratulate you on, you know, Kyle, just everything from start to finish. I mean, it's a life well led. You've made you know great choices. You should be very proud of your accomplishments, and your podcast is beyond incredible. It's gonna grow, it's gonna be great, and I'm gonna be watching and learning from the sidelines. So thank you for doing this this morning.

SPEAKER_00 40:55

Thanks for having me on. I it was a great time, great conversation. And you know, I'll be following you. And I think, like you said, the cheeseburger thing, I'm a man, like I believe in abundance. There's enough, there's enough pie for everybody to go around. And again, we all have our different flavors that people are gonna want. So again, I know everybody's like, oh man, there's so many podcasts. There's a podcast for everybody, though.

SPEAKER_01 41:14

So well, there is Kyle. It's a great point, maybe a good one to end on. And I'd say that, you know, if we want to tie a parallel back to the game that you and I both love, plug into this game, please. Give it a try. And don't feel for you know a nanosecond that you need to figure it all out. You can go out and play hit and giggle all day long. And if that's your game, if you want to hit that ball and giggle and go out with your buddies and have a beer at the end or whatever, go do it. No, you know, the number of people that want it, you know, that are trying to get to that elite level and play at the US Open and play on the tour, it's that's a small percentage of people that love this game. And so, yeah, there's a little bit of something in there for everybody. So that sounds great. Well, listen, enjoy your weekend. Thanks for this, and we'll talk soon. All right, thanks, Mike. Have a good day. You too. Take care.