The first time I ever played pickleball was in P.E. class in middle school.
We had a few temporary nets on our indoor basketball court, and I’m fairly certain our teacher didn't know the rules.
For the better part of the next twenty years, pickleball didn’t cross my mind—not consciously, at least. Then, in the fall of 2020, during the pandemic, I moved to Athens, Georgia, to pursue an MBA at the University of Georgia, and pickleball came hurdling back into my life seemingly out of nowhere.
How Tennis Skills Transitioned to Pickleball Success
I grew up playing baseball, basketball, football, and tennis.
By age 12, I decided to focus solely on tennis. After dabbling in USTA junior tennis, I attended Sewanee: The University of the South, a Division III school in the mountains of Tennessee, where I played collegiate tennis. I finished my career as an All-American in doubles, ranking as high as #2 in the country in doubles and top-40 in singles.
I was the opposite of a grinder.
I sliced my forehand and backhand and used my abnormally long wingspan to get to the net, where I hit drop volley after drop volley, infuriating my opponents.
Little did I know, these were the exact skills that would later translate to pickleball.
Training Under a Pickleball Legend
After my collegiate tennis career, I coached, starting in A Coruña, Spain, where I lived for a year in 2016.
Later, I served as the Interim Men’s Head Tennis Coach at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. After working full-time and teaching tennis on the side in Nashville, TN, I started my MBA at UGA in the fall of 2020.
There, I volunteered as an Assistant Coach for the Women’s Tennis team under Drake Bernstein and Jeff Wallace.
Drake Bernstein, arguably one of the most talented pro pickleball players of all time, taught me how to play pickleball on a homemade court in his backyard.
He introduced me to the strategy of the game, and from the start, I learned the importance of being fundamentally sound. As we traveled the country with the women’s tennis team, we found nearby courts in various cities and played hundreds of singles games to stay in shape.
On the rare occasions when we had a free weekend, we’d enter team events or Moneyball tournaments near Athens.
From Coaching to Competing: My First Tournaments
After learning the game and practicing during the 2020-2021 tennis season, I participated in my first tournament at an APP event outside of Indianapolis in the summer of 2021. Over the next year, I played in a handful of tournaments before moving to Charlotte, NC, after graduating with my MBA from Georgia in the spring of 2022.
At that point, I decided I wanted to pursue a professional pickleball career.
Coaching tennis at a high level made me miss competing, and the opportunity to travel the country and compete at the highest level was too enticing to pass up. My family and friends were and still are extremely supportive of this decision.
I’ve done my best to work in the right direction, and seeing friends in cities where I have tournaments has been the highlight of this experience. I would not be where I am as an athlete without the support of my friends and family.
In 2023, I played in eight tournaments (both APP and PPA), playing singles events and partnering primarily with Jim Dobran in men's doubles.
My success led to a contract with the PPA in the fall of 2023, a little more than a year ago.
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Balancing a Full-Time Job and Pro Pickleball
This past year, I’ve trained and traveled with Jack Sock, Brooke Buckner, Collin Shick, Pieri Imperato, and Liz Truluck, all contracted professional players on the PPA Tour.
I still work full-time at Bank of America, and while a good night’s sleep is a rare commodity, I wouldn’t trade this dream of playing as a professional athlete on the PPA Tour for anything.
This year alone, I’ve visited over 20 cities across the country, played on ESPN, appeared on SportsCenter’s Top 10, and met hundreds of players and fans who have supported me along this journey.
Reflections on My First Year as a Professional Player
As I reflect on my first true year as a professional pickleball player, I am deeply grateful to Drake and the UGA Women’s Tennis team for launching my career.
Drake and I still manage to squeeze in a local tournament or two each year (he might have ten free days a year), and we still grind out singles games whenever I’m able to visit Athens.
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