I caught the pickleball bug. I needed to catch the bug, honestly. But catch it, I did.
I’m one of millions who are now obsessed with pickleball. It didn’t happen all at once; I wasn’t instantly hooked. I remember seeing it for the first time at a kid’s youth camp and thought, “Well, that looks pretty dumb.” But then I played and to my chagrin, I enjoyed it. Not in a “I’ve got to play this every day” sort of a way, but I liked it. Then, a few months later, I played again. Then, last summer, I played sporadically. Now, I can’t get enough. I caught it and I love it.
So, here’s my journey. I’m not good yet. I’m a beginner, a starter, a newb. I know the rules, more or less. (The first time pickleball was explained to me, it was explained by a good friend with a thick Indian accent, and I had a really hard time understanding him. I was sure he was just making up the rules and/or playing a long form practical joke on me. Nope. He was correct.) But I want to get good, and I hope to encourage you to get good. I’m not sure what “good” looks like yet. I’m sure I’ll figure out what reasonable goals are. (I don’t want to be like Frank declaring he wants to be a grandmaster.)
The reason I needed to catch the bug? Pretty simple.
I need to get healthy.
I’m 34 years old (did you know that 34.3 is the average pickleball player’s age?) and I just got up to 280 lbs. I’m not proud of this. I’m 6’2. The doctor may say 6’1 and half or something crazy but my high school basketball roster said 6’3, so I figure it averages out. So, that puts my BMI at about 36.4. I think that’s high. Let me check. Yup. Obese. Not severely obese, but obese. Big, fat.
Here’s the thing, I know I don’t have to be. This is the second highest I have ever weighed. I got up to 283 about 10 years ago and then got down to about 203. However, over the course of ten years, I’ve gained almost all of it back.
I have the excuses that everyone has. I am incredibly busy with my life. I have a passion that’s my “job”. It’s the best. It’s time consuming but that time isn’t going to diminish. I’ve got family responsibilities. A wonderful wife and 3 beautiful girls under the age of 6. I also have interests in Michigan football, Michigan basketball, MBTI and rollercoasters.
Frankly, (not the one from earlier) I gotta do something about my health. I figure the blog would help keep me accountable and it’s my desire to help you along on your journey. Eventually, the idea is that this could be a community that can help people to get better at pickleball and become healthier.
So, I’m doing the keto thing. I did keto before it was cool. (I remember telling people that I was low-carb or Atkins and they would consistently say, “Didn’t Dr. Atkins die of a heart attack?”) Thankfully, “keto” is now mainstream. Keto and P-90X helped me to be in the best shape of my life. Previously, I haven’t stuck to it, consistently. I’m changing that.
When it comes to health, diet and nutrition, I’m no expert. Also, I don’t care enough to be dogmatic. If WeightWatchers or Jenny Craig (whatever happened to her?!) works for you, fantastic, you’re still welcome here. I’m just trying to get my weight and blood pressure down to see my grandkids should I be so blessed. That’s the kind of community that I’m trying to cultivate. However, since I am low carb, I’ll be talking about and recommending low carb stuff that helps me.
One last thing, I will be recommending products and services. This is 2023 and a little side hustle never hurt anybody. I don’t know exactly what that will look like, but right off the top, I’m letting you know now. That way when the whiners show up in two years that I’m recommending too many products or have “gone corporate”, you know that it was always in the plan.
Hypothetically.
If I can ever get WordPress figured out.
That’s enough of an introduction. I’ve got so much more to share, but the average attention span is something like 7 seconds.
I think I get to play pickleball tomorrow.
Until then.
Keep Dinking.