By Nate Seltenrich

How and when did you first discover pickleball?

Probably about 2022 is when my aunt introduced me to pickleball. She gave me a paddle for Christmas. She’s from Arizona, and she played pickleball. She came one day and we played a little bit, and that’s how I got into the sport. I went to a pickleball clinic in Petaluma and immediately loved it. About a year later, the ambassador who was here was no longer able to play, so she asked me to step in. 

Why did you decide to form Petaluma Pickleball?

There was a couple of us. We formed a nonprofit so that we could purchase nets, coordinate fundraisers, sell t-shirts, and things like that. Our initiatives include everything from getting new benches to having an AED (automated external defibrillator) installed. We also do community events. We’re doing one soon for one of the pickleball players who passed. We’re gonna bring in food and drink, and play pickleball. 

How would you describe Petaluma’s pickleball scene?

People who get into it for various reasons. For some, it’s the athleticism. Some heard about it and want to check it out because it’s the fastest-growing sport in the U.S. A lot of people get into it just because of the community aspect. We have people who play that are in their 80s. They’re probably alone during the day a lot, but they get to come for an hour, and they get to be part of something. One lady, I think she’s 84, will come just to play a couple games, but then talk to people, say hi, and watch, and just be a part of it.

It brings a lot of happiness to people. It just keeps growing and growing, it’s amazing. The last I looked, the average age (nationally) was in the mid-thirties, but it may be younger now. A lot of older people like to play, but it’s just become a more competitive, younger sport.

What’s your pitch: why should I play?

We offer a free clinic, and it's an hour, and you will be addicted. It’s just a good time. Even if you’re not good at it – I’m not really good at pickleball – you just laugh, and you’re out in the sunshine and having a good time. You can learn it within an hour, and then you can be playing it with friends. There’s not a lot of sports where you can do that, and at any age. A man I played against a year or two ago, up in Santa Rosa, he was 89 and he didn’t even have to move much, he hit everything. There’s a lot of skill involved where you don’t have to be that agile. 

I just look at all the joy that we're bringing to people, you know? I work from home, but that hour that I get to go out and socialize, you're in the sunshine, we're in Northern California, I can't even explain it.

Any particularly memorable moments from your time playing here?

I walked up to the court once in Petaluma (at Lucchesi Park), and of course there are tennis courts next to it. There were two men playing tennis, just very quiet, but as I progressed past the tennis courts and got to the pickleball courts, there’s like 30 people on the court – that happens often – and they’re laughing and making so much noise, and I heard somebody yell, “This is so much fun!” And I thought, hm, I wonder what the tennis players think about that. But many of them convert over to pickleball. It was something that stuck in my mind forever, because you could just hear happiness coming from the court.

What’s something that people who know you through pickleball don’t know about you? 

I went to Sturgis from Petaluma on the back of a motorcycle. I had a boyfriend at the time who had a Harley, and we rode from here to South Dakota, which was an amazing trip.

It was on my bucket list to learn how to ride a motorcycle, so I went to a motorcycle class in Petaluma, and then I bought myself a small 250 Yamaha. It was like a little Harley. I had already been halfway across the country on a motorcycle. It was something I really enjoyed. Although I still on occasion ride on motorcycles, I don’t have one anymore.

This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and readability.