My Story Behind Pickle Baller

About Me

I was late to racket sports.

Many of my friends had played racket sports almost before they began walking. I was not that kid.

So, I started playing tennis (poorly) later, and I fell in love with the game of racquetball in college.

After college, I got a job, got married to my beautiful wife, and had 4 wonderful little girls.

I had originally heard about pickleball from my dad during COVID. I had thought he was talking about paddleball and was confused.

It wasn’t until a year later when I played in a friendly pickleball tournament with friends that I understood how amazing the game was.

It quickly became my favorite sport to learn and improve. As I improved, I realized there weren’t unique, amazing resources designed for beginners. Thus, I launched The Pickle “Baller” blog, a site dedicated to helping beginners (regardless of age) become pickle “ballers” (pun intended).

And, I want to help improve your game in 4 ways:

I am on a Pickleball Diet

I still have some baby weight from life with 4 young kids. As such, I play pickleball because it’s the best sport in the world. In addition, I want to lose weight by playing multiple days a week, and not changing my diet.

I just wrote about the calories burned while playing pickleball, so I plan to continue monitoring my stats.

So, hopefully, you can follow my journey.

I am a Pickleball Paddle fanatic

Yes, this is me. My wife kept asking why I kept getting Amazon boxes. 🙂

I love testing new paddles (here are my purchase receipts), from $5 to $200+. In my day job, I do a lot of marketing, so I love to see whether the juice (the paddles) are truly worth the squeeze (the purchase). I also love writing pickleball paddle reviews.

I went to a pickleball tournament recently and gave a couple of paddles to my friend to use.

My friends said to me, “how do you have so many paddles?”

To which I realized, I am sort of a paddle nerd.

Haha, I’ll take it as it’s true.

My Favorite Pickleball Paddle Articles

Pickleball Match

Pickleball is my favorite sport, and I would say that I am addicted even though I only get the chance to play around 3 times per week.

That said, I found that it could be challenging find the perfect pickleball doubles partner.

When I addressed pain points on one of my Facebook pickleball groups, check out the responses:

This was a pain point that others felt as well. As such, I found that it was necessary to build a solution to help you find the perfect pickleball partner.

The idea is that you can enter the criteria and match with someone BEFORE stepping out on the court. After playing together, each party can rate each other to help others in the future match with the best partners as well.

Thus, Pickle Baller match-making was born!

I Love Strategy

My biggest accomplishment in high school was being the California high school state chess champion.

Chess is all about strategy, so I like to use that strategy in all parts of my life, including pickleball.

So, from beginner’s guides to advanced strategies, and equipment reviews to player profiles, we cover it all, ensuring every visitor finds valuable resources to enhance their game.

I Love Writing About Fun Pickleball Topics

But our story doesn’t end there. As we help you become a pickle baller, we understand that pickleball is more than just a game—it’s a community. That’s why we foster a welcoming and inclusive environment where players can share their experiences, exchange tips, and forge meaningful connections with fellow enthusiasts.

Join us in our quest to become the best pickle ballers we can be. :0)

See you on the courts!

-Ben