As a child I played baseball, flag football, soccer, and ran track as a distance runner. In high school I lettered 5 times in track and soccer. I played soccer for Richland College in 1980. I graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1983 where I took advantage of all the sports activities available to students. I played racquetball, tennis, volleyball, soccer and basketball when I wasn’t studying. Once I joined the daily workday grind I played racquetball, tennis, softball, soccer, and volleyball on weekends and after work. After graduating with an MBA from Saint Edward’s University in 1990 a co-worker gave me two books on golf which became my new passion. After I retired in 2014, I worked part-time as a certified golf club fitter until 2019. I played or practiced golf every day. On a day too cold for golf in December 2016 I took up a friend’s invitation to play pickle inside the gym at the recreation center. After that day I was hooked. Golf quickly became my secondary sport. In 2018 my wife and I entered our first tournament together and won bronze in the 55-59 age group at the Austin Senior Games. In 2019 we entered again and won silver in mixed doubles, and I won gold in singles. The pandemic paused tournament play for us, but in 2021 we won bronze in the 55-59 age group at the 3.5 skill level at the Texas Senior Games. I won bronze in singles and men’s doubles at the 60-64 age group at the 3.5 skill level. These results qualified me to be eligible to participate in the National Senior Games to be held in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in May of 2022 where I will play singles, doubles, and mixed doubles. Most recently, I won bronze in men’s doubles at the 60+ age group and 4.0 skill level at the Cedar Park Paddle Battle. Over the past 5 years I developed my own training methods and philosophies as I have prepared for and competed in tournaments. As a coach and trainer, I can share my knowledge with players of all ages and skill levels. I can help every pickleball player achieve their playing goals whatever they may be. Some players may be new to the game. I can work with these beginners to teach them basic paddle skills, pickleball shots, score keeping, and basic strategy. For players that want to advance past the beginner level I can help them with drills to improve their strategy and tactics. This will allow them to enter in tournaments or hold their own with intermediate recreation level players. I have a series of drills and a ball machine to help advanced level players prepare for tournaments and continue to advance their game.
