-ANNOUNCER: Last time on "I Heart Pickleball" we met the Dawson's at the Bobby Riggs
Tennis Club. This month we travel to Simi Valley, CA to hear the
story of Jack Munro and how a pickleball community can raise the stars of
tomorrow. ♪♪ energetic music ♪♪
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-"I Heart Pickleball" is powered by Hyland's Leg Cramps, proud supporter of
pickleball players everywhere. -CATHY: As an ambassador, when I go to other tournaments
and everything, I always brag about Jack. -SUE: He's a great player,
great sportsman. -HENRY: One of my favorite pickleball players of all
time is Jack Munro. -JACK: I'm Jack Munro. I just turned
thirteen years old. I started playing pickleball when I was ten years old. I really
love sports. I mean, I grew up playing baseball, basketball.
If I see a ball, I'll figure out a way to make a game out of it. After a tournament
in baseball, I did a lot of throwing that weekend and fractured my growth
plate. And so, that kind of stopped me from playing baseball. I found my
dad playing this sport called pickleball at our club. -JASON: I was playing tennis for
35 years, and I've got to admit, I had a total adversarial relationship with pickleballers
because we heard the clop, clop, clop at the country club.
My buddy talked me into it. Went out, first day - hooked.
-NICHOLE: Jack just had an injury and the doctor said he can't
play baseball. He can't play basketball right now. So, he was at home
just doing nothing, and Jason was out playing this pickleball thing. And was like,
you know, "I want to go see what Dad's doing." And I said, "Okay." He was watching,
and he just was like, "Okay!" He goes, "I can do this." So, we literally put a paddle in his hand,
and then just fell in love with it. And then he wanted to go out and play with Jason.
-JASON: After I would be done playing my matches, "Come on dad! Can you hit with me?" - NICHOLE: So, we would show up afterwards.
And they would just hit probably for half an hour. Just to kind of get
him out there and see... and he loved it. -JACK: I like how it's a combination
of games that I like. I like ping pong. I like tennis. I like badminton.
Pickleball it's like you could slow the ball down, you could speed it up at any
time you want. -NICHOLE: It was just such a different sport for him and I think it suited his personality
better. -JACK: And, so, I had a sling on my right hand. Which, my right hand is my dominant
hand. So, I came out and hit with my dad left-handed.
-NICHOLE: And that, ironically, is how he learned how to play pickleball left-handed.
-JASON: And got healthy enough to use his right hand and now he uses both. And he stayed with it.
-JACK: Once we came, I started playing with them and playing with them, and then we got better and better. And then
the people at the club, we were just getting better than them. -JASON: And next thing you know, out-
grew our country club where we played because their level was on a lower level basis.
And had to start the pilgrimage to go find better players which led us to
Simi Valley. -DOUG: My name's Doug Gale. I'm the Director of Recreation
for the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District. Simi Valley has
become a real pickleball mecca. -CATHY: We have such a
huge group, and we have all varieties of people. We have
families that come out. We have the young people come out. -DOUG: A lot of the
people out there, it's just become a big part of their life like it has mine. -CATHY: We bring in
players from all over the area. San Fernando Valley,
Santa Clarita. -SUE: I live in Westlake Village, CA, and I've been coming
here purposely 20 miles one way for the last six years
to play this crazy game. -CATHY: Everybody seems to want to come to Simi to
play because this is where the competition is in Simi Valley. -JASON: They would get 50 to
60 people out there on a Saturday or Sunday, obviously all various levels.
So we had spoken to Jack and said, "Look, if we can get you to a certain point, we'll try to
integrate you with some of the lower level players. Be polite. Be nice.
-NICHOLE: Etiquette was a big one. -JASON: Do the etiquette. That's a biggie. -NICHOLE: The Simi people were amazing
because they literally welcomed him in anytime they saw Jack come onto the courts.
They would let him come into their games. -JACK: They really took me
under their wing. Everyone. -JASON: Cathy did a lot of the leg work in terms of introducing
him and saying, "Give this kid a shot. Show your Simi welcome to this. Let's bring him in. Let's
flourish this kid and see where it goes." -CATHY: He's usually the youngest, but he is
so much fun and such a fantastic player and will play
with everybody. -JASON: Back then, like most places, you have a hierarchy of courts, and he
started working up the courts. Little by little he outgrew the previous set of people.
-JACK: As I got better and better, I kept going up the courts. So, like, Court 1 was the
court that was like all like where my dad was playing, where all the good players were playing. And I was
down in Court 4. I used to think, like, these people, how
am I ever going to beat them? -JASON: Next thing you know, heck, he ran out of courts.
He, now he's playing with all the biggest and best players
in our area and he fits right in. -JACK: My first tournament was Melba Bishop
two/three years ago. -NICHOLE: On their website it's normal minimum ages of 18.
So, I had to email the tournament director and say, "Hey,
I have a ten year old child that would like to play in your tournament. Can you please allow him to play?"
And thank God, Melba Bishop did. -JACK: I was scared when I got on that court.
I didn't know how good I would be. I didn't know
who I was playing against. -NICHOLE: As he played his first match
everybody was like, "Who is that kid? That's a kid." -JASON: "I'm going to play a ten-year old."
-NICHOLE: You know, "I've got to play a ten-year old." And everybody is like, "How good could a ten-year old be?" Well,
he's entering and they're all, "Wow, he's pretty good." -JACK: The Simi people, like, they were
cheering me on every point. They were like, "Good shot, Jack!" And that helped me.
-HENRY: People are astonished when they see him play. And the kid will filter
information concerning the game like a computer and execute
just what he's seen and win games. -NICHOLE: And that was his first
tournament he ever played as a self-rated 4.0 with Ryan Coltman.
-JACK: I got a gold. I mean, I think I wouldn't have done it without the Simi people
and my partner and literally my mom, my dad. -NICHOLE: He won that tournament and he came back and he
was on a high because the great thing about Simi Pickleball is anytime you come back to the
courts that following Monday, everybody's out there, like, to congratulate you. "I heard
you got a medal. I heard you got..." Like everybody is very congratulatory and everybody is very positive with each other.
-JACK: After playing the 4.0's, I saw the 5.0's play. And I saw them
wacking balls, like, slowing it down, slamming them. I went to a tournament
and I saw Kyle Yates play. Like, I saw him do the through-the-leg
shot. And so I just kept working on that. And I was like, "How do you do
that?" These people are really good, and that's what I aspire to be.
My huge dream was to become a 5.0, and so after that
I was really wanting to improve my game. -NICHOLE: In the very first year and a half though he went out, if
he wasn't playing, he was drilling. During the day in the summertimes we would go out
from about 8:30 to about noon. And then
after that we would go back out at about 3:00 and we would drill from
3:00 to about 4:30. Dad would get off work at about 5:00. And then
we would all play family pickleball from 5:00 to 10:00. -JACK: Whenever
I had time after school, whenever on the weekend, I was like, "Let's just go out and
play." I kept waking up my mom like when she was sleeping. Like, "C'mon, Mom. Let's play. Let's play."
I rushed through my homework. I tried to get to the pickleball courts as
soon as possible. -NICHOLE: So, at Jack's school I was doing
some research and I found that they have an independent study. And instead of taking a PE
course, he would be dismissed from school an hour early to go and practice
pickleball. -JACK: Independent PE was a chance to play pickleball more often.
I mean, it's helped my game. It's given me some more time. It's just
helped me in every way. -NICHOLE: And his coach was Doug Gale. -JACK: Doug Gale is
kind of like my teacher, my mentor. He teaches me. He tells me what I'm doing wrong.
He helps me a lot. -DOUG: I think Jack Munro in just how much he's
improved just this last 3/4 of a year. What is he
going to become? Now he's getting more power to his game. -NICHOLE: He didn't want to just play
Men's Doubles. He wanted to play singles. He wanted to play mixed. He wanted to do...
anything that he could enter, any division he could enter,
is what he wanted to do. -JACK: I learn so much from a tournament every time I
come back I'm like, "Mom, I want to work on this today. I want to really
work on getting that flip third shot down." Or stuff like that.
-NICHOLE: And then he was playing up in the 4.5's with Brett Booker. Brett kind of took him underneath his
wing, and they played a few tournaments together. They did very well together at
Tustin and Melba. And I think the tournament director saw him play and
said, "Yeah, no, this kid belongs up a level."
-JACK: I got the 5.0 letter when I was at home. And I remember running
to my mom, like, what does this mean? -NICHOLE: It was the email
saying that he had got bumped up. -JACK: We both thought that it must have been a mistake. -NICHOLE: Maybe, you know,
they didn't realize that you're 12 or something. -JACK: That was a huge goal for me.
I really thought that would never happen, but after doing that, I mean,
going from 4.0 to 5.0 in not that long of a period was
really, it was a dream come true. I mean, like, I never thought
I'd be there. -DOUG: He's a very strong 5.0 level player now,
and playing with nationally known people. And he's been exposed to
some very high level, and has increased his abilities unbelievable this year.
-JASON: So many of these people have taken him under his wing. Now from
Mills Miller to Wes Gabrielsen, Kyle that have taken him in
and given him tidbits of information and how to play and being kind enough to
play with him. It's just amazing. -JACK: I would be no-
where right now if it wasn't for everyone who helped me out and took
me under their wing. -NICHOLE: When he's out on the pickleball courts, the Simi people, they love to laugh
with him. They love to have fun with him. I think it takes special people like
Doug Gale. It takes special people like Cathy Kaufman. I think it takes
a village to raise one child. And in this stance it takes a village to raise
a great pickleball player. -SUE: One thing that's unique about pickleball in Simi Valley
is it's very multi-generational. We have people from
Jack Munro's age and we go all the way up to 70's and 80's.
-JACK: Age does not matter when it comes to pickleball. I mean, no one goes, like,
"Oh, he's 13. I'm not going to play with him." I recently played with JoAnne Russell
in US Open. We got gold. JoAnne's 62, 63.
-SUE: It's such a journey
that we've all seen. We feel a part of it. And it makes us feel really
good and proud to have him here at Simi Valley. -DOUG: I can't wait to watch, you know,
what's going to happen with him. -NICHOLE: Jack Munro is now 13, and he is
a energetic, positive, fun-loving, easy-going,
very mellow, super fun and witty child. A lot of people
think that he's an old soul. But there are times where he will be on the court and
he is funny and he makes people laugh.
And he acts like his age. -JACK: On the court, I mean, I can be competitive.
I usually am on the court. But, I mean, off the court, I'm 13. I'm still 13.
I love having fun, and pickleball is so much fun. It's the perfect life for me.
-ANNOUNCER: No matter where you are, pickleball can bring us
together to celebrate community, learn new things and have fun. If you
know someone we should feature on a future episode, we would love to hear from you.
All you have to do is send us an email and tell us your idea. This
episode of "I Heart Pickleball" has been brought to you by Hyland's Leg Cramps, America's
#1 over-the-counter leg cramp medicine. For more information, go to
Hylands.com.
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