ANNOUNCER: Last time on "I Heart Pickleball" we met
Coach Mo from The Villages in Florida. This month we travel to beautiful
Ruidoso, NM to hear the story of Vicky Noakes and the
Ruidoso Pickleball Club. ♪♪ upbeat music ♪♪
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"I Heart Pickleball" is powered by Hyland's Leg Cramps.
Proud supporter of pickleball players everywhere. »VICKY: I'm Vicky Noakes,
and I belong to the Ruidoso Pickleball
Club in Ruidoso, NM. Ruidoso is a beautiful
mountain village. It's in the south central part of New Mexico, which
means that it's cool in the summertime. We have Ruidoso Downs racetrack,
the Inn of the Mountain Gods casino, mountain bike
and hiking trails in the Sacramento mountains. All of that brings people in,
but the main thing about Ruidoso is that
they have pickleball. ♪♪ playful music ♪♪
No, I'm not from Ruidoso. I live in Oklahoma City for eight months.
And then the first of June for four months we come to Ruidoso
until the first of October. So, we've
had this little cabin here for 16 years. For the first 10 years
that we lived here, I might have known a couple people around this block.
But then when I found pickleball, I met people and friends
that came for the summer or lived here full time, and now I know people
from all over the country and have lifelong friends.
Six years ago, my morning routine was to go down to the
White Mountain walking track and walk every morning. Well, on that walking
track there was a private tennis court. But they were playing some kind of
a paddle game on this tennis court. So, one day I got the nerve up
to stop and ask them what they were playing. Several of them said, "We're playing
pickleball. Come on up! We'll show you how to play." So I went up, and
Gary Beatty was the expert at pickleball, and
he was willing to show anybody that would want to listen
to him to come and play. »GARY: As anybody that has ever tried to
get a program started knows, court time or court
space is limited. But I have a good friend that I play tennis with.
She had a very good friend named Margaret duPont.
»ORA MARIE: When Gary wanted to get pickleball games started here for all
of the wonderful people, he knew of this court. And the woman who owned it,
Margaret Osborne duPont, had been a
world-class tennis player in the 40's and 50's. She won everything.
So, I just called her up and said, "Margaret, got this new game, but I need
your court." »VICKY: Gary Beatty was an inspiration to a lot of us when
he taught us how to play pickleball. Since that time, we worked
with the Ruidoso parks and rec department and the ladies'
tennis group that played on the White Mountain tennis courts to get
them to allow a time for us to play. ♪♪ lively music ♪♪
The Ruidoso Pickleball Club now has about 85 members.
At least five of us, and there may be more, that have gone to our
hometowns and have gotten to be Ambassadors. And we
have numerous other players that come in the summertime that go
back to Houston or San Antonio, Florida, that,
after they learn to play here, they go and look for places to play when they go back home.
»BILL: My name is Bill McGaughey, and I play pickleball wherever I can find a court to play.
But I love to play here. I became so
enthralled by this sport that I've taken it wherever I go.
I've heard of someone in Los Angeles who even did it on the roof!
»MARSHALL: I'm Marshall Pura from Los Angeles, CA, and this is
my home away from home. Yes, I learned how to play pickleball
right here, and it was just my most fantastic experience
in learning here and bringing it back to Los Angeles to the rooftop
Y pickleball court! »SHARON: McKinney, TX is where
I'm from. I come here for the summer, and I started playing here
all summer. And then when I went back to McKinney, I looked it up and found
that there are some people playing there. »RANDY: Yeah, after I'd been playing
pickleball here for a couple years, an opportunity came to take
pickleball back to my hometown in San Angelo, TX. It just
spreads. You play once and you're hooked. And so, that's kind of
what's happened. »VICKY: Since we have such an influx of visitors,
it's an incubator as far as taking pickleball
to other parts of the country. »MARSHALL: Out of this very small community,
over five Ambassadors have developed in
Texas, in Oklahoma, Los Angeles. So, we've just
been that birthplace, right here, to take it
all over the country. So, it's been that kind of a thrill. »SHARON: Yeah, it all started
here and then we all found out we can go back and play in our own
respective towns. »MARSHALL: I don't know what it is, how to describe it,
but the folks that come here want to play the game back at home.
And so when they learned it here, they took it back home.
And when they took it back home, they spread the passion that is pickleball.
And it's really, really worked out, and it's given me an enormous amount
of pride. And that's why I love just coming back here year after year.
»ORA MARIE: It's such a great game for everybody. I'm glad that it
came into my life. And I'm glad to put it in other people's lives too.
»VICKY: You have people come from all different states, and it's fun to learn about all those
people that come in. We get to know them through pickleball. And I
never would have gotten to know any of those people if we hadn't been playing
pickleball with them. »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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