»ANNOUNCER: Last time on "I Heart Pickleball", we met the
Ruidoso Pickleball Club. This month we travel 180 miles north
to Albuquerque, NM where we'll hear the story of former Olympian, Roxanne Pierce.
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»ANNOUNCER: "I Heart Pickleball" is powered by Hyland's Leg Cramps.
Proud supporter of pickleball players everywhere. »ROXANNE: My name is
Roxanne Pierce, and I live on the west side of Albuquerque
most of the year. I just bought a house in Sun City West,
Arizona because of pickleball. ♪♪ lively guitar music ♪♪
I love pickleball in that it has different
aspects to the game, and you're working on your quick skills, you're
working on your endurance skills, your drives, the strategies.
It's a happy sport! And you laugh while you're playing.
You know, it's just not as serious as other sports that I've done.
When I was about eleven and a half,
my mother enrolled me in a tumbling class to put my
high energy into good use somehow, and I did very well.
And they said, "Oh, you've got potential." We worked together, and then from there
I went to a private team. And from the private team,
to the national team. My greatest success as a gymnast would
probably be the Pan American Games in 1971 in Cali, Colombia,
and I was pronounced the Queen of the Games for
having won the most medals of any female. So, I was a gymnast from
age eleven and a half to about twenty-two. I competed in the Olympics
in 1972 in Munich, Germany. That was the
terrorist Olympics. Thankfully, I had finished competing at the time.
I was traveling through Europe with my parents. They had come
to watch, and my dad understood a little German and said,
"What's going on here?" We went back to the Village. It was all cordoned off.
And it was a mess. It was right in the middle
of everything happening. Before that, it was
an awesome experience. The competition was great.
Everybody was so friendly. Great time, and then all the terrorist activity and everything just
kind of shut down and people stayed to themselves. I don't think
I'm a normal athlete person. For me, the whole
idea for gymnastics for me was to be able to travel.
When I quit gymnastics, I was pretty lost. I did not know what to do.
I ended up at a racquet and health club and
got involved with handball. So, I transitioned from gymnastics to handball.
Then I had eye surgery and couldn't see
indoors very well anymore. So, I went from handball to tennis
where I could see outdoors. And then from tennis into pickleball.
I found out about pickleball from an article in the newspaper,
and it had a phone number. It said it was similar to
badminton, ping pong and tennis. Kind of a combination, and I thought,
"Well, that sounds like fun!" And I absolutely fell
in love. So, I said, "You know what? I'm going to stick with pickleball." And I just,
I got addicted. Being a gymnast has helped out with pickleball in that I
have the balance. I can get down really low for some of the balls.
In fact, I've been told, "I like watching you. You can lunge. I mean,
you're just down on the ground." For now, I still have that ability.
I do have the balance. I'm a little bit slow getting back to the court once I've been
stretched outside, but... [laughter] I do like
to win. That does drive me. Mostly because
if you lose, then you don't get to play anymore. For pickleball,
it's not so much the competition, it is the people.
It's just a great group of people that are very close-knit, and the
people, the pickleball people here in Albuquerque have become my closest friends.
Pickleball's a sport like no other in that almost any age,
any level can have fun with it. And you're learning every
time you play, and people are friendly. It's not the dog-eat-dog
world of other sports. And people are so willing to help out.
I think my first competition I went to, I was getting help from somebody that would be
my opponent further down in the competition helping me out
to get better. It's like, where do you see that? As far as pickleball
in Albuquerque, they are my closest friends now. We will help
each other on and off the court. More off the court than on. Whether it's
health issues or, you know, I've got to pack up and move. Or, I mean,
people are there for you, and just a very close-knit group that I haven't found
with any other sport. ♪♪ upbeat music ♪♪
»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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