Why Singapore is embracing pickleball | My Tribe - video Dailymotion

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As pickleball rises in popularity in Singapore, siblings Jo Anne and Ralph find a meaningful way to bond after challenging circumstances, while childhood friends Jeremy Chua, Jeremy Heng, and Gerald Quek reconnect and strengthen their friendship through the game.  Watch more: https://www.asiaone.com/video

Transcript

00:00Dee, are you ready? Let's go!

00:04Woohoo!

00:20Ready? Go!

00:24Yes! Good! Excellent! Go!

00:28I am a freelance pickleball coach

00:32with Play Pickle. Tennis is my first love

00:36and I think over the years I've played a lot of club tennis

00:40I was a tennis coach for eight years, but tennis

00:44takes its toll on my body, and so I was

00:48trying to find another sport to keep me active. My pickleball

00:52story started with my cousins, whom one of them in particular

00:56introduced me to pickleball and said, hey

00:58Joe, you play tennis, you should be

01:00able to play pickleball. At the beginning of this year

01:02I realized that I probably had to hang up my racket

01:04and then

01:06that's when I became serious about pickleball.

01:08Okay, ready? One

01:10straight to you, okay

01:12now, one step, yes

01:14very good, straight back to you, come

01:16back to the center, backhand

01:18nice job, okay

01:20nice control

01:22let's go! So I think one of the great things

01:24about pickleball is that

01:26it puts everybody on the same level

01:28once you pick up this pickleball paddle

01:30and this plastic ball

01:32and you get onto the court

01:34everybody's on the same level

01:36there's no separating you

01:38except the net. Pickleball has helped me to

01:40stay competitive

01:42I like that aspect of sports

01:44I think it builds character

01:46I was never really able

01:48to join tennis tournaments

01:50I only play at the club level

01:52but pickleball, I've kind of

01:54come out of my comfort zone

01:56and I've joined a few pickleball tournaments

01:58I think I would like to be seen as a coach

02:00who can help build a foundation

02:02for persons wanting to take up pickleball

02:04persons who are

02:06not quite sure because they've never touched

02:08a sport before

02:10on the competitive level

02:12yeah, I mean

02:14I'm not sure what it is about pickleball

02:16that competitive spirit

02:18has been ignited

02:20and I would like to challenge myself

02:22I've worked so hard

02:24I think I owe it to myself

02:26to take this pickleball journey

02:28a little bit further

02:30not just coaching

02:32but just seeing how far I can go

02:34in terms of the competition

02:36okay, I'm gonna hit it to you

02:38yes, nice

02:40volley, nice

02:42volley, okay

02:44I feel very emotional

02:46if I talk about my brother

02:48it's a hard story

02:50it's a hard story

02:52but I want to share it

02:54okay, because

02:56that's the power of pickleball

03:00my brother's been playing golf since he was 16

03:02nearly turned pro

03:04but father said no

03:06so he came back to Singapore

03:08but he continued with his golf

03:10and he's a good golfer

03:11single handicapper

03:12for those golfers

03:13who understand

03:14yeah

03:15sadly

03:16a year and a half ago

03:17he suffered a stroke

03:18the effects of the stroke

03:20were enough for him to

03:21disable him from playing golf

03:23we were sincerely worried

03:25whether

03:26you know

03:27this game that has consumed him

03:29since he was 16

03:31he couldn't play it anymore

03:33how was that gonna affect him?

03:35since my stroke

03:37I haven't been able to play golf

03:39because I've lost

03:40the strength

03:41on the left side

03:42so

03:43actually with a longer club

03:44I have no control

03:45whereas with pickleball

03:46I can control the paddle better

03:48being shorter

03:49and shorter swing

03:51I've played golf

03:52for almost 60 years

03:54I still love the game

03:55but I do accept my limitation

03:58and

03:59yes, the love for pickleball

04:00has picked up

04:01quite a bit

04:02because it is a

04:04it is a sport

04:06that I think I can manage

04:07at the moment

04:08and it's helping me

04:09with a lot of my recovery

04:11I'm not as competitive as before

04:13because I know I have limitations now

04:16that day hopefully will come

04:17when I can partner with you

04:18in a mixed doubles

04:19that community

04:21socially has got bigger and bigger

04:23we've got a lot more friends

04:25a very diverse group of people

04:28and I think that

04:29that is helpful

04:30and

04:31the good thing about it is

04:32everyone understands each other

04:34everyone has a limitation

04:35it doesn't matter whether you had a stroke or not

04:37we play socially to enjoy the game

04:41it brings people together

04:43and it teaches you

04:45not just about

04:47how to be active

04:49but it teaches you about

04:50being able to

04:51extend your active lifestyle

04:55it's given me a new lease of life

04:57it's helping me to keep active hopefully

04:59for the next 10 or 15 years

05:01we've known each other since

05:11primary one

05:12so that's

05:13what 40

05:1440 years

05:15I think

05:17we have been in different classes

05:19and some of us have been in the same class

05:21but I think we met in

05:23in primary school

05:24in San Gabriel's primary school

05:26one of the

05:27core memories

05:28which I remember

05:30our time together

05:31was that

05:32we started off

05:34enjoying sports

05:35he used to be a

05:37I think

05:38he used to be a runner

05:39track and field

05:40and then Gerald used to play

05:42like badminton and all that

05:43right

05:44so I think through sports

05:45back then

05:46we kind of forged some form of

05:48let's play every sport

05:49kind of mentality

05:51I used to play tennis

05:52I've missed playing it

05:53and it's hard to get people to come

05:55to play tennis or so

05:56so I think it's much more accessible

05:58so we reached out to them

06:00we have played other sports together

06:02like badminton

06:03when we get together for that

06:05it feels like a sport

06:06when we play pickleball

06:08it feels like a game

06:09so I think there's a more fun aspect to it

06:11it started when

06:15I was at

06:17the Catalan area

06:19in Chai Chi

06:20and I saw that there was a

06:21pickleball court

06:23at one of the rooftop floors

06:25I believe it was play pickle

06:27there's a

06:28few courts available

06:29looks like a good environment

06:31so I thought

06:32I want to just try that

06:33sign up

06:34I sent a message to them

06:35they want to get together and play

06:37just see how it goes

06:38a lot of people are playing it

06:39usually when you

06:40try and arrange a meetup

06:42they were like

06:43see how

06:44try and see whether we can make it

06:45some can, some cannot

06:46but for whatever reason

06:47this time around

06:48it was very quick

06:49okay, Ken

06:50I'll see you there

06:51I didn't really know

06:52whether it will happen or not

06:53but like on the day

06:54after you book

06:55yeah, everyone showed up

06:57and we played our first game

06:58and yeah

06:59Do you have any sticks or not?

07:00One meal, one meal

07:01One meal?

07:02Last time

07:03Lunch

07:04when we play, we go all out actually

07:16we try our best

07:17yeah, we go all out

07:19we try to give each other a push

07:21a friendly game

07:22and if we do that for a pregnant turn

07:24the very next day

07:26something is going to ache

07:29not injured, not injury

07:30but something is going to ache

07:31and then you take some time to recover

07:33and pickleball so far

07:35okay

07:36next day, wake up

07:37I can play pickleball maybe three times a week

07:39Padminton, no way

07:40no way

07:41I need time to recover

07:43so just now when you play

07:44that was your all out

07:45yeah

07:46okay, okay

07:47let's go

07:48no, no, no

07:49just want to confirm

07:51my wife bought a

07:53what do you call that?

07:54a treadmill

07:55oh, okay

07:56it's kind of a high elephant

07:58and I think this is better

08:01this is better

08:02so after we work out like this

08:03I burn at least

08:04I mean the calories

08:05and the steps that I take

08:07will not lose out to any of those

08:09works that I have

08:10my wife

08:11actually

08:12I think it's better

08:14we used to catch up maybe only during festive season

08:16Christmas for sure

08:17in between birthdays

08:19maybe four, five times a year

08:20for meals

08:21a proper meal

08:22but for pickleball

08:23now I'm eating them four times a month

08:25minimum

08:26so I think that's really good

08:28one hour

08:29sometimes when we are busy

08:30we just play and then we chow

08:31but most of the time so far

08:33it's always dinner after each game

08:35through that first lesson

08:36in fact brought out

08:37all our families

08:39it was a big group right

08:41and then we had the session there

08:43so I do feel that

08:45the sport is multi-generational

08:48and we can see from the courts here as well

08:51that there are a lot of like

08:52beginners and

08:53you actually learn

08:55at different levels

08:57and I think pickleball is one of those

08:59sport that

09:00organizations play pickle

09:02that are trying to foster throughout

09:04not just focus on one group

09:06so you've got the social aspect

09:08you've got the comparative aspect

09:12Pickleball has brought a lot of good joy

09:17but it is actually that

09:18it's a good fun way

09:20for us to spend quality time together

09:22that everyone seems keen to commit to

09:25commit to

Why Singapore is embracing pickleball | My Tribe

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