Friday Nov 28, at MTA, TANTRAMAR PICKLEBALL

FRIDAY 28 NOVEMBER 2025

SUMMARY – QUOTABLE SPORTS QUOTES EDITION

American Thanksgiving has colonized our lives.  Black Friday, the Friday before Black Friday, travel challenges, pardoned turkeys, Thirsty Thursday, Sappy Saturday.  Okay, some of that I made up.  But Canadian retailers seem to think that this is yet another opportunity to push their trinkets our way, with discounts and door crashers and incentives of all kinds.  I resent all this Americanization of the Canadian experience.  Yes, I do.

But when thinking about some quotable sports quotes to help with today’s pickleball summary, I landed on American quotations time and time again.  Either the American industrial communications mega-complex has worked to perfection, or American athletes are much more erudite than their Canadian counterparts, or Canadians just prefer to keep to themselves, quiet-like.

So, with all due respect to Wayne Gretzky’s “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” (yes we do, Wayne, yes we do!), here are a few quotable quotes from American athletes and coaches that ought to ring a few bells.  Holiday bells, you understand, an homage to American Thanksgiving.  Sorry, not sorry. 

“Wisdom is always an overmatch for strength.”  Phil Jackson

My two favourite sports may just be curling and pickleball, and perhaps nowhere in the sporting world does Coach Jackson’s quotation ring more true than in those two sports.  This is especially the case as strength dissipates with advancing age.  We learn from our experience and add those learnings to the great stockpile of information that, we hope, equates to wisdom.  Jump on the ice or the court, draw on your knowledge, and vanquish the young and the strong.  Placement, we’re told, it’s all about placement.  Simple…

Until you run up against someone whose baseline drives almost knock you down.  Now Kelly is probably sufficiently experienced to claim wisdom, I don’t know.  But I do know that she can claim strength, and it’s rare that I’ve seen her overmatched, by a wise player or anyone else for that matter.  And it’s not just strength.  It’s precision too.  Those quick and powerful drives down the sideline are sublime, and she rarely misses.

For the first half of our session today, we had six courts busy, a nice even 24 players.  This is both a blessing and a curse – a blessing because we play continuously, a curse because we have to wait between games to mix things up with other players.  But by mid-afternoon things had settled down, with five courts occupied and two waiting.

All that is well and good. 

But is there more to pickleball than wisdom and strength?

“If you have everything under control, you’re not moving fast enough.”  Mario Andretti

Ah yes, speed.  After wisdom and strength, it just may be speed that separates many of us on the court.  Our friends Raoul and Daniel from Memramcook are certainly giving all of us a lesson or two in quickness.  Some of their returns are simply impossible in my world, but yet there they are, recovering a drive to the back of their partner’s court, or scurrying from the baseline to the kitchen line to flick back a sneaky drop volley.

But it’s not just speed, is it Mario?  It’s controlled speed, the ability to re-establish your position even after running madly to the far reaches of the court for the shot that just nips the inside of the line.  Toward the end of the afternoon, Rahil and I played Frank and Ali, and speed was the difference maker as Rahil and I went down to an ignominious defeat, 11-3.  Now nothing of this result rests with Rahil.  She was her speedy self, chasing down lobs and charging the net.  But my quickness left something to be desired.  Sometimes I feel a bit like a carrot on the court, planted in place and moving only when pulled.  On the other side of the net, Ali’s youthful speed and Frank’s fast hands really gave poor Rahil little chance, playing on her own as she was.

“I’ve learned that something constructive comes from every defeat.”  Tom Landry

If Coach Landry was right about this, then I would have constructed the CN Tower by now.  John Lafford would have me on his design team.  The Tantramar Gas Plant would be well underway. 

Today, I learned something constructive from my defeats.  I learned to team up with a player who doesn’t mind carrying the play for much of the game.  Shawn Melanson and I took on his daughter Rileigh and Stephen B, not once, but twice (a product of 24 players and six courts in action early in the afternoon).  Shawn swept me along in his wake and we won both games, the first after trailing 8-3 early on.  And I should say, for a new player Rileigh is really good already, very quick at the net, lots of energy and a never-say-die approach to those difficult wide angle shots.  Excellent matches, both.

But how can I find that something that will get me over the top?  Can’t rely on a partner like Shawn all the time, can I? Can I?

“Practice.  We talkin’ ‘bout practice.”  Allen Iverson

Phil Jasner was the unfortunate veteran Philadelphia Inquirer reporter who asked the question that led to Allen Iverson’s infamous rant about the irrelevance of practice.  Well, practice may be irrelevant for a 27 year old future Hall of Famer still in the prime of his career.  But for most of us, that old adage about “practice makes perfect” still supports aspiration, if it doesn’t necessarily chime a ring of truth.

One of the challenges I’ve found since starting pickleball in 2022 is finding practice time.  Not the time, actually, but the venue and the partners and the insight to make something meaningful out of it.  I’ve heard stories about some friends in Memramcook who paint a line on their garage door at the height of the top of the net, or maybe on their basement wall, or something.  That’s dedication, but it underscores the urge to practice in the hope of finding at least a tiny pathway to improvement.  And those of you who've visited Paul and Pam will have seen the mini-court painted on their driveway.

Last week, during one of our sessions at the Mt. A. gym, a court opened up, and Saeed immediately invited Monique to join him in a practice session devoted exclusively to backhand cross court dinks.  Back and forth they went, until the court was required for a game.  Now I guess we can say with confidence that five minutes of practice is better than no practice at all, but if anyone has a solution to the lack of opportunity for practice, that is, purposeful and sustained practice, I’d love to hear it.

My need for practice showed itself quite clearly in some of my games today, and that conclusion doesn’t depend on whether my team was the winner or the runner-up.  In one exceptionally spirited game, Garry and I played Ali and Rileigh.  Garry played a superb game, we prevailed finally, and the youngsters showed me once again that some time for practice might just be the elixir that this aging pickleballer needs.

If the opportunity to practice our technical skills is difficult to nail down, then there are other types of practice that all of us can be very skilled at indeed.

“One person practicing sportsmanship is better than fifty preaching it.”  Knute Rockne

The great football coach of Notre Dame was on to something I think.  We don’t have many preachers in our pickleball group.  Well, maybe a couple (hello Ellie and Jeff), but they’re not the type of preachers that were the subject of Coach Rockne’s warning.

Now it’s not really clear whether or not this quotation was actually said by the legendary coach, or if it’s only a romantic attribution.  But has the character of high-level competition changed in the almost 100 years since Rockne died?  Isn’t it true that, today, professional sport and top-notch collegiate athletics is all about the “celly,” about mocking your opponent, about kicking the other team when it’s down?  Is that where we want to go?

Let’s keep recreational pickleball the fun experience that it’s always been.  That paddle tap at the net after every game is really important, both in fact and symbolically.  Good spirited competition, great exercise, and the camaraderie that comes with a dedication to sportsmanship.  What could be better?

“A trophy carries dust.  Memories last forever.”  Mary Lou Retton

In the spirit of great sportsmanship, we’ll all be making more memories next week, Monday night starting at 8:00 at the Salem School gym, and then Tuesday morning at the Mt. A. gym, starting at 9:00.

New players especially, don’t forget to pass along your name, email address and phone number to Logan Atkinson.  He is helping the Steering Committee by building a database of players in our group.  Send your info to tantramarpickleball@gmail.com and it will be forwarded on to Logan.

Remember to keep watching the Tantramar Pickleball web site for updates on the parking situation at Mt. A.