Building Back: the Positive Power of Pickleball

There was a time not that long ago when Laura Kemp wouldn’t make it through the day without crying.

Anyone who knows Laura would be surprised to hear that. Fiery, positive, and full of energy, Kemp was feeling trapped.

A 7th grade science teacher who loved her students and loved the challenge of inspiring them. She was a Teacher of the Year. Kemp couldn’t imagine doing another job. 

Then COVID-19 came along.

“I was trapped behind a camera,” Kemp said.

Instead of being engaged in the classroom, she was home. Talking, or trying to anyway, to her students through a microphone and a laptop screen. Not exactly the best way to inspire, engage, and teach.

“I kind of fell apart in trying to connect with my students,” she said. “I couldn’t get my students to talk with me or turn on their camera. I would reach out to students and sometimes did not receive a response at all. If I made it through the day without crying, it was a good day.”

Already a pickleball player, thanks to finding the game about five years ago, Kemp said she was becoming frustrated with teaching. Covid will do that to you. Meanwhile, she also was going through a knee surgery to fix an ACL that had given out after having the original surgery 20 years before.

“I was told I couldn’t play pickleball for six months,” Kemp said.

But instead of sitting it out, she went all in. Kemp learned how to play in a wheelchair and decided she was going to find a job in pickleball. She went online, applied for a job at Chicken N Pickle in Grand Prairie, Texas, took her wheelchair to the interview in Kansas City, Mo., and was hired to be the Pickleball Manager of the then-soon-to-be-open franchise in Texas. 

A teacher of 30 years, she moved to Texas, a place she had never been, and gave up her previous professional life for a game she had only played for a few years.

That’s the power of pickleball.

She’s not alone. Pickleball changes lives. Pickleball is truly different things to different people, but it almost always comes back to the same thing for so many.

“I needed an outlet or a hobby,” said Lisa Kloberdanz of Oklahoma City. “The game is all about fun and having a great time. Meeting people and feeling good on and off the court. It’s great exercise for the mind and body. It’s my true escape and I find so much enjoyment in every aspect of it.”

Two years ago, Kloberdanz didn’t even know a thing about pickleball. Since, she’s made a new circle of friends, found that outlet for mind and body and even has become a regular tournament player.

Since Kemp found pickleball, she has played in numerous tournaments, taught herself how to compete in a wheelchair  – and win a gold in the wheelchair division at the US Open – successfully organized Chicken N Pickle to purchase two wheelchairs for every new facility they open and has also opened herself up to new things.

“Prior to playing Pickleball, I considered myself an introvert and didn’t extend myself to talk with others,” Kemp said. Playing pickleball, I will talk with anyone. I want to share this game with everyone that is interested. I love that I can connect with people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds. I can get them excited about something and get them playing within minutes.”

Kemp didn’t speak with her father for 20 years. They recently reconnected. He visited her in Texas and the two spent time together on the courts. 

So, the teacher who struggled to get through the day and needed that personal connection and the energy that comes with it, found pickleball. 

“Now I am known as Laura from pickleball,” she said. Every day that starts or ends with playing pickleball is a good day.”

And the mom of four, who needed a hobby, a place to go to clear her head and be with her new friends, found pickleball, too. 

Only positive vibes.

“My favorite part of the sport has to be the people,” Kloberdanz said. “I have made some wonderful, lifelong friends of all ages. The game is all about fun and having a great time. I will be playing pickleball until I’m old and can’t move anymore.”