Callie Jo Smith Featured On Bonjour! Sports Talk

Watch Professional Pickleball Player Callie Smith’s interview on Amazon Prime’s Bonjour! Sports Talk.

Transcript

Interviewer: [00:00:00] Welcome back to Bonjour Sports Talk, Madeline Biani Tumor and Reid Fowler Live on a Tuesday morning in New York City. If you ever need to step away from the TV and can’t watch us on Prime video, don’t forget. You can also listen to Sports Talk Live on Amp Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM Eastern Amp is Alive Audio App.

Interviewer: You can actually participate in the conversation as well. Just head over to the app store and download AMP and Follow at PV Sports Stock or simply ask Alexa. Hey Alexa. Play sports. Talk on on amp. And then there you go. She’ll be like, got you.

Interviewer 2: Gotcha.

Interviewer 3: My Alexa never hit me when it

Interviewer: Gotcha, gotcha. One time my Alexa started giggling out of nowhere. I was like, that is some scary stuff, girl.

Interviewer 2: Oh man. That is scary. Well, we’ll, we’ll leave Alexa away. We’ll stop talking about Alexa because we got an even spec. A more special guest than Alexa. Get outta here. Alexa, uh, pickleball Professional. Association Callie Jo Smith, turning Pro in 2019. [00:01:00] Joins the show right now on Bonjour Sports Talk.

Interviewer 2: Callie Jo, thank you for joining us today.

Callie Jo Smith: Thanks for having me. I’m excited to be here.

Interviewer 2: And you turned pro in 2019 and reading and just doing some research, used to particularly not be a fan of pickleball and you consider yourself a quote unquote tennis snob. But we have our own very own Renee Stubbs.

Interviewer 2: She is not necessarily a fan yet, but we want to try and get her onto the pickleball side. So what changed for you in that timeframe?

Callie Jo Smith: Well, I got beat by some people that I never thought I should ever lose to. In fact, uh, so I, I would beat my husband in any other sport and, uh, and, sorry, I should say any racket sport, and he beat me at any other sport that didn’t include it or involve a racket.

Callie Jo Smith: Uh, but pickleball was kind of a median between the two of us. And we were playing in this couple, uh, and I, I kid you not, they had elbow braces, knee braces. I mean, [00:02:00] we, we had just graduated from college. Um, so, so we, we thought pretty highly of ourselves. You know, we’re, we’re athletes, we’re college athletes, and they challenged us to a game and we thought, oh my gosh, we’re gonna kill you.

Callie Jo Smith: Um, and we ended up getting killed by them. So we’re like, what the heck? So, you know, rematch. We’re gonna, we’re gonna actually try this time. Uh, so we thought, and we got slaughtered again. So after I lost, uh, and I think they were in their, uh, I, I thought they were a little older at the time, but I, uh, come to find out they were in their fifties.

Callie Jo Smith: Um, but for me, I’m like, okay, I will never lose again. And there must be more to this sport than I thought. And that’s what, uh, fired me up to learn a little more about it. Uh, figure out the rules and the different shots of the game.

Interviewer 3: Call there, there is a lot to, to pickleball and there’s, and you happen to dominate in on, in top five in three different divisions.

Interviewer 3: What are the three different divisions? Like how does [00:03:00] that whole thing work out where they’re, you’re playing the same game, but there’s three how, how the divisions Please explain us to it. Play, explain to us what they mean.

Callie Jo Smith: So the three different divisions, do you have singles, mixed doubles, and women’s doubles or gender doubles?

Callie Jo Smith: Uh, so you have men’s and women’s doubles. Um, I play all three. Uh, both are all singles, mixed and mixed. Uh, you play with, uh, female and a male partner. And then, uh, gender doubles. You have a, for me, I’ll have a female partner and the guys have a male partner, so it’s pretty fun. Uh, they’re all different, all are different strategies and uh, there’s different shots for each one.

Callie Jo Smith: So they’re all unique in their own way, and that’s why I think it’s a great sport because you can always learn something new, just like any sport. But it’s just fun to keep learning and growing and, uh, and obviously getting exercise while you’re out there.

Interviewer: Well, and you mentioned the women’s doubles too.

Interviewer: You and Catherine Parenteau of course, great team in Women’s Doubles. What goes into this partnership, this pickleball partnership? What [00:04:00] makes a great duo

Callie Jo Smith: in pickleball? So Catherine was my 2021 partner. Um, I’m currently partnered with Lucy Kovalova, we’ve been partnered for about a year now. Uh, we kind of just fell into it, fell into the relationship a little bit and grew from our first tournament.

Callie Jo Smith: In fact, we won our first tournament together and I feel like there’s been great chemistry ever since. Uh, we just click and our games click. We are able to communicate on the court, and it’s just, we have fun together. So I think when you’re having fun, uh, you’re playing well and you love your teammate, everything just goes smoothly and it’s, it’s great.

Callie Jo Smith: It’s just fun.

Interviewer 2: Well, I can just tell like, you love this sport. You love competing. I’m the same way as you. If I loser, if my brother does something or like, and it does it better than me, I instantly have to be better than him at whatever it is. That’s how I learned how to snowboard. Uh, I was terrible at first.

Interviewer 2: Anyway, this is about you. This is not about how bad of a snowboarder I was, but, uh, happy belated Mother’s Day. Uh, you are a, a recent mother and you’re a mom of two [00:05:00] kids, and it’s so impressive to, to see like you’ve reached this level of success on the tour, and you’re a full-time mom as well. How do you train, how do you find the time to train being a full-time mom?

Callie Jo Smith: Well, a lot of, well, first of all, I owe, it’s my husband who helps, or I guess he, he not allows me, but he, he, well, I actually married him because he, he wanted me to live my dreams. And he just wanted to support me and he’s stuck true to that since we were married. Um, so because of him, I’m able to play and, uh, he’s my number one.

Callie Jo Smith: The second, I mean, my, my day will start at sometimes 4:00 AM Um, I’ll get up at 4, 4 15, go practice. I’ll practice, uh, at five or uh, a workout at five, and then practice come home. Uh, help get the kids ready for school, or Kyle will get ’em ready for school. I’ll make breakfast, then I’ll go out to another practice or workout, um, do some recovery, and then come home and cook dinner and help with homework and little family [00:06:00] time.

Callie Jo Smith: That’s basically it. That’s my day starts over. And, uh, but I enjoy it. I love it. Uh, I. It’s, I feel like we’re always running with our heads cut off a little bit. Mm-hmm. But we make it work and, and have found a pretty good balance with everything. So it’s, it’s been fun. It’s been a great, it is been a great journey and great experience, but with, without their support and my kids support, um, I, I wouldn’t be doing this.

Interviewer 3: So you, you said you were a, uh, a pickleball snob, I mean a, a tennis snob. What would you tell. A, a person who is really into tennis, who thinks pickleball is like this little game, what would you tell that person about? How would you tell them that how the game is, is special and how it’s si Is it similar to tennis or is it like, what would you tell that person to get them to be a pickleball player or try pickleball?

Callie Jo Smith: I have tried and failed multiple times until few years later. These people decide to try it and then fall in love with it like I did. [00:07:00] So, uh, my advice to all the naysayers like me out there is, uh, pick up a paddle and try it. Um, and you’ve got to play. It’s gotta be, it’s gotta be against competitive people.

Callie Jo Smith: So, former D one athletes that played tennis, or someone that gives you, uh, That, I guess, makes you feel stupid, that makes you eat humble pie. And then you’ll realize, okay, I gotta work a little harder than I thought. Um, there are some similarities that transfer Oprah from tennis, like, uh, volleys, quick hands, ground strokes.

Callie Jo Smith: Um, but after that, I mean, there’s, there’s resets, there’s block volleys, there’s different things, uh, that don’t translate over that you do have to learn. So I would definitely say there’s a learning curve. Um, I would say it takes six months to a year of, I would say, hard work. For, for really, for really good tennis players that spent, uh, like 18 plus years playing tennis.

Callie Jo Smith: Uh, but for, other than that, you can always keep learning. It is a different sport. There is, uh, there’s similar strategies, but also different ones that you pick up on different shots. Uh, the [00:08:00] volleys different. You can’t step into the kitchen, so you can’t cut off angles as well. So that’s a whole new shot.

Callie Jo Smith: Uh, so it’s just, it’s, it’s different and fun and everybody that’s tried it all my old teammates, in fact, are getting into it. Uh, it’s fun. It’s fun to see the growth and. Do people love it? Who hated it before

Interviewer: Kelly? I mean, you mentioned the growth. Pickleball seems to be everywhere lately, and especially over the last couple of years.

Interviewer: It’s just growing exponentially. One of the things I love learning about the game is just the different characters, the different personalities, the different people, much like yourself. Were playing the game and the stories that brought everyone here. One of the things that I find, uh, that I love about you too is that every time you’re on the court, you wear a long braid that’s earned you the nickname, Rapunzel.

Interviewer: Do you like the nickname? Who gave you the nickname? What’s. The backstory there, are we supporting this nickname?

Callie Jo Smith: So I do. I usually have my hair and braid. It’s not, but it’s, it, it’s very long. So I can’t play with on the court. I have to braid it. Uh, but Ben John’s the number one, uh, male player [00:09:00] right now in the world.

Callie Jo Smith: He actually nicknamed me Rapunzel. So just Remi, he’s like, Hey, Rapunzel, and just call me that. And kind of stuck with other people. So I’m fine with it. I’ve always loved my long hair. Uh, I cut it one time and hated it, so I’ve grown it out ever since. Um, yes. I don’t mind the nickname. That’s where it came from.

Interviewer 2: And is there a lot of similar strategies? I know you were talking earlier about tennis, moving and transitioning into pickleball, and you said the angles aren’t always the same and you can’t really cut off in the kitchen. Uh, do you still bring a lot of that strategy that you had when you were playing college tennis into your pickleball, your pre professional, uh, approach to the game?

Callie Jo Smith: Uh, one, I would, not all of them, but some of them. I mean, you, you want, we wanna get people off balance. You wanna move them around. Uh, set up a point. So as far as setting up a point that part’s the same, uh, where you’re trying to create an opportunity to be offensive, uh, or working the ball around until you create an opportunity to come in, like for tennis, you hit an approach [00:10:00] shot, come in, in Bali.

Callie Jo Smith: In pickleball, you move the dink around, move the ball around, look for something high that you can attack or be aggressive or you create, uh, create more. Offensive strategies or offensive shots by actually aiming at the person because at, at the higher level of people’s hands are so good that hitting it away from them, uh, they’re just too fast.

Callie Jo Smith: And so you almost have to jam them and try to get it, uh, like at a shoulder or a hip. Um, so they hit an awkward shot and then you’re able to counter and put it away. So that’s different, uh, because in tennis for me, it’s like you hit it away from the person. You make them move, uh, until you win the point.

Callie Jo Smith: So that’s been, that’s been much, a much different strategy. That, uh, is pretty fun. I think it’s faster. Uh, and tennis, everything is, uh, it feels smooth. So it feels like you’re, everything’s in rhythm. It’s all about the rhythm and staying on balance and in pickleball that, [00:11:00] that smoothness can change so quickly that, uh, that rhythm, it’s, it can go from a smooth dink to all of a sudden it’s pop, pop, pop, pop at the net.

Callie Jo Smith: Uh, just it can change in a second. Uh, and you’re closer to it. It’s, you’re a lot closer across the net. Um, the ball seems like it’s coming faster at you, so it’s, it’s, it’s a fun game. I, I would say it’s much, it’s much different than you would think.

Interviewer 3: Well, you’re into a lot of different things. I know you, you’re, uh, on Instagram, you like doing fitness, uh, videos.

Interviewer 3: What, what about those videos? Is there any similarity? Do you have pickleball stuff in the videos? Is there a fitness for pickleball or is this completely separate?

Callie Jo Smith: Uh, when I, so when I first started, I was combining a little, so I like doing CrossFit workouts. I kinda like the hit workouts, especially being mom.

Callie Jo Smith: I don’t have a ton of time. Uh, so I kind of liked the 20, 30 minutes, get that quick workout. And uh, so I started with a little bit of, uh, CrossFit hit type workouts and soon realized, because the tour is all year long [00:12:00] that we don’t have an off season. And so I was a little bit, I was over training a little bit.

Callie Jo Smith: And so now it’s more, uh, for me focusing on recovery, but still maintaining my strength, so working on mobility. Um, and I do share that on my workout Wednesdays as well. So the things that I’m learning and growing, I like to share with others because I wanna help other people get better too. Um, and the journey as, and pickle ball’s new, it’s new enough anyways, so I’ve only been in it for five years, and I think even I think it’s.

Callie Jo Smith: Uh, as, as the years go on, uh, the sports growing, uh, people are adapting, new shots are coming, uh, the game, especially with the equipment, uh, advancing the advancement in equipment, the game’s changing quickly and so are like training programs for me. And so, uh, the different shots or different movements that I noticed on the core, I’m like, okay, here’s where I need to get stronger.

Callie Jo Smith: This is what I need to work on. I need to do more side lunges, maybe these different planes that I need to focus on. Um, instead of the up and down plane that I was working on with the CrossFit, So it’s, I’m [00:13:00] trying to do more, I should say, pickleball, pickleball type workouts that will help me on the courts.

Callie Jo Smith: Uh, in addition to off the court and staying healthy, both on and off the court.

Interviewer: Kelly, you’re an 11-time PPA champion, one of the most dominant pickleball players of all women that play this game and a mother. And just kind of another testament to just how strong and how much women can do. And I’m so curious.

Interviewer: If you look around the world of sports, are there other athletes, other females, other women with children that you look to and you think that inspires me to bring my

Callie Jo Smith: best every day as well? So I, I would say honestly for me, my mom, so she had six kids, two sets of twins. I’m one of those sets of twins. Wow.

Callie Jo Smith: And, uh, the fact for everything that she was able to do, she just inspired me and wanted, uh, and wanted to help all of us live our dreams and be the best that we could be. And just her inspiration and, and the work that she put in into helping raise us. And the example that she set. Just motivated me to try to be my best and be the best mom, the best [00:14:00] everything that I could be too.

Callie Jo Smith: Um, but any mom I’ve ever come across honestly is to me a saint and a trooper. And, uh, just, I think women are. Powerful and strong and courageous and the things that we go through, whether you’re playing a sport or not, is there, it’s just amazing. And, uh, so yes, I think they’re, uh, there’s in fact another couple, I think one or two more ladies on the tour that have, that have kids, and they are awesome too.

Callie Jo Smith: They’re hard workers. Uh, they set goals. Um, for them and their kids. It’s just, I think it’s awesome that, uh, the, the work that people put in. Um, but it’s also rewarding. It’s a rewarding thing to be a mother and to also live your dream and, and work hard. And I think it shows your kids and, and that they can live theirs too.

Callie Jo Smith: Uh, even if you feel like you may not be spending as much time as you want with your kids, I think that they can learn and grow from that example as well.

Interviewer 2: Kelly, you are a [00:15:00] star. You have three more fans, uh, right here on the desk. We thank you so much for joining us this morning on Bon George, uh, sports Talk.

Interviewer 2: We’ll be watching. We’ll be rooting on one of the stars of the PPA tour. Callie, Joe Smith, thank you so much.

Callie Jo Smith: Thank you. And Happy Mother’s Day. Yeah,

Interviewer 2: Mother’s Day. That’s Callie, Joe Smith, the star, one of the stars of the PPA tour. It’s gonna be so much fun to watch. Remember, this is a partnership here with Prime Video that we have with the PPA tour.

Interviewer 2: It’s a lot of fun. I love this. Any new sport, it’s gonna be a ton, A ton of fun. Follow all of the athletes that we bring on our shows throughout the week, but we got much more show to go right here on Bon George Sports Lock on Prime Video and App Radio Monte Tumor Madeline Burke Fowler End, Lou Aser seven B.

Interviewer 2: We’ll be right back.