From Horrifying Tragedy to Newfound Joy: Pickleball Changes Lives

Six years ago Darla Christensen and her family survived a horrifying tragedy. 

Two years ago, pickleball saved her life.

Now, on the anniversary of the Route 91 Harvest Festival Shooting in Las Vegas, which left dozens dead and hundreds injured, Christensen spends every day of the week giving back through pickleball.

An amazing journey that has led to international travel, pickleball outreach, countless hours, days, months, and years of charity, redemption, and joy. All of it after a senseless shooting that changed Christensen’s life.

On Oct. 1, 2017, Christensen and her two sons were working security for a music festival, featuring country star Jason Aldean. A gunman, 32 floors above the concert, started shooting people from his hotel room at the Mandalay Bay Casino. Bullets were everywhere as she and her two boys scrambled to help and provide aid during the madness. The three survived but suffered emotional distress, PTSD, anxiety, and difficulty venturing outside for the next several years. 

“After two years, I was ready to begin venturing out and then COVID hit,” Christensen said. “The entire city of Las Vegas was shut down for a year. I was in isolation for three years. And then I found pickleball.”

Fast forward to 2023 where pickleball didn’t just save Christensen’s life, it changed it.

“I do pickleball outreach every week,” she said.  “I provide free lessons at the Plaza Hotel (in Las Vegas) every Saturday and run events for children and families. I started a free Facebook group that provides information about courts, lessons, and events for pickleball in the Las Vegas area. Our program runs a charity event every month, and our most recent was a breast cancer awareness charity tournament in September where raised over $3,600. Every three months, we sponsor a local Vegas school where we raise money to purchase nets, balls, paddles, and instructing equipment for the school to begin a pickleball program.”

And there’s more. A world of difference. Months of hard work, planning, and more, resulted in the opportunity to bring pickleball to Bhutan. She and five other pickleball instructors raised more than $45,000 to build courts, as well as buy shoes, socks, paddles, balls, nets, and all sorts of teaching equipment. They met with the country’s Olympic team and introduced the sport.

“We were able to get permission to come to Bhutan because the governing body of Bhutan wants to bring joy and happiness to the people,” Christensen said. “Pickleball brings joy and happiness.”

Christensen and the other instructors put together an extensive effort where they taught pickleball at monasteries for abandoned and orphaned children. There, they provided necessities to people who have almost nothing. 

“It was life-changing for all of us instructors,” she said. “When we put paddles and balls in their hands, they had so much joy. It was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.”

In addition to the work at the monasteries, Christensen and her colleagues taught more than 500 high school kids and another 500 grade school children.

“It was a special kind of chaos,” she said.

From there they went to the most prestigious school in the country, taught another 200 kids to play, then ended up teaching a professional soccer team how to play, too.

“We worked very hard to not only show and explain the fundamentals, but also to put a paddle in every child’s hand, if for only 15 minutes,” Christensen said.

That’s quite the journey from the first time Christensen picked up a paddle in 2021. 

“I was a cheerleader in high school,” she said. “I had never played sports before. No tennis, ping pong, no team sports. I had never heard of pickleball before COVID hit. I became an instructor in October of 2021 and began creating opportunities for beginner players to join this amazing sport.”

Pickleball has changed so many lives. Christensen is just another example of that. It changed her life so much that Christensen wanted to pass it along to others. She started playing, then teaching, then helping others do the same, including the Pickleball New Dinkers of Las Vegas, which now has 6,000 members after just two years of operation. 

“Pickleball saved me,” she said. “I was in a bad place, and it transformed my life. I was so alone. This is why I am passionate about bringing this amazing, healing, and social sport to others.”

“Because Pickleball saved me, I now work seven days a week to do charity work and provide service to others.”