If you ask social studies teacher Keith Jain what he did over the weekend, there’s a good chance he’ll say he played in a pickleball tournament. You might even catch him during prep periods going down to the tennis courts on campus to get some shots in, or at a country club, playing with his buddies. As a pro pickleball player in the midst of his first National Pickleball League (NPL) season, he likes to maintain an edge.
The NPL is a 50+ league made up of 12 professional teams, each team drafting seven men and women through a triple-A player rating system curated based on player performance during combines hosted in March. Starting from May, the NPL season lasts six months, with a tournament every month in a different location in the country to determine team standings and how they’ll be seeded, concluding with a championship in October.
Jain attended the combine in Coconut Creek, Florida. During the combines, scouts would observe each attendee and their in-game performance to curate a priority list of various sought-out players.
He was then drafted in April to play for the Coachella Valley Scorpions, California’s first professional 50-and-over pickleball team, based at the Desert Horizons Country Club in Indian Wells.
But just six years earlier, Jain hadn’t a clue what pickleball was. When a friend of his first asked to play pickleball together, Jain’s first thought was, “That’s a funny name.”
“We just went out and started playing, barely even [knowing] the rules,” he said. “ [We] looked the rules up on YouTube and it was just so fun that I just started playing more. One of the differences about pickleball compared to a lot of sports is the culture of it. It’s very inclusive, very social. You [can] go to the park just to pick up a couple games. Part of the general philosophy is you welcome everybody in, you help them out if they don’t know how to play. You can play even if you don’t know what the heck you’re doing and still have a good time.”
After a few more games, Jain was hooked. He became a regular at Bobby Riggs Racket and Paddle club, started entering more tournaments and began playing at a higher level.
However, the growing frequency of play also forced Jain to backtrack due to injuries. Jain took two years off of playing in tournaments before finally choosing to commit himself to a league.
“When I [decided to] join the NPL, I [thought] I better ramp it back up because I got to go to the combine, I got to play in these tournaments,” Jain said. “Now, I dedicate a lot more time back into building my body back up so I won’t get injured anymore. I probably play five days a week now and just hit hundreds of shots to keep the rhythm and a level of play for when I go to these tournaments.”
With a background in high school badminton and college volleyball at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Jain had always liked athletics, but pickleball marked a new period of his life.
“To get back into a sport later in life was just fun for me,” he said. “I had a lot of fun, thinking this will be a good way to get some exercise and then as you play, you get better and better and you’re playing higher level games. [Then,] here’s a shot to try to do something pro. For having not taken those opportunities early [on in life], it’s kind of my last chance. If I’m going to do it, I better do it now. I’m not getting any younger. That’s why I decided to join the NPL and be in this professional league.”
For Jain, one of the most invaluable things he’s gained from the sport were the connections he’s made through it.
“The game itself is a blast, but I think it really was the community,” Jain said. “Everybody is so friendly and so fun and welcoming that they become your friends pretty quickly and you see the same people over and over again [at the courts.] I play with the same 25 people and we see each other all over the place. We’re all tight, we travel together to NPL events, and we get the same AirBnB even though we’re not on the same team. Even when I met [my teammates] for the first time, we immediately connected. Now, we all get places to stay together and are constantly texting and chatting with each other. I consider them really good friends.”
In recent years, Jain said he’s enjoyed seeing the growth of pickleball as a sport.
“When I first started playing, there were 20 people at the local place I would play at,” Jain said. Now, there’s hundreds. I used to play a lot at Bobby Riggs Tennis Center in Encinitas. It was mainly tennis courts and they had around four pickleball courts. Now it’s 22 pickleball courts and there’s no more tennis. Every court is booked solid from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.”
As a player, Jain jumps between playing line one and two, out of three lines which are tiered by skill, but Jain said whatever line he plays matters little to him.
“It’s all the same competitive level because it doesn’t matter what line you’re at, you’re trying to win a point for your team and your team accumulates points overall,” he said. “Even if you’re losing at line one, if line two and three are winning, you’re still going to win your team battle.”
Jain said one of the highlights of the season so far was during the NPL’s most recent tournament in Kansas City, Missouri, Aug. 9-11. In a tie-breaker game, called a team-breaker match, against the Seattle United PB, Jain helped score an unlikely victory.
“My partner and I ended up playing against one of the top mixed teams right on center court and we were able to beat them two out of three in the third game 11-9 after being down 10-8,” Jain said. “My partner pulled her hamstring and we thought, ‘oh gosh, I think we’re going to have to disqualify.’ She was able to power through and we were able to get the next three points and win the match. The match itself was a highlight because [we] beat one of the best teams on the center court.”
Until October, Jain aims for optimum performance on the court, dedicating three hours a day, five days a week to practicing. But, in the meantime, the rest of his day-to-day life will also continue—teaching World History and AP Government, then returning home to his family, a mixed schedule that Jain said has taught him to appreciate pickleball in a different way.
“It certainly has changed my perspective on balance,” he said. “I’m a teacher, I’ve got a family, I’ve got kids, and I’m trying to maintain balance around that and leisure. Now all of a sudden I’ve got pro pickleball, which is a time suck. And when I’m traveling four or five days once a month to go to these events, that takes time away from my family. But, at my age, it’s not like I’m making a career out of this. I’m doing it for myself, to have fun, really be with my buddies who I play with all the time, travel with them and see other parts of the country. It’s been a lot of fun to take on that adventure. I guess I could drive around the country and go play pick-up games, but it’s not quite the same. It’s fun to be a part of this bigger organization.”
