Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T L Y M O N T A N A M A G A Z I N E • S P R I N G 2 0 2 0 66 professional for ten years while I earned my bachelor's and master's degrees from Oakland University (Michigan). My career highlights include winning twenty-nine Tier 1/Grand Slam events, twenty-two World Championship Titles, and forty-two U.S. National Titles. My greatest and most fortunate accomplishment was meeting and marry- ing my wife, Christie, who is the former World #1 Women's Racquetball player and member of the Canadian Racquetball Hall of Fame. TELL US ABOUT PICKLEBALL IN MONTANA? My family and I moved to Bozeman about five years ago. When we arrived, Pickleball had a small following in Bozeman, with only one place to play in the winter and one place to play in summer. I decided to get involved to help grow the sport. Thanks to Superintendent Scott McDowell, Anderson School was very gracious to open its doors to Pickleball. I started the Anderson School Pickleball program, and thanks to H.E. teacher Kjel Olson, Anderson now offers Pickleball before and after school, and the sport has been incorporated into the H.E. curriculum. Over the past five years we have grown to many hundred M O N T A N A N Y O U S H O U L D K N O W ! J A C K H U C Z E K R A C Q U E T B A L L W O R L D C H A M P I O N WHAT THE HECK IS PICKLEBALL? Pickleball is a sport which combines racquetball, badminton, and tennis and is one of the fastest growing sports in the U.S. Pickleball is FUN, easy to learn, but difficult to master. It appeals to all ages and back- grounds and is very addicting! HOW DID YOU GET STARTED IN PICKLEBALL? I have been playing, teaching, and programing Pickleball for nearly ten years. I have actively played nearly every racquet sport my entire life— racquetball, squash, badminton, tennis, etc. After I retired as the World #1 professional racquetball player, a friend of mine introduced me to Pickleball. It was love at first hit, and the rest is history. BACK UP, WORLD #1 RACQUETBALL PLAYER…TELL US ABOUT THAT! My mom, Sharon, started me playing rac- quetball at age two. From the time I can remember, all I wanted to be was the #1 racquetball player in the world. My parents carted me around the world as a junior competing and train- ing with the game's best. When I graduated from high school, I had the opportunity to play pro- fessionally. I continued as a AFTER I RETIRED AS THE WORLD #1 PROFESSIONAL RACQUETBALL PLAYER, A FRIEND OF MINE INTRODUCED ME TO PICKLEBALL. IT WAS LOVE AT FIRST HIT, AND THE REST IS HISTORY.

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