What happened! After 105 days away from Pickleball.

Award winning author, Tony Agnesi tells his story.

Author

Daniel King
March 24, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 11 minutes

ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE:
Post-Surgery Pickleball Surprise, Tony Agnesi
Loving People & Pickleball, Mike Borowski
Wasp in the Outhouse, Dan King
Is my DUPR Rating Accurate?, Keith Starcher

What happened after 2 surgeries and 105 days away from the Pickleball court. 

An amazing benefit of playing pickleball is the amount of new friendships that develop. Studies have shown that people who play pickleball make friends quickly. Some make more new friends than they have made in years. As we age, we lose friends that are difficult to replace. This can lead to loneliness and isolation. Pickleball provides a platform for meeting new people, fosters friendships, and strengthens existing relationships.

The unique open-play format puts you on the court with new people. The exchange of names at the beginning of the game and the friendly paddle tap at the end provides an easy ice-breaker.

This past year, I spent 105 days recovering from 2 surgeries. It was the longest I have been away from the sport since I began playing before COVID.  However, the friends I made helped me in my recovery. The many calls, text messages, get well cards, and visits I received from the Pickleball community were a God-sent.

I’ll never forget the day I was cleared to return to play. As I entered the courts at the local YMCA, play stopped and the players cheered, applauded to welcome me back. It was an emotional experience. I am so grateful for discovering pickleball and making such wonderful friends.

My story is not unique. Many people share their experiences with me of the warmth pickleball community.  In all of the years I played and coached sports, I haven’t experienced anything like it.

A group of women that play together formed a groups of Pickleball ladies, and celebrate birthdays, holidays together and support each other both on and off the court.

Couples have exchanged contact informations and have met for dinner, gone to shows, ballgames, and concerts.

This past summer a group of players would meet for lunch and margaritas at a local Mexican restaurant after Friday play.

Speaking of Mexico, I am writing this column from Nuevo Nayarit, Mexico, at a resort that our pickleball friends Mauri and Michael introduced to us several years ago.

And yes, we have met a wonderful, welcoming Pickleball community here and have made friends with players from several countries.

I encourage you to try Pickleball. There are many benefits to being active; working out, and enjoying the outdoors. But Pickleball has the added benefit of encouraging friendships, dispelling loneliness, boredom and isolation.

Want to know why Pickleball is the fastest growing sport? It’s the combination of physical activity and social interaction that make it unique. You can enjoy the benefits of Pickleball too. Take a beginners class or just show up at the courts and be warmly welcomed by the players and invited to join in. You will be glad you did!
—Tony Agnesi

“I had no experience working with special needs individuals.” 

Just over three years ago I retired from a long career in accounting and was looking for a way to get some much-needed exercise. That’s when I found pickleball. When I began playing, I made new friends, focused on the strategy, and enjoyed coaching others on how to play the game. It was all about me. Giving back to the community was the furthest thing from my mind.

It was late 2021 when Nancy Bedillion, a retired Wadsworth High School Teacher and founding member of the Wadsworth Pickleball Club, looked for a way that pickleball players could use the game they love to give back to the community. After gaining approval from the Wadsworth YMCA, Nancy first arranged for a local day center to bring a group of developmentally disabled adults (affectionately called our DD friends) to the YMCA to learn pickleball several times a month. Later, she invited a group of Special Olympics tennis players to the YMCA to learn pickleball - all at no charge to these special athletes.

When Nancy began recruiting volunteers to help with this endeavor, she asked me to join her. Using the excuse that I had no experience working with special needs individuals, I initially declined. But soon after, I agreed to help.

Now that we have been doing this for several years, we have seen remarkable improvement for many of the athletes even though their skill levels vary widely. When one of our DD friends has a long dinking volley or hits a good backhand and shows a huge smile to the volunteers, it’s truly priceless. The joy on their faces makes it all worthwhile.

These programs could not continue without a wonderful group of volunteers who love to serve these unique athletes for about an hour several times a month. Initially we started with a handful of volunteers working with about a half dozen special athletes. Currently, between the two groups, we have over twenty volunteers working with about three dozen participants.

If you reside in or near Wadsworth, Ohio and would like to volunteer with us, you too will experience the joy of these enthusiastic athletes who are learning and playing the game that we love.

No experience? No problem - all you need is a little patience and a willingness to love them just like Jesus does. 
—Mike Borowski

A WASP IN THE OUTHOUSE

The proper way to take care of business.

True story. The year, 1966.

I was 12 years-old and it was a hot July afternoon in a small Ohio town called Leavittsburg. Nature was calling and I found myself sitting in our single-hole wooden outhouse no more than 50 feet from the back door of a shack I called home.

Lurking above me on the weathered door header was a red wasp. In the heat of the day it was lounging, rubbing its wings together and stroking its antennae as if to taunt me to move now that I was committed to sit for an undetermined period of time. It was my habit to always do a perimeter search before entering but in the urgency of the moment I neglected my own survival rules. Now it was just the two of us. My eye was on it and its compound eye was on me, it had the strategic advantage of the high ground. Who would move first and how painful would this little encounter be in the moments that lie ahead?

Now I hate wasps—and for good reason. That same summer Addy, my grandpa asked me to get a piece of lumber from his collection of recycled 2 x 4s by the shed. A wasp flew out of that wood pile and landed onto the pad of soft tissue below my right eye. I watched this thing slowly rotate and crouch down and plunge it’s pointed butt, no more than 1 inch from my eyeball. Almost like it instinctively knew it landed in a protected zone. But the outhouse encounter was different. Today I was the intruder. I placed myself in harm’s way out of necessity. I was too young to understand the psychology of the fight or flight response mechanisms, but I knew I had 3 options:

FIRST. Quietly escape without being noticed, making no sudden moves that could be interpreted as an offensive move toward my opponent. Even if it were to lift off and land on any exposed skin, if I didn’t panic and it didn’t smell fear, maybe it wouldn’t sting. In that scenario would I react out of instinct or could I suppress my fear and slowly make my way out into the open yard where I could run like hell?

SECOND. Become invisible and hope that my miniature friend had other places to be and was not planning to camp there for the night. Would it simply leave after it digested enough wood pulp? Did it have un-hatched young to care for in the dry rotted shed behind our house, or worse yet, was my butt covering up the only access to its nest. Just how patient could I be since the door was closed and it was in the high nineties and climbing?

THIRD. Kill it. On that particular day the only apparent weapon available was just a sparsely wrapped roll of toilet paper. Throwing the light cardboard roll would not make enough of an impact to kill it but it could act as a buffer between my hand and this dreadful creature.

That’s when it came to me. . .

Read rest of the story: NuckleNuck website

The third was the only good option. The first 2 options left the wasp alive to face him another day. Like a bully on the playground he needed to be dealt with. I needed a foolproof strategy and I needed it now.

Unfortunately I was not wearing my green Boy Scout belt but I did discover that I had a lethal weapon within arm’s reach this whole time—a flat sole Converse tennis shoe. The kind every kid my age owned.

Discreetly, I removed my left sneaker and waited for just the right time. I stood up in one fluid motion, whacked that wasp but only maiming it so that it fell to the plywood toilet seat and was buzzing, wing-side down, in a frenzied circle, where I ended him.

Then I used the toilet paper tube to nudge its remains, stinger still gyrating, over the side into the smelly abyss.

I pulled up my shorts and swiveled the hook-and-eye latch and opened the door. Instantly my body temperature dropped a few degrees with the incoming breeze.

I stood, in a proud moment, just to take in what had just happened.

I went into the outhouse that day just like every other day with a get in, get done and get out agenda. I emerged with a small down payment of the man I was to become. I was made for this kind of warfare and the outhouse was battleground-proof that I had what it took to confront almost any fear that would come my way.

At least, that’s what I thought. . .
Fast-forward to March, 2025. . .

The Outhouse/Pickleball Connection:

Do you remember your first Pickleball game? 
No matter how athletic you were, you sucked at this game. All your years of recreational Tennis were not much help, in fact you probably had to unlearn some of the tennis, racquetball or even ping pong moves that you may have mastered 20 years ago.

The NVZ kept you away from the net.
Dinking seemed to be meaningless and silly.

The underhand (below the waste) serve, felt playful and elementary in the beginning.

Certainly you could get really good at Pickleball. How hard could this game be?

Then you discovered that the game refused to be mastered. Every time you played, since then, you have discovered new scoring strategies, and nuances of a different spin, or timing of a well-placed dink lob. You learned how to play to the strengths of your teammate. You understood how to read the play and how to anticipate your opponents’ moves.

Pickleball became more complex than you ever imagined.

Pickleball is a sport that humbles you, and if you’re humble enough, it makes you face yourself—your real self.

You think you’re good—really good, especially after a couple of solid mornings at the courts. You show up the next day and you are forced to remember that you’re really not that good after all.

Yesterday you dinked with strategic patience. Today you’re impulsively serving up meatballs to your opponents dominant side with an open invitation for them to smash away at will.

Yesterday your teammate’s left-handed drives were crushing it and you worked together, hand-in-glove. Today it feels like your teammate is working against you by poaching balls in your favorite court position.

Yesterday you were confident. Today you’re a marshmallow. A puddle.

• It is so difficult to face our vulnerabilities.
• We hate to expose our own weaknesses on the court.
• We want to be really good at something, anything. Why can’t it be Pickleball?

Truth is, the wasp is still in the outhouse. 

Vulnerability and weaknesses are everyone’s experience because it is the human experience. Do you see the analogy? I want to master my own life but I’m stuck sitting over a plywood hole facing a red wasp, that for the moment seems to be calling the shots. The only way out is through the very door that I latched when I walked in.

The door is the only thing separating me from the freedom that is just outside. But here I sit, all over again, trying to do the business of life and facing an enemy but this time the enemy is within me.

I am my own worst enemy.

When I play Pickleball my insecurities surface big-time, especially when I am playing poorly. I run through my previously bad hits and pop-ups and wonder if other, better players are judging my ineptness.

Even worse, an ugly pride and overconfidence emerges when I am playing well.
This enemy is real, and it is lurking when I am playing Pickleball and when I am not playing Pickleball.

What can I do about it?
How can I get out of this outhouse and not get stung.
The real question is: How can I get free from me?

I thought I already learned this stuff but today I have the same 3 boyhood options I had 59 years ago:

FIRST OPTION.

Quietly escape without being noticed. I can choose to appear like I have it all together. I can deny having any vulnerabilities, any flaws, any exposure to the threat perched on “my door”. Never allow anyone to see my fear of being exposed as an imposter. Don’t allow anyone to see who I really am on or off the Pickleball court.

My life can be an absolute hot mess and no one has to know. I can come to play Pickleball and put my Facebook Face on and all is well, right?

Or, I could grab a cup of coffee with someone I have come to know through Pickleball and build a lasting friendship.

SECOND OPTION.

Become invisible. Wait it out. Move into a reclusive lifestyle and just not show up to play. I can convince myself I have more important things to do than play Pickleball with real people. I can play it safe and comfortable—I can become invisible by staying home.

Or, I could make the difference in another person’s life by showing up and play. By being with others and caring for people, in a loving Pickleball kind of way.

THIRD OPTION.

Kill it! I could continue down the road of being self-absorbed and self-conscious, constantly comparing myself with other, better players and worse players. But my experience tells me that it does not help. Things only get worse when I turn inward. My original question was how can I get free from me. In other words, how can break away from my ego, not how can I feed my ego.

What I did learn in 1966 is that freedom comes when I have taken care of business in the outhouse. I didn’t give the wasp an opportunity to return. The wasp needed the trip to the “Train Station” to borrow a Yellowstone, John Dutton phrase.

Freedom comes when I am the vulnerable player, the weak player, the bad player, the ugly player and the good player all wrapped up into a Pickleballer without fear of self sabotage and no longer an imposter.

Freedom comes when I am the real deal. But it is difficult journey to get there.

On a personal note: If you are a Baby Boomer like myself, you may have worked away all of your best athletic years. You raised kids, you worked overtime hours to pay for their education. You did family stuff and there was no time for a personal sport of any kind. But now you find yourself retired or nearing the retirement age. Maybe it’s time to play Pickleball for the first time or maybe it’s time to get back on the court if you haven’t played for a while. I invite you out with all of your flaws. Personally, I would love to play with a person like you.

You might just find yourself unlatching the door to a cool breeze when you open your outhouse. Take a good transparent look at the stuff you are made of and you may find that there are people just like you waiting to play with people like you.

—Dan King

Case Study: Is My DUPR Rating Accurate? 

Answer: Maybe

DUPR’s focus is level-based competition. 

The system works when you play with and against players who have pickleball skills that are similar to yours. This is challenging for the Magic City Pickleball Club (MCPC) because we have been submitting all of our open-play matches (everyone plays everyone) to DUPR.Based on my analysis of MCPC DUPR ratings, this has resulted in “inflated” DUPR ratings for some club members (those with DUPR ratings near and above 4.0). 

Here is a snapshot of the MCPC DUPR rating distribution as of February 9, 2025.

Total Members = 291

Members with Reliability Scores of 60 or more = 164 (56%)

Members with Reliability Scores of 100 = 70 (24%)

The good news is that many of our regular players have Reliability Scores above 60. 

The bad news is that since we recorded open play matches (“everyone plays everyone”), we had many matches where players with high DUPR ratings played against players with low DUPR ratings. 

The statistics below show that the average DUPR rating in our club is about 3.5 with 68% of our players falling in the 3.0 – 3.89 DUPR rating range.

My hypothesis is that if your DUPR rating is more than 0.25 higher than the DUPR rating of your Average Opponent, your DUPR rating is artificially "inflated" and not accurate. 

Here are my current DUPR statistics:

Rating (Doubles) = 4.278

Wins = 444

Losses = 204

Avg Points = 58.11%

Avg Partner = 3.39

Avg Opponent = 3.63

Based on my analysis, my DUPR rating is “inflated” because:

  •  The win percentage is >55%.

  • The Average Opponent rating is more than 0.25 lower than my DUPR rating (mine is 0.65 lower)

  • The Average Points percentage is >55%.

Check your DUPR rating against the above criteria. Is your rating “inflated?”

NOTE: you may find that your DUPR rating is BELOW the Average Opponent rating. That’s fine. Your DUPR rating is accurate.

Please note that this is not an issue for the majority of members in the Magic City Pickleball Club. It is an issue for those with higher DUPR ratings (close to 4.0 and above).

What do I mean by “inflated?” It means that your rating does not represent your skill level in the “world at large.” It’s only a reflection of your skill level within your “group.” As an example, my current rating is 4.278. In the DUPR world, I am a 3.9 most days with flashes of 4.0. I am not a “4.278.” I played a Round Robin on January 11 with some 4.4 players from outside MCPC and got scorched! But if I sign up for a DUPR league or tournament, guess which skill level they put me in? (Not 3.9) 

Thus, having an “inflated” DUPR rating is not good.

—Keith Starcher

Read how the Magic City Pickleball Club plans to resolve the inflated DUPR rating issue in their club. Read More

The question for MCPC is, “How do we resolve this with our club’s open-play system?"  That is, “How can we encourage/organize open play so that similarly skilled players compete against each other?”

Here is what MCPC will do beginning this Spring at Tuscora Park.

We will set aside one day per week (either a Monday, Wednesday or Friday) as a “DUPR Day.”  The other two days will be “open play” days with no DUPR matches submitted.

We have 6 courts available at Tuscora Park.  Courts 1 & 2 will remain “open play” courts on “DUPR Day.”  

Courts 3 & 4 may be set up for other DUPR ranges (e.g., 3 – 3.49, 3.5 – 3.89) or they also be “open play” courts (those present can choose). 

In any case, those who play on courts #1 - #4 can decide if they want to submit their matches to DUPR or not by recording or not recording their match scores on the scoring sheets.

Courts 5 & 6 will be for players whose DUPR ratings are at least a 3.9 with a Reliability Score above 60.  This will allow similarly skilled players to compete with each other.  These matches will be submitted to DUPR. 

However, for Players with a DUPR rating of 3.9+, I will not submit any match to DUPR (no matter what court you played on) if there is a DUPR spread of 0.3 or higher among the 4 players even if it is submitted on a scoring sheet.  

By doing this, the 3.9+ player can have fun playing in any match and not worry about “inflating” their DUPR rating.

—Keith Starcher