July 15th, 2024
Last week we went off to the Midwest. We landed on Monday evening and JR asks “do they speak English here?” My kids couldn’t be more confused by all our travels the last six weeks all over the globe. Much to his relief, Michigan people speak English. Now on East Coast time zone did not help our jet lag. Luckily we had an extra day to sleep in. My kiddos did not want to get up in the morning. Nor did I. My body needed some sleep.
Grateful for Midwest friends that we don't get to see that often. There aren’t that many tournaments in that area but excited to be back in Midwest for APP Chicago in August, too.
It has been a very long six weeks of a lot of pickleball and travel. I hadn’t really let it sink in, because I didn’t allow for time to think about it and pushed through, but now I had a minute to breathe and it came rushing at me. Drained. Depleted. Exhausted.
Let me share more insight.
Sometimes, only once I take a minute and let myself reflect, do I realize that I need to take more down time but it’s hard. I feel passionate about pickleball and want to play as much as the schedule allows and then want to be part of all these other projects of growing the game. I want to create opportunities for others. I want to provide opportunities for my family. If I say 'no' now, will I get another opportunity later - who knows? I don’t know. I’m truly blessed and grateful for it all. I’m not challenged by anything that I can’t do, but Thursday afternoon I was called to rest. My great friend, Scott from Athletes in Action told me about some piglets that had just been born two days ago, so this was a great excuse to escape pickleball and “let the kids see the piglets” (even though I really wanted to see them just as much).
By no surprise I found myself sitting in a hammock on a farm in Michigan surrounded by farm animals, talking to Jared Franklin and allowing myself to reflect and breathe and getting nudged by a free-roaming pig, a muddy pig that found my feet and my handbag rather fascinating. It was wonderful. It was exactly what I needed. Fresh air. Nature. Animals. Reminded of the beauties of life.
It was time to make plans to get home. My mom has stepped into the role in our family to help us book our travel. It’s been so much lately with international and domestic travel that Ryler and I have gotten overwhelmed. Mama Fudge comes to the rescue. Quick WhatsApp message and she’s on the laptop in Germany making arrangements for us to finally get back to Florida. Back to our RV.
A lot of people ask us where home is and the answer is: home is where the RV is parked. Before we left for Asia we handed in our RV to SpeedPro for a Franklin project. It’s done and it looks amazing. Pictures and video reveals in August so stay tuned! Finally getting back to the RV was such a feeling of comfort.
Best definition I could find for home fits perfectly for me: Home (noun) - “A place that feels like a tight hug: where time stands still for just a moment, where the noise of the outside world is blocked out and where you can breathe it all out after being tense all day. From the moment you enter the door, you are safe, you are warm, and you are exceptionally loved.”
We came “home” last night. Stepping foot into our RV, wherever it is parked, is home for us. It’s ours. It’s our hug. It’s our place we feel safest and feel most familiar. Our RV can be parked anywhere, but it’s home.
We’ve got 21 days before the next competition so plans are being made for training with my coach, DK. We’ve got a quick trip to Dubai planned to announce something exciting but I’ll share more of that next week.
July 8th, 2024
Hello and goodbye Newport Beach - you didn’t disappoint!
Another week flies by and it was epic. Arriving Monday night into LAX after a great sleep on a 13-hour flight left the family struggling to get sleep that night. Kids were up by 4 a.m. asking for breakfast so we took a nice walk through Newport Beach from our host family’s home and wandered around looking for the beach. After the smoke and smock of China, the ocean breeze and beautiful gardens were such a delight. Tuesday both Ryler and I struggled to find our feet on court. My coach, DK flew in early from Florida to get me back into the zone of training (heavily needed). I had missed training myself and work on my craft while abroad. I love the process of hard work and challenging myself.
Thursday's singles came around fast and my first round was ugly. Courtney played great and has a bit of an unorthodox style so was tough to find my groove. I gritted that one out and made my way through the draw qualifying for Championship Sunday.
Friday's mixed was the event I was most excited about, playing with Jack Munro a.k.a. "Junior Mint." He’s not just a ridiculously talented player, but a joyful and thoughtful human being and I knew we could do some damage together. Quarterfinals were set and I had to play my worst nightmare - my hubby, Ryler. I cannot stand playing against him. Our first year on the Tour together we played together for the full year and it was just really tough. If I had a bad day then I’d take our entire family out from the chance of making money and vise versa. So instead we made the decision last year to separate in pickleball and have two horses in the race. Luckily we haven’t had to compete too often and we had a great match on Friday with entertaining points. To be honest, that ended up being our toughest match of the tournament.
We punched our ticket to Sunday’s gold medal match and Sunday didn’t disappoint. Both Jack and I hadn’t won gold in mixed before but we never talked or thought about it. We played our game and let the ball do the talking. The newly inked Team #MintFudge took home gold!
Saturday was gender doubles day with the one and only Jilly B. She’s originally from Newport Beach and is an amazing teammate. In our semifinals match she ran down an incredible drop shot, making the ball but continuing her path rolled her ankle on the net post (trust me you don’t want to watch the replay). She has a crazy high pain tolerance and with treatment and tape work, we continued to win the semifinal match and were set for the final. Yana and Emily played lights out in the final. Full credit where credit is due. Congratulations to them. We walked away with silver in front of a rowdy crowd and a cool atmosphere. I know Jill and I were disappointed with the silver medal, but the massive field of women in the main and qualifying draw should leave us proud of the silver too, but that’s our competitive spirit. Already watched tape and know what we can do better next time.
Sunday was here and ESPN2 had a great time slot for the finals and we gave them a show! After my mixed doubles win, I had two minutes to change my shirt and warm up for singles against Kate Fahey who had a Cinderella run through the draw thus far. She’s a huge ball striker off both wings, big tennis background from University of Michigan, All-American. I knew it would be tough and wasn’t sure if I had enough in my tank. That’s why I had asked APP to schedule singles after my mixed so that I could leave it all out there without hurting my mixed partner. Match time. Grind time. Game one lasted forever. I snuck out a 22-20 game after saving game points. Game two did not slow down. Hard flat backhands and forehands from Kate had me scrambling left and right trying to keep her from taking over. She got me in game two 15-12. My quad started tightening up at the end of that game - pure fatigue and from lack of training. The trainer was called out to get treatment. After getting treated and taped, it was time to get mind over matter and fight for whatever I could get. It was a tug of war that neither one of us wanted to give in to. Epic back and forth points. Long rallies, banging from the baseline and occasional opportunities at the net. Kate had match point, maybe two (it’s all a blur) that I managed to save. I lost one of my match points. Then finally had a second match point at 18-17. I took a time out. Talked to my coach, DK. I had to change my tactics. Up to this point I was isolating her backhand to have to run less (even though she had a better backhand than forehand) but it was gong to save my leg. Now it was time to do it one last time - run the entire court. DK agreed and out I came from the timeout knowing I will just have this one more shot to finish here. Big serve, forehand, followed by backhand down the line and then followed in hoping for the line pass from Kate and there it was, finished with a short angle volley. Over. Done. We left it all out there. I got this one. Overjoyed and in disbelief I looked around. In shock with everyone else. Right there seeing Ryler celebrate with my team and kids. They play every point with me. WE WON! Gold.
Our match went over the ESPN coverage time but due to the epic battle they stayed with the entire match through it all. Crazy! ESPN 2 showed pickleball and loved it and our sport gained more eyeballs. Couldn’t be more proud of being part of that match and coverage.
After all the celebrations, I got the icing on the cake hearing about the fantastic mixed performance the kids pulled off snagging bronze in the 3.0 adult division. They were giving me some point-by-point recaps as I had missed it all unfortunately. Still tough on me.
Shoutout to our host family, Pat and Jennifer Rolfes. They live walking distance to the courts and were so lovely opening up their home to us and cheering us on from the sidelines.
It’s Monday now, Monday blues is setting in. My recovery day. Adrenaline has worn off. My leg feels bruised. Nothing too serious. Not heading back to home-base/RV just yet (it’s been five weeks). Time to fly to Grand Rapids, Michigan first for team event.
If you read this entire blog post then you showed as much stamina as I did in my singles final! 😂 Thanks for reading and don’t forget to follow my instagram account for more frequent updates.
July 1st, 2024
These last few days were jam packed with on-court workshops, training between Ryler and I (and some top Asian talent) and meetings and sightseeing. Every minute of every day was filled with excitement.
Guangzhou was our next stop after Beijing - it's known to many as the paddle factory hot spot. I want to clarify - this is not where Franklin makes their paddles but it's where 50% of paddles sold in the US market are made. We got a behind-the-scenes tour of every step of the process and it was fascinating! Lots of paddles I've played against and lots of new paddles coming to the market soon with interesting technology behind it. I asked the manager of the factory how they found their way into paddle production as he does not play pickleball and he's said they specialized in working with carbon, making parts for Tesla, and it was an easy task with amazing margins to switch to pickleball. Now he loves the market and is expanding his own brand for the US market to launch soon (while still producing paddles for the other big name companies, too).
The players we worked with in Guangzhou were the highest level we saw in China. Various players from Hong Kong, Macau and Tapai flew in to join and we invited the top two players from previous workshops to join too. We worked them hard in tough conditions (much hotter in the south of China and very high humidity). As we explained to them, India and Australia are ahead of China right now. It's not for the lack of talent though, but they need time on court and dedicated practices and drill time. They all saw that as great motivation to catch up and take over the Asian pickleball world.
Two hour drive we got to Zhuhai - our final stop on our month long journey through Asia. It's a coast city with huge high rises and pretty beaches. Close to Macau and Hongkong. Workshop was great - with 16 new players and some top players followed our journey to get more time with us, too. We left them all with a lot of information and highly motivated to take pickleball China to the next level.
Byron and Marsha worked with young and excited pickleball enthusiasts on their referee training and they got hands-on practice of refereeing courts during each shuffle tournament. They were great. And as I emphasized at every stop: we need great referees for the big plans ahead so that we can have smooth matches and well-run tournaments. So thank you to the dynamic duo of Marsha and Byron for their dedication and commitment to growing pickleball worldwide. Loved sharing this trip with you both.
Last night we had a quick live discussion table on Instagram, sharing our China recap and answered questions people had sent me online - make sure you catch the reel online. Lots of insight provided from a most memorable experience: are there public pickleball courts in China and where we think the Chinese market is heading and the big question - India vs China who's got the upper hand😁
For us as a family this was a trip of a lifetime. People we met. Things we got to do, see, eat was just amazing. It challenged us at times to step out our comfort zone and learn to appreciate all that we have and all that we get to do. We want to thank Pickleball United and Pickleball World Rankings as well as Yuki and Yui from Full Send Pickleball for this experience, and Nicole, Yuki's daughter, who befriended our kids and watched over them. It truly takes a team to make the dream work.
We are on our flight back to American soil now, eager to share our experiences, and making plans for our next trips ahead. But first full focus on The Owl APP Newport Beach Open where the whole family will be back in action competing.
June 23rd, 2024
Beijing came and went. I can't tell you what day it is, I don't know how long we've been traveling for and it's hard to even tell time - everything keeps flying by so fast!
Beijing used to be called Peking, so you can only imagine how much Peking duck we had and it was delicious. We visited a big badminton club that now offers pickleball on their courts. Their members are fighting for more room for pickleball (sound familiar?). We hosted a team format event with Ryler and my team battling with 12 teammates each. We've added the power play component we learned in India which allows you to trade in your top player for any three consecutive points. Adds a really fun component. We had a lot of new faces on court but also four familiar faces that traveled four hours to come see and play with us again. Byron and Masha were working hard training referees as well to get ready for their China collegiate tour stop in Beijing. Everyone is eager to learn more.
One of the days we met with a huge sports technology and media company who are very interested in getting involved in pickleball and join forces. Keep your eyes and ears open for the China Open this October! This is going to be a game-changing move for the Asian market.
We visited our first Chinese mall and it was nothing short of amazing. Everything is so advanced and so pretty. The cars on display are like Teslas but taken up five notches. Kids rode on robots and had a blast.
Yesterday was, however, surreal and a memory that will last a lifetime. Hard to describe the feeling when you visit one of the seven world wonders. I just found myself in awe of the Great Wall (of China): 13,000 miles long, over 2,300 years old. And we took a bus and a gondola and climbed to reach it. Standing on this significant piece of Chinese history, we got our paddles out and started hitting with some pickleball Franklin X40 The official ball of the Great Wall of China 😂 What else would we do - pickleball at the Great Wall! Make sure you check out the amazing video our group took. It literally looks like we had the Great Wall to ourselves. Which we did as we were very late back to the Gondola and the sweep team was already urging us to get moving back. JR is an eager hiker and adventurer so Ryler and I left our group and we took him up further along on the Great Wall all the way to Hero's Slope. I'd estimate 2,000 steps equivalent of 20 minutes of Stair Master were part of our climb. Worth it. Beautiful view of the hillside and more site of the magnificent Great Wall (that you can also see from space).
We got one more Peking duck dinner last night before bed and an early start to the airport. We say goodbye to Beijing, memories cemented in our brains forever and off to the next city.
June 20th, 2024
Time truly flies when you are having fun! Our Dalian part of the trip has ended and we are currently on a train to Beijing. We are embracing trains, planes and automobiles.
We finished the last three days with a two-day camp in Dalian and a training day for Ryler and me. In our camp we had 16 players who had applied to be part of our training and they worked hard! There were many different backgrounds and experience levels but a joint passion and desire to get better. We ended the camp in APP fashion with a Shuffle draft. Lots of exciting matches later, our Chinese Shuffle king was announced - Deo! Came down to a dream breaker between Deo and Dominic - a local college student studying English translation (came in very handy throughout the camp). Both players wanted the dream breaker to be singles so the battle was on with our head ref Byron making sure it’s all fair and square.
On our day off our amazing hosts had planned a boat trip and various adventures, but I had to request a slight change in plan as I wanted a full day of training for just Ryler and I. I would have loved to enjoy more site seeing but in life there are always trade offs and for me, it’s still a big priority to be a professional athlete and to be ready for the Owl APP Newport Beach Open on July 4th and that means making sacrifices. Our amazing hosts, Yui and Yuki took our kids with them and Ryler and I went to work. 🦾🦾
Having grown up in Germany I’m very familiar with traveling by train as I did it all through Europe playing tennis but for my kids this is their first train ride. I love that we get to see the Chinese countryside - Ryler is making the most of nap time. The train really feels like a plane ride as it’s very clean and spacious.
Beijing is apparently leading the way for pickleball in China so I’m excited to see the level here. There’s one player called Nelson that we know from the Indian Open who’s very good so we are excited to put him through the wringer and getting some time to train with him, too.
June 17th, 2024
Hello from China! More specifically from Dalian, which is a beach city.
The architecture and landscape is beautiful. The culture is definitely very different. People are a lot more reserved and private and a little more shy to speak English. We had a lovely warm welcome by Yui & Yuki and their team at Pickleball World Rankings. We watched the China Collegiate Tour compete all yesterday with eight teams of six players working on growing the game at the college level. We had a lunch special get delivered by a robot to the hotel room - yes, a robot dropped off delicious dumplings. 🥟
On day two we've worked with 16 of the best players in the area who are players but also coaches, to improve their skills, knowledge, and give them drills to share once they return home. Six hours on court today, three more hours with us tomorrow and then they finish their time with us with a little tournament. Byron and Marsha Freso have also now arrived to join the mission. Always love having our APP family along side us.
The potential is here. A lot of players have a racquet background. Right now, pickleball still needs validity of a sport and that's where we come into play. We had a lot of media coverage here while coaching and playing exhibitions.
We had to take some time away from the courts yesterday to focus on the kids’ schoolwork. We got a reminder from their teachers that work was due, so focus had to shift. Yes, we homeschool the kids but they have teachers through Florida Virtual School who we submit their work to and who jump on Zoom calls with them when help is needed. Shoutout to our wonderful teachers who have adapted to our crazy schedules and time changes.
Ryler has taken on the full challenge of embracing the food now here as well and went for the octopus at dinner yesterday. Follow along on my social media for more videos and story updates.
June 14th, 2024
I seriously cannot believe we’ve been in India for a week now. The week has flown by - truly time flies when you are having fun!
The team event weekend in Ahmedabad, Gujarat was loaded with excitement. We had 12 teams and 13 players per team of various levels. Team owners had to draft from seven different pools of players such as only one male pro, one female pro, two advanced, one senior, one junior, two intermediate players, etc. so teams were composed of many different levels and players, including pro players, who could only play one of the matches per dual encounter. My team owner put me in women’s doubles to secure the highest point differential for our team. The rest of the team balled out! We had so many close matches. A bonus element was “paddle play” where a team can put a top player into any match for two points as long as we are serving. It really added to the excitement, especially in rally scoring when momentum shifts are crucial.
Due to the heat we started both mornings at 7 a.m. but it’s 7 a.m. IST - IST stands for “Indian stretchable time” 🤣 they never ever start on time. Ryler and I got to the courts at 6:30 a.m. to warm up before “7 a.m. start time.” We literally did not start a match before 8 a.m. So never complain again when your bracket at an APP event starts delayed! Due to the intense heat we played all morning until about 1 p.m. and then took a heat / lunch break and resumed play at 6 p.m. well into the night, finishing Saturday past midnight. The jetlag was hitting us pretty hard but luckily the adrenaline and excitement of the matches were carrying us through.
We finished the round robin with a tight #2 spot and advanced with the top four teams that included Ryler’s team, too. In the format, we played #1 Olives to secure a spot in the final while the loser had to play the winner of the #3 and #4 battle to come back to the top. My team rose to the occasion - everyone played another level and the team chemistry secured us the spot into the final which also meant we finally got to rest for an hour while the other teams battled in the heat more.
Special guest of the match was another animal encounter after the raccoons in New York, Ahmedabad upped the stacks and presented us monkeys!
At 8 p.m. our opponents were set with Team Olive coming to revenge their earlier loss to us. This time they changed their line up, putting their top pro in against our top guy in mixed. I was fired up to take them down again and our team felt confident but hello rain! 🌧️ Monsoon season arrived! We tried to wait it out but at 10 p.m. we had to call it and get Co Champ title with a big celebration! 🥳
FansPlay was going all weekend as well, which is a fantasy team streaming throughout the event with a huge leaderboard and current updates on fantasy teams and individual players stats for points. The winner of the FansPlay team walked away with $500 picking the top scoring players within their token budget. I love this app as it gets fans involved all over the world, creating engagement and excitement and more exposure for players at all levels as you have to pick at minimum four players but only have 100 tokens and top levels players are worth 40 tokens. FansPlay is growing worldwide into more racquet sports so keep your eyes out for events coming to the U.S. soon.
The team event was over and we finally got some much-needed sleep and r&r at our beautiful hotel on Monday. We had a delicious Indian breakfast along with time at the pool and gym. In the evening we went out to Dinkers Academy, which is a Franklin-affiliated pickelball academy. They’ve got some highly talented juniors, some came over for the U.S. Open this year and racked up medals. We had a total of three workshops with them over the course of two days and I am excited to follow their journey. They're highly-motivated, eager to learn and ready to take on the world of pickleball.
Monday night we got invited by a local family into their home. The mother was on my team this weekend and her son became a great little friend to JR all weekend playing pickleball on any free court they could find. Ryler and I were a little hesitant to accept the invitation as we’ve been on strict foot and water restrictions to avoid getting sick, but when else would we get an opportunity like this for our family to get authentic Gujarati food and spend time with such a sweet family so we agreed on dinner. Shruti’s family lives together with her brother in law's family in one home along with their grandmother. That’s a very common thing in India and the families all help each other. They’ve come to America a lot and we shared many funny stories and comparisons. The food was amazing - the spices with the sweetness and the textures - we were fully immersed into Indian culture including teaching us the correct way to eat with your fingers (yes there’s serious thumb technique involved).
The city and the people of Ahmedabad were incredible but Wednesday came and it was time to fly to Mumbai. We had come to Mumbai in February for the APP-affiliated Indian Open so we had a little idea what we were expecting. Most of the top Indian players including Arman and Harsh who got fifth at this year’s U.S. Open and various other elite players train in Mumbai. For the past three days we’ve trained with them in crazy humid conditions. Ryler has had a constant puddle around him and his shoes are leaking water every step he takes. We’ve been attempting to dry our shoes in the sun between practices but the humidity is so high they won’t dry so we’ve had to resort to a hotel hair dryer.
In the evenings, Pickleball United (the organization that brought us on this trip) has set up clinics for us at different clubs. They are filling so fast and courts are limited. For example, last night the clinic got posted at 9 a.m. online for a two-court clinic and by noon 55 people had signed up, yes 55! So we adapted and offered a lecture and everyone had a blast. The Indian pickleball community is growing by the day and is so excited about this sport. Mumbai now has over 250 courts in the city, leading the way of India but more are getting built weekly.
Along with training ourselves on court and in the gym, coaching workshops, we also worked on podcasts and had dinner with the CEO of Spotify India because guess what - he LOVES pickleball!
On our adventure here in India, we are meeting so many pioneers of the sport that are building and growing pickleball all over the country for the love of the game and we love the fact that Franklin is helping them do it. One of the many reasons we joined the Franklin family.
We have our last day in India today. That means laundry (thank you for incredible hotel service at the Taj), training, podcast, interviews, workshop and one more delicious Indian dinner and then we are off to our next stop: China!
June 8th, 2024
Day 1 of competition is under way here at the Gujarat Premier Pickleball League. Twelve teams, 13 players per team from all levels including amateurs, seniors and juniors. All matches are worth the same amount to your team - truly embracing the inclusivity of our sport. Each player can only play in one of the events per dual match. So I’ve been playing designated women’s doubles trying to get my team the win on the board. They also have a special Paddle Power Play which allows a team to sub a top player in for two points. It’s kinda wild but adds to the fun and hype!
Temperatures are high but I think the jet lag has been affecting me the most thus far. We started early to beat the heat at 7 a.m. and then took a lunch break at the hottest part of the day. Back out for five more matches now as from 5 p.m. and will be playing late into the night.
Lots of media out here covering the event and wanting interviews. The hospitality has been something that stands out throughout - people welcoming us, offering us help, translating, playing with the kids. JR and Lily have already made a bunch of friends even when the only language they have in common is pickleball.
Matches are heating up. Ryler’s team and my team, FansPlay, had to play each other unfortunately which came out 3-3 but they won by point differential (so lucky 😆). Probably better for our marriage.
Indian players are very passionate and in these team events it truly shines!
June 7th, 2024
Long day of travel yesterday, with a 14-hour flight from Orlando to Dubai and then a short layover before the three-hour flight to Ahmedabad. Had a driver pick us up and take us to the hotel. Instant heat wave stepping foot outside of the airport - and this was 4 a.m.! The heat is another level here. Traveling by car in India is always an adventure no matter the time of day. The amount of honking is just another level along with the lack of any traffic rules, leads to a thrilling ride. But at least the trunk of the car had enough space this time for our bags and they weren’t stored on top of the car 🚗.
Once checked into the lovely hotel, we got the kids convinced it’s time to sleep even though at home it was only 8 p.m.
I got up for last-minute breakfast and met with a player and organizer for my team. Breakfast was AMAZING! The spread of all the different flavors and smells and colors - tomorrow I’ll take pictures - today I was too tired and too hungry. Ryler and the kids stayed asleep. I will get everyone up in a few hours, hit the gym for a sweat and then maybe the pool for the kids. We’ve got team practice tonight at two of the sites. Excited to meet our teams and train to get ready for first day of competition tomorrow!
June 5th, 2024
June 4th, 2024
The DeHeart - Fudge family is heading to Asia! Ahhh, I’m thrilled to blog about our trip and our experiences as we take pickleball internationally. I will blogging weekly on the APP site but make sure to follow along my socials for more frequent updates.
We are less than 24 hours out from leaving the states and preparations are in full force. Since leaving the northeast on Saturday morning and starting our very long drive back to Florida, we had a lot of moving parts to take care of: Dogs have been picked up by a great friend who will be cuddling with Max and Lexi for the next month for us. School teachers have been informed about our travels and this week's school work completed. Our friend, Scott, flew from Ohio to DC, and is now en route to Orlando with our passports and visas for China as we couldn’t do it ourselves due to drive and exhibition in Thomasville Monday night. We are loaded up with Franklin gear and paddles for our trip thanks to our HQ visit last Friday. And on Duolingo I’ve started my Hindi lessons with very little success and a lot of confusion. Lastly, we have an appointment to drop off our RV tomorrow before the airport to go through a Franklin transformation while we are gone. Lots to be excited about, prayers appreciated for smooth travels and stay tuned for lots of updates and pictures to come!
