Trevor Blackann

Thank you for tuning in. I'm Greg. I'm Mike. And we are the Pickleballers Next Door. We are for the Joes and not the pros. Your court, our court. Thanks for tuning in to Pickleballers Next Door. How you doing? I'm great. How are you? I'm good. Good. So how was your week, Mike? Because I had to go to, I didn't have to go to Palm Springs. I got, oh, I know, big deal. Uh, no, I went to Palm Springs to play some pickleball. Happened to coincide with the masters. Yeah, exactly. I'm jealous. I happen to have some family stuff that came up and we couldn't go together, but, uh, you still went and which is awesome. So, uh, I get to live curiously through you. Heck yeah. So let's, uh, let's go on your adventure here. Let's do it. Let's talk about the night, like just getting there. Like I was really worried about you and you're a smart guy. So I was, I was excited. I mean, sometimes I'm smart. Sometimes I do real stupid things, but so I left on Tuesday. God, what was it? I don't even know what the date was, but I left on Tuesday at midnight and we got a big storm. We had, so that was the, yeah, that was the, the day we had the big storm. Um, I woke up and there was snow all over the ground. There was snow all over my car. I was like, oh man, this is not going to be a good drive. And then, um, all the way up to Idaho Springs, which is, I don't know what, like 45 minutes up the mountain heading towards the ski areas. There was snow, it was snowing. And then after that, all the way out, clear sailing, dry nice roads. It was so nice. I was happy for you because we got a pretty good storm. Yeah. So I drove midnight. I left at midnight. I went to Vegas. Um, I got to Vegas about 11 o'clock in the morning. I stayed there. Yeah. Yeah. This is, this is some of your punishment because this is why you don't get to play. Cause you didn't take me. Yeah, no, seriously. So I was putting the kibosh on you a little bit. So I tried, I tried to, um, to get, uh, a really inexpensive room in Vegas. However, I tried to do, um, a hostel, but so don't do a, you know what? I'll do a hostel, but I will never ever do a hostel in Vegas again because hostel, I feel like equals homeless there. It was just crazy. When I walked in to the common area to wait to check in, there's three stoves side by side. There's three people cooking and they're frying up spam and hot dogs and the place stunk to high hell. And I was like, hell no. I don't know if I can do this cause now I got to sleep in bunk beds with these people that are eating this stuff and it's going to be rough. It's going to be a rough night. Yeah. So I ended up getting a hotel and I stayed there, which was a whole different story in its own. I swear to God, there was a nightclub, like two stories above me. I could hear everything on Fremont street. It was, I was jealous. I didn't, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. So I wanted to have a good time, but not without me. So I went to try and play pickleball that night. I went to sunset park and may, you know, there was a little bit of wind, maybe about 40 miles an hour sustained. Uh, it was quite breezy. Yeah. You threw the ball up and it went over my head. Um, yeah, so that was, um, kind of, yeah, whatever it was. It is what it is. I went back to the hotel, slept and then I left the next day and I went to Palm Springs. No gambling, no gambling, smart man. No gambling. I just wasn't feeling it, you know? So now you're heading to Palm Springs, Palm Springs. That was a quick drive. Um, I kind of went a back road. That's what you were telling me. So they cut off like an hour or something. Yeah, it was really nice. It was a two lane road. Um, uh, there's some road signs that I've never seen before. Those are the ones that, those are the movies that you watch. Yeah. It said, watch for tortoises. I'm like, Oh, interesting. So I just can't imagine hitting a hundred year old tortoise and what the damage it would do to your car. Yeah. Yeah. But anyways, you could have some tortoise soup. Yeah. Anyway. Yeah, that's awesome. So you got through, you made it through the back forest or whatever it was, the back desert. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, it's made it to Palm Springs. Um, yeah. Got checked into my hotel. I went and played pickleball there. There you go. A place called the mooth park. Okay. Court was, there was 12 courts. They were courts. Are these inside? No, they're outdoors, um, in a park. They, um, they can use some help. They need, they honestly, they need to be redone. Do you think it's the weather there? So hot? No, no. So I'll have to bring up a picture and show you. So where you stand for the kitchen at the kitchen line and where you stand behind the baseline, the paint is completely worn out. Yeah. Like you can see the cement. Wow. Yeah. On every single court. And if you're a new player, that's like a really important place because you need to be there before the ball. If the ball bounces, you need to know that you can go in. If that's gone, you know, I guess you don't know when to step in or out. There was, so yeah, it was tough to tell where there was a, there was a lot of wear and tear on those courts. Probably, you know, a lot of different factors, the sun, the heat, it was cold when I was there, the wind, the sand blasting probably of the courts. Um, but had a little bit of fun. It was a good players. When I was there, they were okay players. I think the good players came later that evening, but I went back and it ended up being, um, it ended up being a league. So I didn't play. And so I ended up going to an indoor place called the pickled bar. Hey, you were telling me a little bit about this. Yeah. It was four courts inside. Um, it was good for what it was. Yeah. Um, it was the only indoor courts that I could find in Palm Springs. So that's that. Cause the weather's good all the time there. Summer, it gets like a hundred million degrees. So indoor places would do very well there. I think. Um, and the, and it's a desert. So like it gets cold in the winter. Yeah. It gets hot in the summer. Isn't it known for pretty much golf and golf and then tennis was pretty big there too. Yeah. Indian Wells has a huge tennis complex. Um, but pickleball is now a huge thing out there. There's a lot of courts. Um, cause you know, obviously the masters was there and they're at mission Hills country club. Um, so I went and played it, but anyways, I went and played at this indoor place. Um, and I, I was actually playing with a guy who lives 10 minutes from me here in Colorado and his son actually lives even closer to me, which is insane that I'm 1500 miles away and boom, there's someone. Well, it surprised me, but it doesn't, we went to, you know, the pickler, the pickle con. Yeah. And I felt like I was with a movie star. So I, it doesn't quite surprise me that you didn't go here. And, but isn't that crazy how, how big this pickleball is getting into your, I mean, your neighbor is at the same place. Yeah. It's crazy in Palm Springs, so I played there and people were asking me if I was playing in the tournament because they were getting a lot of people playing in that tournament, just practicing and warming up there and told them, no, I don't have a partner. And one of the guys I was playing in this open play with goes, don't leave yet. We need to talk. Um, and we'll have him on in a little bit. Um, but we ended up talking, his partner for that weekend is an LA County firefighter. And if you're watching the news or you're not watching the news, you got to know about the fires happening in Southern California right now. It's pretty insane. Wow. I think they have, as of this morning, one of them was 33% contained. The other one was 17% contained. Yeah. So there's still a lot of work to be done, but, um, yeah, the last number was 7,000 homes and it's went up since then. Yeah. 24 people dead. I mean, it's, it's, it's not good. It's serious. We're, we're looking at doing something, but we'll talk more about that. So, um, he asked me to play with him in the masters and, um, I did, I ended up playing with them in the masters. It was great. How'd you do? Uh, we won our first round. We lost this to the second team, second round. And we, then we obviously lost in the losers bracket. So, I mean, we played three rounds. It's a big tournament though. It was 1200 people and participants. Um, but we didn't expect to do anything because we really haven't played together. Yeah. That's tough. When you play with something new, somebody new, it's tough. You don't know. You haven't learned each other's flaws are good or back forward, whatever. Right. How was the weather where you played? When we played, so the tournament was all outdoors. When we played the wind actually had died down, which was nice. Um, it picked up at the very end. Well, our, on our, on our, at our very end, our last round, it picked up a little bit. It wasn't too bad. Um, but for the most part, it was fun. It was a lot of fun. It was fun to see all the different people I love. I'm a people watcher. I'm a, you know, I love watching the people. Um, it was fun watching some of the pros. Uh, but so Trevor's is the guy I played with. He was my partner and his son plays in the juniors. Oh, wow. Isn't that crazy where this is going? It is. I mean, PPA has had the juniors, but I started watching some of them and Holy moly. Holy moly. So his son played in the men's division four. Oh, because in the juniors, they all play each other. They don't, they don't have different levels in juniors. In the juniors. He didn't want to have to play the teams that were five. Oh, that's insane, man. I can't even imagine. I mean, it's us. It's like us playing a five or six. Oh, front when we're, when we're going to play, you know, regular people, cause he's, you know, I mean, I can't imagine their agility and how fast they can move. It's unreal. And they're, they're right there. I mean, they're a little shorter. So that ball is always rising there. We're breathable 12, 12 to 17 year olds, 12 to 16 year olds. Something like that. It's insane. I've had that experience at a club. And so I played with the one up here in, uh, in Colorado and it was amazing how well these 15 year olds were. Yeah. So when we come back, uh, we'll have Trevor on and we'll talk with him. Sounds good. Wanted to give a shout out to alpha Omega paddle company based out of Nebraska, making great paddles, low cost. If you're looking for good paddle, that's not going to break the wallet. Alpha Omega pickleball.com. All right. We have Trevor Blakon with us. Um, I met him in Palm Springs and we ended up playing at the masters, but, um, Trevor, why don't you give us a little bit of a background on your version of how we met and give me a little dirt on, uh, on, on, uh, Greg here. Uh, it was a cold, dark bar. Oh, it was actually, it was a dank, dark indoor pickleball spot. Actually, that's true. I was out there, um, to play in the masters and just literally online found this indoor pickleball place. I think Greg, you did the same thing. Only I wasn't there to play at the masters only there. You weren't there to play at the masters. So yeah, we played and how did it go? Like you were getting ready to, you were getting ready to leave or something and we were still playing and I don't know. So I heard you were still going to be around. I was getting ready to leave for the night. Um, and I met a guy who lives like 10 minutes from my house in Colorado and we started to chop it up. And what I remember is him asking, are you playing in the masters? And I said, no, I don't have a partner. And that's right. And midpoint you're like, don't leave. You're too out. Your eyes connected. And that's where it all starts. Right. You're right. We, you were sitting, I was playing and yeah. And I was like, eh, don't leave yet. Yeah. So my, what had happened was my partner that I was scheduled to play with as an LA firefighter. Um, that was the peak of the, gosh, they're still going. The peak of the LA fires. Yeah. That catastrophe that's happening there. Wow. Exactly. So he wasn't able to play and I was like, and I was like, ah, well, nothing I can do now. Then I heard you and you're like, well, I'm still going to be here. I don't have a part. Oh, Hey, hang on. So yeah. So we played, we didn't even know if, uh, if they were technically going to let it, let you into the tournament, but the tournament directors were cool. I mean, I don't see how you could deny that. Yeah. You know, that's just crazy. How do you say no to that? Like, Hey, this guy's an LA firefighter and the biggest fires in our nation nation's history. You two never played ever, but you never knew each other before this. No, we played one time on the court at the pickle, the bar we played. Yeah. We played. That's funny that I said it was a cold, dark bar. It really was. It was called the bar. Yeah. That's funny. So, yeah. So we, uh, had our one game, you know, that's all we needed. And then we played, we showed up and played at the master. Yeah. And we, um, we played our first round. We went, it was best two of three. We went all three. We beat them. Um, and then we went to the second round, best two of three. I think we got throttled. We got demolished and this is outside. Yes. Outside. I'm just going to say we lost. I mean, I'm not going to tell anybody the whole story. Okay. Yeah. We got beat. We got beat. I'm just honest. Somehow we found our way into the, uh, the backdraw, the, uh, consolation bracket. Thank you. See, I got you. I got you. That's funny. Backdraw not losers bracket, right? Backdraw consolation bracket, never a loser. Um, or challenger's bracket. You could even call it, but then we, we, um, ended up losing that one, uh, 15 to eight or 15 to seven, something like that. We didn't do too horribly. I mean, we did okay for not knowing, first off, not knowing each other and never playing really together. I that's right. And we went into it saying like, this is just for fun. There was basically wind and weather. There was wind. It wasn't that bad that day. It picked up towards the end. Um, but basically you didn't lose your money is what the purpose of that was. I think that's exactly right. I got to get in a few games and it was fun. It was fun. And that tournament is the best tournament. Everybody's all the pros are there wearing white. Everything's cool. Like it's a big event. It's, it was super fun. Yeah. And I, um, was wearing all pink. Everyone there was wearing all white. You were wearing all pink. Well, that is true to be fair. I wasn't prepared to play. Was that, was there a dress code? You know, only the pros wear white. I thought you were a pro. Yeah. I mean, I, so I faked it. Greg was straight up on us. He's like, look, I'm not a pro. I'm rocking pink. I'm wearing all pink. All pink. Yeah. And there was a little mishap on the court. You want to tell him about that, Trevor? You're more than welcome to give me some of this dirt. This is, uh, I would love to say that they were making fun of him because of his pink, but Greg blasted a ball. I think it was an overhead, but he hit a ball that was, did you guys see that when, when Ben Johns tried to hit Kwon Dong where the ball, where he just blasted it straight into the backstop, like what had gone about a hundred yards, Pat that's kind of what Greg did, except he wasn't trying to hit anybody. And I missed that ball for sure. So, so he blasted a ball, missed it. And then I blasted a curse word and yeah, dropped an F bomb that the, the official didn't, didn't appreciate as much as we did. And we actually had a ref that time. So it kind of, well, my mistake, we had a ref. So Greg did get a technical warning. I got a warning. Luckily, no points were taken away because I mean, it didn't really matter. Anyways, we were losing that one. Oh, you know what made it worse, Mike? So we got that technical warning from the referee in one of the earlier games, then that same referee came back and did our last game. And I was like, Oh no, does this warning carry over? And I, I even think I said something else a little bit lower under my breath and she didn't catch it. And I was like, Oh my God, I need to stop. We're going to get screwed. Well, I was just like, Hey, Hey, uh, I'm like, I'm preparing in my mind, the argument, like, Hey, you can't just cause you know, he cussed last game. Doesn't mean you get to use that against him this way. That's too funny. That's too funny. What's the odds of that? It's that large of a tournament. Yeah, it was exactly. We ended up with that same exact official. But yeah, that was, that was so much fun. And I really appreciate you saying, Hey, come play with me, man. I don't have a partner. My partner can't make it because of certain things. And well, isn't, isn't that what's cool with this game? You guys didn't, I mean, you're connected eyes. I get that part and you're at some dirty bar. Trevor's a good looking man. Trevor's a good look. Right. And here you guys can have any bar, the dirty bar, dirty pickleball bar. You guys connect. That's what's neat with this. This whole pickleball is how we, uh, how we connect to people, you know, any, no, any all over the world. Yeah. And it really is cool. It really is cool. I was there mostly to support my son. Who's 13. And I was just going to bring that up. Yeah. I was just going to bring that up. Why don't you tell us a little bit about him? He's living the dream, that kid. I mean, the pickleball community loves supporting kids, which is really cool. Super cool. Um, so he's, you know, he's on team, team Franklin and, um, got a clothing sponsor, a local clothing sponsor, and a couple other guys picking them up. So help and support him. He's 13. He plays four. Oh, um, hold on. Still kind of living the dream thinking he's going to make it. Who knows? Can you beat him? All right. Be honest. Be honest. I think, I think I know bad stuff. He straight up beat me at singles now. I played, yeah, I played four Oh, uh, singles. I don't, I'll just tell him myself fully, Greg. I played four Oh 50 plus singles. Um, so not even as good. And yeah, he, I think the last it's, it's, it's really a sore subject right now. Cause I think the last two times we played, he beat me straight up there. So I could pretend I was hurt. Yeah. Pretend I was hurt or not trying or something, but they can't get around the court so fast. So I have, I have a little bit of a hamstring issue, so sorry. I can't play full on. I'm always like, look, and that's, that's the dad move. I mean, I'm going to fake something or like, Hey, Hey, by the way, you're walking home. Right. Got the knee brace on. Yeah. Beat me. That's right. Don't gloat. He, yeah, he is straight up beating me now, but, uh, yeah, that like you originally said, the cool part is you can do that. Um, he started playing before I did and I was like, just wanted to be in it with, you know, whatever I could do with my kid. But what, imagine what he's going to be. I mean, I didn't start this about three years ago. And, uh, what is he going to be a 10? Oh, I mean, 10 plus, I mean, I mean, what, I mean, I used to look up to the five O's and five O's kind of starting to be an intermediate, you know, Mike, I'm going to tell you when they were playing him and his, his son and his partner were playing, uh, they were playing in juniors, right? Well, they didn't play juniors, men, uh, doubles, right. They played in the men's junior singles. My son played junior singles and I think they played four open in, in doubles. Yeah. But they didn't play in the juniors and why? Oh yeah, you're exactly right. They didn't play in juniors doubles because well, they're 13 and the division is 13 to 16. Well, half the 13 to 16 year old kids are five O's like a lot. That is the crazy thing. There were, there were probably five or six kids that played in the junior division at PPA that also played in the pro qualifier. That's that's, isn't that insane? Those are the kids that are playing in the pro qualifier and then they roll out juniors like, Oh, that's good luck kids. That's nuts. I mean like that's what's going to happen in the next five years. It's going to be nuts. Yeah. Yeah. They're going to need like a junior amateur division and a junior really good. I don't know. I don't know how they're going to handle it, but the junior division is becoming like, I think it was created to try and bring kids into the game. I believe it is. And that's where I think a lot of the stars are going to come from the future stars. Well, see what's perfect about this. You got to think about this though. You can be the coach, right? That's right. Right now. I just feel like the sponsor. Yeah. That makes sense. But pretty soon it'll be the other way around. Um, can you, why don't you give us your son's Instagram if you're okay with doing that and so people can follow them and you know, check, keep an eye on them. Yeah. He does have an Instagram account. Obviously that's what the sponsors want him to do. So he would love it. If anyone would pick up and follow him, we will follow it is ATP. Luke is his name. I think I'm already following them. You are. It is. It is ATP. Luke around the pole. Luke. In hindsight, maybe that wasn't the best name for me to name my child on Instagram, but you know, I mean, my goal in life as a dad was to keep my daughter off the pole. And now I know I fully get that. And now I named my son around the pole. So I don't know if I'm doing that right, but no, I ATP Luke. I think you're good. All right. We'll definitely give a shout out to him and, uh, love to be able to probably put him on the show here and talk to him. Yeah. We'd love to get them at some point. Oh, that would, he would love that. Yeah. He would love that. Um, maybe next time we're out in Cali, we'll, we'll hit you up. We'll play and then we'll get some podcasts going. Yeah. He could make us look stupid and old men running around the court and then he can gloat on the podcast. I forgot to tell you about my injury that day, but, but yeah. Yeah. I mean, that sounds like a good idea. Well, Trevor, I really appreciate you being on with us, man. Um, I really appreciate you having me play with you. It was, it was so much fun and I feel like I have a friend now. And if I, if I go to any of those, uh, dirty bars that have pickleball, I'll probably get to meet you. Yes, that's right. And I want to roll out actually, because I don't know if Mike, I guess you do know this. Um, I actually used to have a house in, in Thornton. We used to live in Thornton and Broomfield. Um, I actually got to come check out that new, is it a, is it a pick? What is it? The Pickler actually sitting in the Pickler right now. We're doing the, yeah. You're in the Pickler now. Yes, sir. And it's not a cold dank pickle bar. No, it's actually, it's a big, bright, loud, loud, no tennis pickleball looking. It is a really nice place. It is awesome. So, Hey, I want to do a shout out to, to your firefighter too. You know, let them know that we, uh, we do care. And if there's anything that we can do as a podcast or pickleballers, we would love to do it. That's so rad. I appreciate it. Yeah. He was actually Greg. He was stoked that somebody got to play. Um, nice. Like, you know, he, he obviously felt bad about leaving me behind me. I don't care. I don't have aspirations to go play pro pickleball. Like my 13 year old son understood. So, so for guys like me and you, it wasn't that big a deal. We just went out and had fun, but he was, he felt bad, but yeah. So I appreciate that. Yeah. He is, he is a Patriot in all seriousness. He's a dude to stud. Yeah, no, we, we appreciate everything he's doing for LA County, California and, um, Trevor, man, I really appreciate everything that you've done, um, to get me to play with you. And I love the dirt you gave me. I love it. And then once we're out in Calvary, we'll hit you up and we'll play and we'll get you on the podcast. And yeah, man, I really hit me up for sure. And I'll hit you up when I come check out the Pickler. Have a great night. Have a good one, man. All right, boys. Take it easy.