Engage Sporting recently held an interview with the top female pickleball player, Jessie Irvine. Jessie is the oldest of three girls, and was raised in Cary, NC. Initially a competitive dancer, at age 10 she changed passions and started to play tennis seriously. After her skills were shown, she was sent to Florida to train at some of the best tennis academies until she was 18. Jessie than became a professional tennis player, but found out she was born with very little cartilage in her joints. Due to this, she had to stop playing tennis because of the symptoms.
Why Pickleball?
At the end of 2018, Jessie Irvine was with friends when they suggested she looked into pickleball. She was told it was starting to become a professional sport and her friends felt it would be something she could be good at with her tennis background, and potentially make a career out of it. Jessie decided to give it a try. After watching some videos on pickleball, she then decided she wanted to go out and give it a try. By the second or third time playing pickleball, Jessie was hooked.
Becoming Pro
At the beginning of 2019, Jessie decided to take her pickleball game seriously and become a professional pickleball player. When it comes to training, Jessie believe prevention is better than the cure, so she does a lot of off-court training. This includes conditioning and strengthening as well as physical therapy a few days a week. She will also do drills and practice games multiple times throughout the week. Jessie is always looking for ways to improve her game, on and off the court, and believes all of this work that she puts in on a regular basis is what helps her to now be one of the best pickleball players in the world.
Tips From a Pro
Jessie Irvine also had some tips for new players. “Some tips that I would give to aspiring pickleball players, especially if they're coming from another sport, is to first treat pickleball like it is its own sport, and try to learn all the different kinds of shots involved in pickleball, because there’s a lot of them. Learning the soft game is important because it could help you get out of trouble, especially if you’re on defense. Build up your mental focus and attention span, points can be long and the better you get. The longer the points are [to] because your opponents are also better, and can make more shots so a lot of the time it is the mental focus that will help you win those battles.”
Engage Sporting Can Help You Become Better
