Matt
GoebelSOCAL SUMMER
For Spokane ’ s Matt Goebel , pickleball wasn ’ t always a sport . In fact , despite being a part of his life since his earliest memories , Goebel didn ’ t pick up a paddle to play seriously until he graduated college .
“ When I was 4 or 5 , we put a pickleball court in our backyard . That was 20 years ago , and we just hit the ball back then . We didn ’ t know what we were doing ,” Goebel said . “ Then I moved to Bellingham . I had stopped playing until about four years ago . I was at college , playing tennis , and my parents got invited to a rec center where they had pickleball , so I started playing when I went home for Thanksgiving or Christmas breaks . But I didn ’ t take it seriously until after I graduated and only started playing in tournaments about two years ago .”
During all that time , Goebel had no idea the sport was exploding around the country . Sure , there were pickleball offerings in his high school athletics programs , but that was to be expected in the Seattle area .
“ I had absolutely no idea that pickleball was bigger than what we did in Seattle , or at a class ,” he said . “ I didn ’ t know about the USAPA or anything like that .”
Ever since he picked the sport back up , however , Goebel has made up for lost time .
He recently took silver with partner Tyson McGuffin at the Brigham City Memorial Day Tournament ; bronze with Rob Davidson at the Grand Canyon State Games ; fourth at Palm Desert ; and second in international indoor tournaments in Centralia , Washington .
Goebel said that , while he ’ s aggressive on the court , his goal as a player is to work out a patient , but strong game .
“ My philosophy of play is that you have to play soft and patient to set up the aggressive shots ,” he said . “ I ’ m looking to pull the trigger as soon as I can , to be deceptive , find
CLASSIC
Waiting on Patience
holes and use my forehand to create opportunities to put the ball away . Playing with Ty works very well . He ’ s quick on his feet and with his hands . If I can get an opportunity to pop it up , we ’ re both looking to put it down . He ’ s more patient than I am , has better touch , but still likes to play aggressive . I ’ m slowly morphing to a more patient game , but our bread and butter is go for the throat as soon as there ’ s an opportunity .”
With time on his side , Goebel said he ’ s always looking at other players in the game to learn from , citing Wes Gabrielson as a player whose attributes he ’ d like to emulate .
“ I ’ m a big fan of the way Wes plays the patient game . He has a nice backhand slice , cross-court dink and he ’ s left handed . People don ’ t like to hit it . It isn ’ t a very passive dink ,” Goebel said . “ I ’ d like to be as aggressive in the passive dink game as I can . Wes is more of a counter puncher . He makes it tough on people , moves that dink around with that slice . Plus , he ’ s a little bit more consistent than I am .”
Goebel will have plenty of time to play and study other players , as his summer and fall are packed with tournaments . He ’ s playing in the Western Canadian Nationals , Bend in August , the Coeur d ’ Alene Classic , and then the Tournament of Champions . In between , he plans on meeting new and interesting players , and maybe learning how to slow down a little as well .
“ The coolest thing about this sport is everybody spends time together and really gets to know one another ,” he said . “ With tennis , it ’ s just your foursome or twosome playing a match and leaving . This is a crazy sport where everyone wants to hang out all day together . You get to meet a lot of great people .” •
JULY / AUGUST 2017 | MAGAZINE 25