be done , I say , ‘ Why not ? What is stopping this from happening ?’”
Lorraine had a hardscrabble upbringing , and sports became her refuge .
At Pahrump Valley High School in Nevada , Lorraine played tennis , volleyball , basketball , and softball and ran track . She was the school ’ s Female Athlete of the Year . She also made time to study , graduating as class covaledictorian .
“ So much was out of my control when I was young . I like to set and reach goals ,” Lorraine says .
Jackie Nelson met Lorraine at work 40 years ago and is her best friend . “ She ’ s amazing ,” Jackie says . “ Lorraine is a survivor . She has overcome so much from her childhood . To stay focused and raise her kids to be education driven , she is just an amazing person .”
During her trip across America , Lorraine wanted to mix in with local residents at all the stops , many of which were new to her . “ I had never traveled to the South except a few airports and wanted to visit there .” She said the Pickleheads app and a Google spreadsheet sent from a player she met in Facebook ’ s Pickleball Forum group were “ invaluable ” tools for finding places to play .
She called Opelika , Alabama , “ One of the best and most welcoming places . They invited me to their once-amonth picnic . And their pickleball facility was huge .”
While playing in Greenville , South Carolina , in June , she met a woman who was her doubles partner in a tournament in Colorado two years earlier . “ Seeing her again [ thousands of miles away ] was the most fun . We hugged and laughed .”
Lorraine wanted to visit some eastern states she hadn ’ t been to before as well . “ It was such a delight to meet people in New Jersey and I loved their accents , too .”
“ If I were going to rank friendliness , I would say # 1 Opelika , Alabama ; # 2 Slidell , Louisiana ; and # 3 Providence , Rhode Island . I would love to go back to all three places — maybe when it ’ s a bit cooler , though .”
Weather was occasionally a problem . “ There was the heat in Kansas City , Kansas . I played too long there and experienced heat rash for the first time .”
Lorraine loved that she played pickleball with and against people of all nationalities and ages , from 13 to 80 .
She took a lot of photos and met many pickleball players she plans to keep in touch with . “ It ’ s a trip I will never forget ! I can ’ t wait until I can go back and visit the people that I met for the first time at the courts . It ’ s an awesome game .”
Her goal accomplished , elation wasn ’ t her only emotion . “ There was also a sense of loss , kind of like when your last child leaves home … What do I do next ?” All she did ( after a three-week rest ) was go with her husband from Orem to Bainbridge Island , Washington , to see where the first pickleball game was played in 1965 . On the way , they stopped in Idaho and Oregon to visit family and friends .
Near the end of a whirlwind summer , amid a life of obstacles overcome and goals reached , that was a comparatively easy round trip . Only 2,427 miles . •
Matthew Schwartz spent 40 years in television news and won more than 200 awards , including four Emmys and four Edward R . Murrow awards for investigative reporting . His 2020 memoir , “ Confessions of an Investigative Reporter ,” was an Amazon # 1 bestseller . He writes a weekly blog for Hudef Sport and plays pickleball six days a week .
Lorraine in Utah , Fall 2023 .
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