Nannette Weinhold retired from a 35-year teaching career in June 2023. On the doorstep thereof, and in the midst of the pandemic, she gave pickleball a try.
“It’s extremely addictive,” she said of the sport. “Once you start getting a taste of it and you start getting better, you can’t stop.”
“I used my cognitive ability for so long, and my social and emotional skills for so long; I wanted to use my body for something.” That’s not to say that Weinhold hasn’t been active, having run, skied (three different modes), mountain biked and played softball as regular pastimes.
Of them all, pickleball has won over her heart. She’s competed in the sport all over the Western United States and even in Asia, where she and a group of women players traveled to Bali, Thailand and Vietnam for matches. The adventures the latter brought included new friends, restaurant recommendations and rides on the backs of motorcycles.
“It’s always the same,” she said. “Pickleball is a universal language. You play the game the same wherever you go.”
After a while, Weinhold discovered an internal drive for competitiveness she didn’t entirely know before. Fortunately, the pickleball community has a revolving door and healthy competition is part of the sauce. Meeting someone on the courts for the first time might go something like this: “Damnit, I’m going to play with you, and I’m going to beat you and you’re going to invite me back!” Weinhold recited with a laugh.
“It’s like this confidence,” she stated. “I feel good about my body,” adding, “ You know, it is what it is; something might hurt and I have to take time off, but I know it’s going to go away.”
She talked about the grind of working life, and how she didn’t have the time then for the internal reflection retirement has afforded.
Having a teacher’s instinct, Weinhold felt a calling to pay forward what pickleball inspires in her. So, she and a friend started a coaching business, Pickle No Balls, to spread the joy of the sport and empower other women who, in turn, can introduce someone else new to the sport.
“We’re all about helping women build their self confidence,” said Weinhold. “I taught yoga, and one of the things is taking what you learn about yourself on the mat out into the world. It’s the same thing with pickleball.”
She is currently teaching pickleball at the Maroon Creek Club, but will have more availability for Pickle No Balls clients later this summer. Last year, she coached more than 120 women in Carbondale. Find out more at www.picklenoballs.com
NYT feature
At the tail end of a New York Times (NYT) article this past spring, there was an invite for readers to share retirement stories. Weinhold decided to give it a go and answered the online questionnaire, highlighting her experience with pickleball.
“And they liked it, I guess,” she said modestly. Her story was selected along with several others, out of a pool of about 1,500, which were featured in a pull-out section, “What Does Retirement Really Mean.”
When Sopris Sun photographer Jane Bachrach was shocked upon hearing the news that she was going to be featured in the NYT, Weinhold recalled thinking at the time, “I read it every day, and to me they’re all strangers. So it could be anybody.”
Still, it didn’t quite seem real until the publication’s photographer, Stephen Speranza, reached out for a shoot. Speranza met with Weinhold at the pickleball courts at North Face Park. She treated him to a pastry from Fiona’s, then he took photos while she hit the court.
Each of the featured stories consists of a few hundred words and were self-written. Weinhold said that the NYT used some from the questionnaire and then communicated with her back-and-forth by email to get it just right.
“It was such a diversity of people,” she said of the section. “I thought it was a good representation of the jobs people have. There were people who did things with their hands, people that worked in corporate business, school teachers … it was just cool.”
Reading through the stories, “The other thing that struck me about it is that it is a privilege to retire. When I was reading, it really struck me that, wow, I don’t have to work for the rest of my life. This is huge.”
When she was teaching, she recalled wanting to be on recess duty “just so I could get outside and be with the kids,” which is fitting seeing as how the title of her NYT profile is “Every Day is Like Recess” — a direct quote.
If you subscribe to the NYT, visit www.tinyurl.com/NYTWeinhold for the story. Photos can also be found on NYT’s instagram page @nytimes