This is a 15 minute read.

So I rebuilt my site (again)… After a long hiatus of writing and doing some personal projects. I finally got the time to write as a hobby and as my first post, I’d like to write about Pickleball and Coding, the two things I am passionate about.

In order to make a bit of sense I would like to go way back; In 2016 where I first started to learn how to code and have to brick my laptop 3 times just so I can install Ubuntu alongside my Windows machine running on an Intel Celeron CPU. (Yeah I know, the struggles were real back then)

Something “New”

In 2016 the world of developers was shocked to learn about this new framework called “ReactJS”. As someone who just wanted to learn coding and see where it takes me; I was not really sure how to feel about this because I just learned vanillaJS and PHP and was working for a company using these technologies.

Anyway, I was not sure what the hype was about and for months I kept hearing debates about what is the better framework. AngularJS that came out on 2010 or ReactJS that was just released at the time. It was a whole kerfuffle that divided people and even broke up some friendships over which framework is the best.

Due to curiosity, I wanted to know why people hate something new. I am no psychologist so I better go for a better source.

Psychology Today mentioned that:

Learning something new requires a period of being “bad” at it. Other people can do it better. They have already learned it! For some people, the novice period is intolerable because they experience it as a hit to their ego. It destabilizes their sense of self. For those vulnerable people, the world stays smaller, and opportunities for growth are avoided.

Maybe this is one reason; During those years, ReactJS received a lot of hate and love at the same time. Hate mostly from “Purist” developers who says that ReactJS is so easy and that it is just a fad and will not replace real development like VanillaJS or JQuery.

I also heard from older devs that ReactJS has a lot of problems that its more trouble than its worth. Some would simply say AngularJS can do what ReactJS, and do it 10 times better.

If you are tired of reading paragraphs; I have instead listed the reasons I have heard over the years why ReactJS was so hated by devs (mostly the older ones).

• It is too easy (as a counter argument being easy does not make it necessarily bad. Also if its easy then why not use it since its sooooo easy right?)
• AngularJS is better
• Nothing can replace VanillaJS
• A lot of systems are made in VanillaJS and other Frameworks that replacing them with ReactJS is a massive task
• It is not VanillaJS
• I am old and my old way is better, these young kids will never understand how to code in Machine Language.
• I am superior being that only code in so and so; that ReactJS is for babies and for fake devs who can’t code the whole front end in VanillaJS

As someone who was just started to code in 2016; I tried ReactJS on 2018 and I regret that to this day. I should have never listened to the sway of other devs. I should have just learned it for the sake of learning it.

In 2018 ReactJS had become so powerful with the new hooks and other updates that it got from the maintainers over at Meta. Netflix built their UI in ReactJS same as Meta. A lot of companies were switching to ReactJS and the salaries of devs who could code in ReactJS skyrocketed due to the high demand of developers. (It’s a new Framework so not everyone is an expert yet).

I am just thankful that I learned it when I did because it became the highlight of my career regardless of the hate the framework received in its inception. I worked as a lead dev for a company that used MERN (MongoDB, ExpressJS, ReactJS and NodeJS). I also experienced doing the grunt work for other devs when I was still a junior developer, although it was hard to be on both ends of the hierarchy of the development process, I still enjoyed it immensely.

Now almost all bootcamps are teaching ReactJS, those who got left behind because of their hate of something new are now catching up but its too late since ReactJS is now super saturated with new devs flooding the market due of its popularity. The competition is too great compared when we first started getting hired as devs.

Just look at the Google Trends; During the Pandemic, the interest for ReactJS spiked, and almost every week there is a new course about ReactJS. Now, we have a lot of career shifters going into programming and their main entry point to the industry is ReactJS.

Now those who started early are now tech leads, project managers, building AI or doing some Machine learning or have their own dev houses. The point is most of them have leveled up and longer doing grunt work; Kudos to them (to us) because we made a bet on something new; got hated for it; still continued and now it paid off more than we could imagine. Not only was it financially fruitful but having the ability to build something great on your own is a blessing.

The World Of PickleBall

What does my story have to do with PickleBall?

Hatred from the “Purist” and People who wants to feel superior

This is purely anecdotal so please take it with a grain of salt. But I am seeing the same pattern with Pickleball. The hatred from the “Purist” (Tennis players), the hatred of other sports players saying its a “sissy” sport, and everyone who just wants to hate because it makes them feel superior.

A lot of people are hating on this sport, to a point where they would not even call it a sport.

I am from a family that plays tennis and table tennis; When our “Tennis” friends learned that we play Pickleball, our “friends” in Tennis have turned their backs on us to say the least. (My dad who is a PB player was the first one to experience the elitism, and he even was a Tennis champion on his category in the district.)

Aaaand if you don’t believe me about the hate people are projecting to the sport and its athletes. Just go search “pickleball” on Youtube and click on the first video that pops up then look at the comments.

To make it easier I’ll provide some here.

To be fair I have invited my friends who also plays tennis, my cousin was even a Tennis player at a national level and he loves Pickleball. To this day all of those from Tennis converts are still playing Pickleball and we all get along without shitting on the other sport.

The sad part is that those Tennis players that we play with before treat us differently now and they always have something negative to say about Pickleball.

On the court when we commit a mistake, they always have this side comment: “Oh that’s because you play Pickleball” (I never heard something like that while playing PB). It got worse when a tennis player got mad at one of my friends when he found out my friend plays PB.

My friends and I would even play other friend’s sport when we get invited. Sadly, some of our friends who invite us to play with their sport will not join our Pickleball sessions for some reason we do not know why. Maybe they have been affected by the stigma. Thankfully, not all our friends are like that.

Just like the framework war in the 2016; Pickleball and Tennis are breaking friendships apart.

Here’s a list of insults I have encountered, so if you play PB you might encounter these as well:

• PB is a sport for old people and children

• It’s a copy of Tennis; Why not just play Tennis? (Almost all sports is derivation of something else; Almost all sport originated from other sports. But don’t have time to provide all the sources LOL)
• It’s not Tennis
• I am a Tennis player and I can destroy all of you PB players in your own sport. PB is a waste of time.
• My sport is better than that garbage!
• Look how cute the paddles are. (You can say the same thing with table tennis)
• I am a superior being because I play this sport and so did my club said that your sport is trash so I am just following what the doctrines of my club.

I guess you’ll hear more insults to be slurred your way if you are a PB player but who cares; The point is we as a community of players should not do this to other sports because it will only deter other people from joining our beloved sport. Let’s just have fun doing our own thing.

It’s all love from here on. We do not want whats happening to Tennis, to elaborate further I will pass the mic to the number tennis one player at the moment and my idol. Novak Djokovich

In my personal experience; Once players move up the ladder in other sports, they no longer play with the beginners and even despise having beginners in the courts. This is one reason people who wants to get started no longer come back after a session because of how the newbies were being treated.

I believe if we as a community of PB players welcome our newbies, it will make our beloved sport more popular. You’ll never know who you might encourage to play. They may be some daughters or sons of a politician, an influencer, or someone who can impact the sport positively in a massive way.

In short, be nice.

The Opportunities

Pickleball is considered “new” even though Pickleball has been here under our noses since 1965. Since it’s only recently that Pickleball have been popular and now being called as the “Fastest Growing Sport”.

Strike while the iron is hot!

Just like ReactJS, Pickleball is not a finished product. There are still a lot of improvements being made. The ceiling to become pro is not yet that high since it’s still emerging. Just like being a dev who can code in ReactJS in 2016; The competition to get at a pro scene is not that high.

In the US, Canada and other western countries PB is very popular (It only make sense since originated from the US). But looking at Google Trends there is a whole other region that most people kept missing.

It is not as popular on South East Asia, Parts of Europe and different countries which is a great opportunity! I am from South East Asia and it is just starting to get popular, there are tons of clubs emerging. Clubs are building new courts everyday and on social media; more and more people are sharing their experiences.

You can be an influencer/ambassador for the sport. Study and be certified as a coach. Become a retailer for the gear or even become a pro. These, so far, are what I see that’s lacking in the market for Pickleball.

Why I am betting on Pickleball

So just like what I did on ReactJS; I want to bet on Pickleball for the same reasons why I bet on ReactJS before.

Ironically all the negative things people say about Pickleball is the reason why its so popular today and will continue to do so.

• It’s easy (at first…). Think of it this way, the most common job nowadays are desk work. As a software engineer, I would want a sport that will get my sweat on, where I can socialize and not be injured. I work from home and having Pickleball as a source of social interaction is great since people playing PB are surprisingly nice. (Nicer than the clubs I previously experienced with other sports). At first it’s easy but as soon as the skills of players increases, the level of plays become more difficult and will be more physically challenging.
• It’s convenient (not a negative). With our lives being at the peak of comfort in this day and age. People are more inclined to try something that is convenient. Since there are new courts being opened; more and more people are being invited and wants to try the sport since the courts are near their workplace, hence, adding to the sport’s popularity. (Personally, I don’t want to spend so much time on the road just to play). Having a small court is not really a negative because clubs can build more and more courts.
• It’s cheap: If its cheap and accessible to many people then they’ll replace it immediately with other sports wherein they’ll have to spend so much money just to enter.
• It’s economical: The space needed for a court is not as big as tennis. One Tennis court can occupy three Pickleball courts. With that just amount of space; 12 people can enjoy their time if all are playing doubles.
• It’s a social sport: There are people who on the courts who just play recreationally and in their down time while waiting for their game, they introduce themselves to others. Which is amazing cause I have met a lot of professionals and business owners because of Pickleball. Some are franchise of owners of McDonalds, some have their own restaurants, some are software engineers like me and some are pursuing to be pro, if not then a Pickleball influencer. It’s amazing how we can talk about our jobs and exchange tips and ideas. Aside from learning Pickleball, I learned a lot about business as well.

As for me personally, I would like to have my own courts for Pickleball and Badminton; Since Pickleball has the same dimensions as Badminton. Be a coach if necessary, study and get certified to be a coach. Build a welcoming community for this new sport.

I’ve realized this dream after seeing how much our country does not promote health and refuses to build infrastructures for sports and wellness. Like the old saying goes; “Health is wealth” and by having my own courts. I will be able to share this wealth to others.