Michele’s player rating has dropped but she is not deterred.
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Michele Spahr’s pickleball player rating was 4.7. She picked up the sport quickly since first picking up a paddle in 2021. The Corvallis, Oregon native has medaled in over 50 tournaments. At 50-years-old, Michele’s pickleball future looked bright. This isn’t surprising since she is a lifelong athlete, having played Division 1 volleyball at George Mason University and at Western Oregon State College, where she also competed in the high jump and triple jump. At West Linn High School, Michele earned 10 varsity letters.
Then, in the summer of 2022, this whirlwind of a person, a mother of four, with an active, healthy lifestyle, was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.
About a year earlier, Michelle’s ex-husband, the father of three of her four children (she has one child with her current husband), and with whom she had a good relationship, was killed in a freak accident. He was chopping down a neighbor’s tree limbs when one fell on his head.
“I truly believe the immense stress and emotional toll of that loss triggered my MS to surface,” Michele, 54, tells me from her home in Round Hill, Virginia. “My symptoms vary, but the most common include numbness and tingling, weakness in my limbs, pains and cramping in my back and legs, muscle spasms, tremors, sensitivity to heat and cold, fatigue, and good old-fashioned brain fog. My MS tends to flare up during times of stress, which makes balance, laughter, and self-care more important than ever.”
Michele is a fighter, competitive in everything she’s done since she was young, and looks at the glass as half-full. But playing pickleball with a chronic autoimmune disease such as MS tests her resolve.
“MS definitely affects my pickleball play,” she says, “and it’s a constant source of frustration because my level of performance can swing so dramatically depending on my symptoms. One week I’ll be feeling great, medaling in 4.5 and open-level tournaments, pushing my DUPR to 4.7, and then my MS decides to humble me with a quick, ‘Not so fast,’ pushing me into the low 4.’s. It’s like its sole mission is to tank my rating.
“When my symptoms flare up, the fatigue, leg pain and loss of quickness hit hardest. Suddenly, my movement slows and everything, from dinks and drops to defense and volleys, has to be recalibrated. I won’t sugarcoat it, it’s incredibly frustrating. But I’m learning to give myself grace, play smarter when I can’t play faster, and appreciate every single day my body lets me get back out there.”
Long before being diagnosed with MS, Michele developed a serious blood clot. This was when she was 24 and pregnant with her first child. She learned she had a genetic blood disorder called Factor V Leiden, which increases the risk of developing clots. “Up until then, I thought I was invincible, the former athlete who could push through anything,” Michele says. “That experience humbled me, changed me, and gave me a new appreciation for strength that has nothing to do with muscles.”
Life recently threw Michele what she calls another “curveball.” In late October, less than two weeks before her daughter Brianna’s wedding, a blood clot “came back with a vengeance. It was massive, stretching from my pelvis to my calf, and landing me in the hospital for six days. I underwent surgery to remove the clot and had a 12-centimeter stent placed to keep the vein open. It was a scary experience, especially with my daughter’s big day so close, but I truly believe I was lucky. As serious as it was, it could have been so much worse.”
Michele’s doctor gave her a walker. There were six days before Brianna’s wedding, a time she says, “I was meant to be running around, directing vendors, bridesmaids and groomsmen, not sitting on the sidelines.”
She says she had a choice: Be angry or embrace the situation. She chose the latter. At the wedding on November 10th, Michele danced while holding onto the walker. Other wedding guests did, too.
“That moment perfectly sums up my outlook on life. I can’t always control what happens, but I can control how I respond. I can choose bitterness, or I can choose to ‘bedazzle’ the situation.”
Michele and her daughter, Jordan Wick, won gold in the Dink Dink Bang 4.0/4.5 tournament in Finksburg, MD, in October 2024.
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Michele hosts a podcast with her 27-year-old daughter, Jordan Wick, who Michele says is a 4.7 player and “rising star.” The pod has a great name: “Mom, You’re Embarassing Me.”
Michele and Jordan host a podcast with the great name, “Mom, You’re Embarrassing Me.”
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“It’s about health, grief, family and yes, plenty of pickleball,” Michele says. “At its heart, it’s about real life, laughter, and the lessons we learn (and sometimes laugh through) along the way.”
Michele says, “If you want to understand how deeply this game impacted my life, physically, mentally, emotionally, I share in detail my pickleball journey on my blog.
She also finds time to be a color commentator for the US Legends Pickleball League.
Michele returned to the pickleball court last week for the first time in a month. “Getting back slowly but surely,” she says.
Michele finds time to be a color commentator for the US Legends Pickleball League.
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“When healthy, I play at least once and often twice a say, six days a week. Pickleball is my happy place so whenever my body lets me, I’m out there soaking up every minute. Lately, my health has made it harder to keep that pace, but I’ve learned to listen to my body and honor its cycles. When it’s cooperating, I don’t waste a second, I make every game, every rally, and every point on the court count.”
If you knew Michele at all you would not be surprised if, despite having MS and the blood clot condition, she eventually returns to a high playing level.
It is fitting that her last name is pronounced, “Spar.” Because that is what fighters do.
Thoughts of the week, not all pickleball
· During Saturday’s Ohio State-Michigan game, Wolverines linebacker Jaishawn Barham head-butted an official but was not ejected. He was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. It’s insane that he was allowed to stay in the game.
· It bothers me when I see a pro or college player commit an egregious unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and his coach doesn’t get in his face afterwards. Sometimes I even see the player back on the sideline laughing about it.
· ESPN has added point spreads and odds to its crawl of game matchups. That will help more people lose money betting on games.
· Speaking of ESPN, so many athletes attempt the highlight reel play instead of the fundamentally sound play. I have seen more college and pro football defensive players going for big hits and not wrapping up the ball carrier, who often just bounces off and gains more yardage. Vince Lombardi must be turning over in his grave. In basketball, guys go for dunks when they are too far from the hoop and sometimes end up missing.
· I enjoy watching paddle reviews by Pickleball Effect’s Braydon Unsicker, Matt’s Pickleball, John Kew and his partner Eddie, and Pickleball Studio’s Chris Olson and his co-host and brother, Aizec. But some other pickleball podcasters drone on way too long and lose me.
· For the baseball fan in your life a great holiday gift is Joe Posnanski’s book, Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments. I think Posnanski is the country’s best baseball writer and his book does not just recount legendary moments. He also writes about unheralded heroes and mesmerizing mistakes.
· After watching the first two episodes of season 2 of the Netflix series, Man on the Inside, I think it may be even better than the first season. Ted Danson is superb as is his real-life wife, Mary Steenburgen, who joined the show for this season.
· How can we land men on the moon but can’t invent lids that stay securely on coffee cups?
Hudef’s Black Friday sale extends through December 31st. For any Hudef paddle that costs $169.99, the discount code MS30 knocks down the price by 30% and you can stack that by another 20%, making the final price $84.99. Any less expensive Hudef paddles, use code MS15 and you can stack with another code you may have to lower the price by another 20%.
