The lead paddle reviewer for the popular “Pickleheads” app and website, Taylor Gervais was in his 20’s and obese. At 5 feet, 7 inches tall, he weighed 235 pounds and was on medication for high blood pressure.
“My weight was due to overeating because of my day-to-day stress,” Gervais told me. He turns 32 on New Year’s Day. “Eating felt like one of the only things I could control. When my doctor prescribed me blood pressure medication I knew I needed to make a change.”
Gervais made the change because he has two daughters, ages 7 and 6. “I want to be there for them through the years, to do things with them without restrictions. So I started eating healthier and counting calories. I’m so much healthier and happier now,” he says.
Gervais lives in Springville, Utah, near Provo, with his daughters and his wife, Jessica. His fulltime job is as a regional compliance manager for an international staffing firm. He’s deeply religious and after graduating high school in 2012 went on a two-year mission in Chiapas, Mexico. “There I learned the beautiful language of Spanish but most importantly got to meet the amazing people of Mexico,” he say. They taught me about the importance of being grateful for the things you have. Family was so important to them and they treated me as family.”
While in Mexico, Gervais got typhoid and salmonella. “But the worst was the intentional eating parasites,” would not have changed it for the world,” he says.
Gervais first played pickleball in July 2022. It was two weeks after he had been diagnosed with high blood pressure. “I was struggling both physically and mentally,” he says. “I was looking for a way to exercise, and I was talking to a good friend of mine. He recommended that I join a pickleball group that he led that met once a week. As I got more into playing, I realized that once a week wouldn’t be enough to help me reach my health goals. I found another group that met every morning and started playing with them every weekday.”
Gervais played tennis in high school and initially considered pickleball, “A lamer version of tennis and I wasn’t impressed. Due to my obesity though, tennis was out of reach. Pickleball was more approachable.
“I love the social aspect of it. I have met so many wonderful people through pickleball. I love the ‘more the merrier’ mentality. You often see 30 to 40 people respond to a post asking if anyone wants to play. I also love that it brings a wide variety of people together. I have friends that are well into their 70s and I co-coach my city’s high school team. I love the strategy of the game. It’s easy to learn the rules and to get started, but you can spend the rest of your life perfecting that winning strategy,” Gervais says.
Gervais does not like “When people think they are too ‘good’ to play with others. “When you’re doing pickleball right, you can have fun playing with any level,” he says.
His DUPR (Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating) is 4.4 and he plays in 5.0+ tournaments, often with pro qualifiers and signed pros.
Gervais got the paddle reviewer job with Pickleheads in October after his drill partner and good friend, Stephen Mijangos, left to become a sponsored pro for a paddle company. Gervais gets paid per review and gets to keep the paddle. He says, “I love seeing new designs and innovations in the paddle industry. It’s really cool to get to try the latest paddles first. Being able to help other people find their perfect paddle always gives me a rush.”
Taylor loves trying new paddles and helping players find the right one for their play style.
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Unlike some reviewers who love every paddle, Gervais has given bad reviews on some paddles (including the CRBN Waves) and says he hasn’t received any angry calls from companies whose paddles he panned. He predicts that in 2026 more companies will try to produce the most powerful paddle.
Gervais will continue to review paddles and, more importantly, eat healthy and play as often as possible.
“Pickleball has made my life better in so many significant ways,” he says.
Millions of pickleball players know what Taylor means.
Thoughts of the week, not all Pickleball
· Even beginning pickleball players will spot some cringeworthy scenes in the new Lifetime movie, “A Pickleball Christmas.” During scenes of doubles game play, the team receiving serve is standing together a foot in front of the baseline, including the player who’s supposed to be near the kitchen. The actors who are portraying supposedly excellent players in the tournament scenes look like 3.0 players at best. And this might be petty, but although all the game play is outside, indoor balls are used (26 larger holes compared to 40 smaller holes). What, the producers couldn’t afford a pickleball consultant? I would have done it on the cheap. Still, some pickleball lovers will enjoy this silly, predictable rom-com if they don’t let the ridiculous game play scenes bother them.
· I think it’s a blessing that legendary comedian Carl Reiner passed away at age 98 in 2020, before his son Rob and his wife Michele were brutally murdered on December 14th, allegedly by their son and Carl’s grandson, Nick. Rob Reiner leaves a legacy of classic films he directed including “Stand by Me,” “When Harry Met Sally,” “A Few Good Men,” and “This is Spinal Tap.” He of course initially found fame on the groundbreaking television sitcom, “All in the Family” in the 1970’s.
·Two college football coaches were recently fired within days of each other. Michigan’s Sherrone Moore reportedly had a “long history of domestic violence” against a female football staffer with whom he allegedly had an extramarital affair. Brian Smith, who was the head coach at Ohio University (my alma mater) for just one season, was dismissed for allegedly having extramarital affairs, including one with an undergraduate, and for alcohol use on campus. Lawyers for both coaches deny the charges. Regardless, I think some big-time college coaches have a sense of entitlement, think they can do whatever they want, rules and morals be damned. Regarding the former Michigan coach, The Athletic website, which has the best sports writing on the web, reported exclusively that “five women had “strange or uncomfortable” exchanges with Moore over the last five years, some within the last month. These included flirtatious Instagram direct messages sent in the immediate hours before and after Michigan games. On a wider scale, more than 20 people interviewed for the story testified to Moore’s erratic emotional behavior. Outbursts, mood swings and paranoia are all included. Multiple people around the program were worried about the 39-year-old’s mental state.”
· Since college coaches routinely break contracts to take another job, players have every right to transfer when their coach bails.
· I can’t be alone when I say that during pickleball doubles play, I don’t like my partner to analyze what he or she (or especially me) did wrong after almost every rally.
· The final game of the NBA’s gimmicky, ratings grab attempt, the NBA Cup tournament, between the Spurs and Knicks, drew 3 million TV viewers. The average number of viewers for NFL games this season is around 19 million. The courts, painted differently for the tournament, did look cool though.
· You ever wake up ridiculously early and can‘t get back to sleep because you’re excited about playing pickleball that morning? Me too. Often.
· Happy holidays and happy pickling!
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%.
