From Chasing Gangs to Chasing Pickleballs
November 21, 2024
Jill Thomas chased gangs, cartels, terrorists and child predators in California for 12 and a half years. Now she’s chasing pickleballs. In Lisbon, Portugal.
Thomas spent a life in courts before she was ever on a pickleball court. She was a federal prosecutor in Sacramento, a defense attorney, and a judge in the military. She’s an Air Force Reservist assigned to a base in Germany, where her time on duty is between 20 and 30 days a year. In early 2022, the 53-year-old native of Shelby Township, Michigan, and her wife, Jordan, moved to Lisbon. They had visited Portugal’s capital city just once before, in 2012.
“We wanted an adventure in a European capital to use as a home base for travel,” Thomas told me. “Portugal is a friendly country to foreigners, the weather [is good], it’s a city with great public transportation, the ability to walk almost anywhere in the city, and my spouse has family with Portuguese roots. We loved the old world Europe charm and the country's natural beauty with the long coastline and the architecture.”
Thomas acknowledges that the move was unorthodox. “Moving overseas with no friends, network or workplace, I wanted to find a sports community.”
She found one in pickleball. A lifelong athlete, Thomas played softball and basketball at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and her father coached several sports. Now, Thomas plays pickleball three or four times a week and drills the other days. “Simply put, I am in flow when I am playing,” she said. “Not a care in the world outside of playing and living in the moment. I also love competition and all of the new people I get to meet.
She says her DUPR (Dynamic Univeral Player Rating) is between 3.5 and 4.0 although the rating system is not regularly used in Lisbon (tournaments often place players in beginner, intermediate, and advanced divisions). She says she’s played in between eight and 10 tournaments and medaled in every one. She became a certified instructor a month ago.
Thomas says pickleball in Portugal is far less popular than in the US and she has to drive 20 minutes to the nearest courts. Many players don’t know the rules and she says she knows of only a couple 4.0 players. But she says, “Pickleball fever is spreading. The Portuguese padel and tennis players are getting interested and excited, and combined with the expat community, the sport is taking off.”
Pickleball is also gaining popularity in other southwestern Europe countries, including Italy, France, Greece and Spain. For those of you who don’t want to move overseas permanently like Jill but want to play there, several travel companies can help.
Pickleball Tours Spain offers nine-day trips with six days of play (with lessons) and three days of sightseeing. Company director and certified instructor Mike Hess says, “Pickleball is becoming widespread in Spain, though dedicated courts are still in the early stages. There are now courts and clubs in every region of Spain, many tournaments, and an increasing number of certified coaches. Spain has a great tradition in racquet sports, so combined with its sunny weather, players are increasingly migrating from the other raquet sports to pickleball.”
Pickleball Tours Spain limits its tours to 20 travelers and costs $4480 per person, not including air fare.
Another company offering overseas pickleball vacations is Pickleball Trips. Co-owner Jon Moore says the trips cost between $3000 and $4000 per person for double occupancy. The price also includes everything except air fare.
Ex-pat Jill Thomas says her eventual goal is to teach pickleball on cruise ships and at resorts. “I would love to continue to improve my game and play competitively as long as I can,” Thomas says. “I want to grow the sport in Portugal and teach others how to play and spread the love!”
From courtrooms in California to pickleball in Portugal. Thomas wanted an adventure, and she’s living it.
Thomas and Rui Temudo won gold last month in the Lisbon Open’s mixed doubles advanced division
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Name dropping anecdote of the week
Hulk Hogan cried on my shoulder. Well, the 6’7”, 300-pound professional (i.e. fake) wrestler was actually standing two feet from me, but he was sobbing. This was outside his Florida home in 2007 after I interviewed Hogan (real name: Terry Gene Bollea) and his family for a TV news piece. It was the first time they spoke publicly about a horrific car crash in which Hogan’s 17-year-old son Nick was speeding. The car smashed into a tree and the crash left Nick’s passenger and close friend with a fractured skull and severe brain damage. Besides the tragedy, Hogan and his wife Linda were soon to get divorced.
Before the interview I had obtained a video in which Hogan’s wife, Linda, was behind the wheel of a car and their son Nick was watching nearby. In the video Linda is talking about drag racing and said, “I love it. The rush. Racing between other cars, dodging the cops. It’s awesome.” In the interview I told Linda we had the tape and asked her if her behavior in front of her son might have led to his drag racing. You know, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Linda lied about ever drag racing or encouraging it, despite the video evidence to the contrary. The crash victim needs lifelong nursing care, Nick Hogan served five months in jail, and Hulk Hogan settled a lawsuit filed by the victim’s family for $1.5 million. Last year, Nick Hogan, then 33, was arrested again for DUI. He pleaded guilty and his license was suspended for a year.
My thoughts of the week, not all pickleball
- An unnamed pickleball player kicked another in the face after losing a tournament final in Mexico last weekend. Peter Shonk and his partner had just won match point and Shonk yelled out “F- - k yeah!” One of his opponents then kicked Shonk in the face. I think that guy should be banned permanently from that tournament (you’d certainly think he will be), if not also charged with assault. Credit to The Kitchen for first posting the video, which the website said came from the victim. You can read more about it and see the video here. Shonk was obviously and without question the victim and I’m glad he’s okay. I think he could’ve celebrated the win in a classier, more sportsmanlike way but of course his outburst didn’t merit a physical attack.
- Last Friday night’s Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight on Netflix was a snooze fest. Tyson landed only 18 punches over eight rounds while losing the unanimous decision. Tyson had a good first round but tired quickly. Credit goes to the 58-year-old former champ for going the distance with a guy 31 years younger, but Father Time remains undefeated. The previousfight, between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano, was epic, except Serrano was robbed. Taylor head butted her at least twice, opening a nasty cut above Serrano’s right eye. In my opinion Serrano clearly won the fight yet the judges awarded Taylor a unanimous decision. Bad decisions by bad judges are among boxing’s many problems.
- Speaking of Netflix, the subscription-based streaming service will carry live NFL games for the first time on Christmas Day. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has said that more games will be streamed on digital platforms. Not good for fans who don’t want or can’t afford to pay for Netflix, Prime Video and others. The league started the bidding for each of the two Christmas Day games at $50 million. It got $75 million per, $150 million total, according to The Wall Street Journal. The NFL’s greed has no end. Its longtime policy of forcing season ticket holders to pay up to $100,000 for a personal seat license is the biggest ripoff in sports.
- Every day I see ads on Facebook for pickleball court shoes. Occasionally I’ll click on the link, only to find nothing above size 12 or 13 or in wides. I wear a 14 extra wide. I think other pickleball players do too. A few months ago I discovered a company called Tyrol that makes shoes only for pickleball and every men’s model has a wide toe box, coming in 2E. The shoes are high quality, have great lateral stability, cushioning and comfort. I previously tried Skechers Viper Court Pro (the mesh toe box ripped after two months), New Balance, K-Swiss and FitVille. I’ve played every day with the Tyrols for four months, alternating between two pairs that cost $140 each. The soles show almost no wear. By the way I have no affiliation with Tyrol.
- I think the attention span of many people must be getting even shorter. I see more online articles with “TLDR” written at the top. That’s the internet’s abbreviation for “Too long, didn’t read.” Most of the articles that follow aren’t very long.
- Why do you think a large number of pickleball players, including many who are not beginners, don’t get up to the kitchen line quickly if at all? It’s maddening to me. My guesses are they’re either afraid of getting hit by the ball or never took a lesson. Or both.
- In the time it took me to write this sentence, Snoop Dogg appeared in 27 television commercials.
Hudef is offering 35% off its popular Mage Pro Gen2, Viva Pro Gen3, and Luxury Gen1 paddles during its Black Friday sale from November 29th to December 5th. The sale price for each paddle will be $110.49 instead of $169.99 using discount HBF-MS35 at checkout.
Congratulations to Marcus Noftle of Eagle Mountain, Utah, for being the first reader to email the correct answer to last week’s contest question, which was, “Excluding the starter kits, how many paddle models does Hudef sell? Note: The same model in different core thicknesses and colors count as one.” The correct answer is 17. Marcus wins a Hudef Viva Pro Gen3 paddle, valued at $169.99.