Unboxing Pickleball Will
September 18, 2024
His parents escaped the killing fields in Cambodia. An estimated 1.5 million innocent people were murdered and buried there by the communist Khmer Rouge regime between 1975 and 1979. His father was led by friends through a jungle and abandoned villages to safety at the Thai border.
His parents met in a refugee camp in Thailand. They moved to the US and settled in Northern Virginia. They had a son and named him William.
Thirty-six years later, William Chaing is known to thousands of pickleball paddle lovers as “Pickleball Will.”
His eponymous YouTube channel has 10,100 subscribers and has produced 131 videos. He has a paddle named after him. His “unboxing” videos are popular and original among paddle reviewers. They show Will opening a box containing a paddle or other equipment for the first time and opining on the packaging as well as the items inside.
“I get a lot of boxes sent to me and figured it would be an interesting and easy way to share that kind of experience with my viewers,” Will said. “Everyone knows the excitement of opening that new paddle or piece of gear you have been waiting for.”
During a phone interview Will is soft spoken. In a series of follow-up emails he’s self-deprecating and modest.
“I would like to think I got my parents traits for being mentally strong and a hard worker, but I don't think I did, haha,” Will emailed me. “If I had just half of their work ethic and mentality, I feel like I would be much more successful. Needless to say, my parents did instill a strong work ethic and spirit in me and it's definitely a factor, but let's just say I didn't always live up to what they taught or showed me.”
Will had a typical middle class suburban upbringing. “Walking to school, playing outside with friends constantly, always on the move and looking for the next activity or neighborhood adventure. Of course, trying to find out where I fit in and navigating my identity as an Asian American was sometimes challenging.”
Will says he was a well-behaved kid and got good grades. Although he loved video games he was far from a couch potato. “I was a pretty well-rounded kid with a lot of different interests and hobbies. Sports [especially basketball and table tennis], anime, trading card games, hiking, skating and dancing,” he said.
He played tennis in high school. “I was an okay player. It wasn’t until I graduated college that I became a good tennis player.”
Will graduated from Virginia Tech in 2010 with a degree in business management. He got into video production doing stunts in Kung Fu videos. He had a series of videography jobs and worked as a real estate photographer. He was a photographer and videographer for a digital ad agency in 2019. “The company wasn’t paying me enough,” he said. He quit.
He moved back in with his parents at the age of 31. “It wasn’t great,” he said. “My girlfriend moved into her own apartment.”
He had a longtime interest in sports equipment. He worked in a tennis pro shop and liked re-stringing racquets. “I just really like gear and have always been a gear head no matter the sport or activity. Photography, bags, electronics, etc.” he said.
Will discovered pickleball by accident during the pandemic in the spring of 2020. He and a friend went to play tennis but the courts were chained-off. His friend had played pickleball and had a pickleball court set-up in his driveway. Will played pickleball there and loved it immediately.
His tennis and ping-pong experience helped him become a strong pickleball player. He says his DUPR (Dynamic Universal Player Rating) is 5.49 in singles and 4.98 in doubles. He makes up for a lack of height (“I’m 5’5”, 5’6” on good days”) with agility and quickness.
There weren’t many pickleball paddle reviewers in 2021. That’s when Will discovered Pickleball Studio, the popular the YouTube channel hosted by paddle reviewer Chris Olson. He wanted to combine his passions for gear and video and admired Olson’s production techniques. Will had moved in 2021 from Northern Virginia to Tulsa when his girlfriend landed a new job there. He reached out to Olson, asking if he could shadow him at Chris’ home studio in Minneapolis.
Olson told me he agreed to let Will, a virtual stranger, visit him in May of 2022 because, “I could see his personality in his videos and I had several phone calls with him to see if I thought he was crazy or not. I tend to think I’m good at sniffing out if someone is going to be problematic or not, and I never got that sense from Will,” Olson said.
Will observed Chris for more than a week and they hit it off so well that Chris has had Will co-host his podcast about 80 times. “Will is different than most paddle reviewers,” Chris says. “A majority [of them] are usually very technical, which is not a bad thing, but it also means a lot of the reviews can feel very similar. I think what Will does very well is he brings humor into his reviews. He’s a very funny guy. I think this helps set him apart when you don’t look exactly like everyone else.”
One of Will’s most popular videos was his singles match in June against Ben Johns, widely considered the greatest pickleball player ever. Will beat Johns, 11-1, but had a huge advantage: Johns, a right-handed player, played left-handed. “He won’t be doing that again,” Will jokes, well aware of Johns’ competitive nature. Asked how he would do against Johns if Ben played right-handed, Will says, “I don’t think I would score more than four [points].”
Like the boxes he opens for viewers, Will is an open book with a writer. He says his three-year relationship with his girlfriend ended in 2023. “It was difficult for sure but we both came out of it with positive outlooks,” he says. “I decided to stay [in Tulsa] because I kind of had to. It’s expensive to move and I burned through a lot of cash trying to make this YouTube thing work. I actually do like Tulsa a lot. I feel like I have the opportunity to shape my community here,” Will said.
Will often shows a goofy side during his videos but seriously likes helping pickleball players find the paddle that best suits their game. “Try some paddles from friends or at clubs,” he advises. “As soon as you hit one that you like the feel of just go with it. Don’t get caught up on the ‘grass is always greener on the other side’ syndrome.”
Regarding future goals for the channel, Will says, “I’d like to start adding some teaching content and more lifestyle videos related to pickleball. I believe I have a more unique perspective of the game of pickleball that I haven’t seen covered in other channels. I also want to do more vlogs or videos that showcase different cities/communities in pickleball.
“I still have so much to do to get the channel where I want and sometimes just staying consistent is a battle for me, but I just have to keep having fun with it.”
Pickleball Will enjoys a life that could not be more different than his parents was a half century ago, when they escaped the killing fields of Cambodia for a better life in America.
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Name dropping anecdote of the week
While working as a general assignment reporter for a New York City television station in 1985, I interviewed Dizzy Gillespie, one of the greatest jazz trumpet players ever. Dizzy lived in Englewood, New Jersey, which was a few towns over from me and on the way to the TV station in Times Square, where the interview would be conducted. He asked if I’d drive him to the station and I was thrilled. His front lawn was adorned by a huge gold trumpet. In my car on the way into the city, Dizzy asked, “Do you mind if I light up a doobie? I’ll share it with you.” I was 18 months into my dream job and didn’t feel comfortable about being stopped by a cop or smelling like weed at work. I imagined the headline: Jazz legend busted, reporter fired. Remember, this was 1985. I said “Sorry Dizzy, I would not feel comfortable.” He said, “No worries, I’ll wait until I get with my boys in the recording studio after the interview.”
Book recommendation of the week
Simplified Strategies and Techniques of Pickleball is a 110-page treasure trove of tips. It’s especially helpful for players rated below 4.0. The author is the legendary 83-year-old pickleball instructor Richard Movsessian, better known as “Coach Mo.” I’m visiting him in Florida soon for two days of drills and lessons and will write about it next month.
My thoughts of the week, not all pickleball
- More than 67 million viewers watched last week’s presidential debate. The large audience made me want to look up the most-watched television broadcasts of all-time. According to Nielsen, 27 of the 30 most watched are Super Bowls, which typically attract at least 110 million viewers. The Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969 is the most watched televised event ever, with upwards of 150 million viewers. Excluding Super Bowls and special events, the most watched shows ever were the series finales of Mash in 1983, with 105.9 million viewers; Cheers, 4 million in 1993; The Fugitive, 78 million in 1967; and Seinfeld, 3 million viewers in 1998.
- Given the short attention spans so many people have these days, this saddens but does not surprise me: According to Wired, “Nearly 50 percent of users surveyed by TikTok said videos longer than a minute long were stressful.”
- I’ve said this before but I find it so condescending, even nasty, I’ll say it again: When a new pickleball player posts on Facebook that he or she needs advice on buying a new paddle and mistakenly calls it a “racquet,” can we stop just correcting them without offering advice?
- I have seen the Fox Sports sideline reporter Erin Andrews hug NFL players after she interviews them. I realize she’s not doing 60 Minutes or anything resembling serious journalism, and call me old school, but I think it’s unprofessional to be so chummy with those you report on. Okay, Erin, we get it. You’re tight with the stars. Also, if one of the players you’ve been chummy with gets charged with domestic violence or DUI, you might have to at least appear objective and actually ask some tough questions.
- A prominent neuropathologist is calling for Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to retire after the QB suffered his third known concussion during last Thursday night’s game against Buffalo. Dr, Bennet Omalu is credited with finding chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in ex-football players. Omalu said Tagovailoa could become “permanently incapacitated” if he does any more damage to his brain.” Tagovailoa has a $212.4 million deal, $43 million of which has already been paid. He’s only 26 years old and I think that while it would be sad to see his career end, the consequences of continuing to play could be tragic.
- If you get your dinks to land low and in the middle of the kitchen, you're going to win a very high percentage of rallies, especially at the 3.5 level or lower. Most players know this.
But it’s a lot easier said than done, as I unfortunately know all too well.
If you have an idea for one of my weekly blogs or know someone in the pickleball community who has a great backstory, email me at mhs7386@gmail.com.