For many of us, watching a baseball game is a great way to do something fun and get away for a bit after a long day of working at our jobs. But what about the people whose job is baseball? How do they get that mental reset?<\/p>\n
The game that has swept the nation over the past couple of years has swept up the Milwaukee Brewers coaching staff and is showing no signs of stopping. From the coaches to the front office, pickleball has been the way to bring the organization closer together, fuel their competitive fire, and keep their minds sharp.<\/p>\n
It all started with third base coach and infield coordinator Matt Erickson.<\/p>\n
Three years ago, during the offseason, Erickson\u2019s stepmom wanted to learn pickleball, and she enlisted him to join her. Erickson had no idea what it was, but once she offered to buy lunch, he was all in. So they went to a nearby church in Appleton with a couple of pickleball courts and tried to learn how to play.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo older ladies came over and they basically just took 15 minutes out of their day and explained the game to us, like the rules and everything, and then proceeded to kick our (expletive),\u201d Erickson said. \u201cAnd I was like, \u2018this is a game that I have to figure out,\u2019 right?\u201d<\/p>\n
The competitor in Erickson was motivated.<\/p>\n
He started playing a couple times a week, and by the time spring training came around, he was ready to bring the game to Arizona and his fellow Brewers coaches.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talked our grounds crew into putting a court up by the cages in spring training. And so that first year, a few people would trickle out. (Jason) Lane started playing, I started playing, (Matt) Arnold started playing, some of our front office, some of our strength and conditioning, some of our training staff, and it just kind of brought some people together, like different departments, which I thought was pretty cool. And then the next year we had two courts out there, and more and more people showed up,\u201d Erickson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, (Erickson) was playing, and he recruited me to go play with him. He had some friends that he needed me to be the fourth, and when we played against them, they were really good players, so like right out of the gate, I was getting dominated by really good players. But it makes you learn the game really fast,\u201d Brewers offense and strategy coordinator Jason Lane said.<\/p>\n
The game spread like wildfire across the organization. Among the regular players are Erickson, Lane, Matt Arnold, and clubhouse attendant Joe Swanhart. The group has also gotten hitting coach Daniel Vogelbach, pitching coordinator Jim Henderson, game preparation specialist Daniel de Mondesert, bullpen coach Charlie Greene, and field coordinator Nestor Corredor to all take part in the craze.<\/p>\n
\u201cStrategy-wise, it\u2019s very similar to baseball. When you\u2019re playing defense on the pickleball court, it\u2019s very similar to infield play and picking the right hops and moving your feet, and then when you\u2019re on the offensive side, it\u2019s very much like pitching. It\u2019s going to locations to set up the next shot, going to their weak point. So the strategy of the game is the most fun part and what keeps you coming back and kind of addicted to it, because it\u2019s very much like baseball,\u201d Lane said.<\/p>\n
Brewers owner Mark Attanasio even invested in putting a pickleball court on the terrace level at American Family Field for the coaches and front office to play on while they\u2019re at the ballpark.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think (Attanasio) saw what it did for the different departments and bringing people together from a social aspect, and it gets you away for a second from the game and provides a healthy alternative to a little competition for us older folk,\u201d Erickson added.<\/p>\n
The popularity of the game inside the Brewers organization has become so well-known that it\u2019s caught the attention of the professional pickleball world.<\/p>\n