Bringing Pickleball to Maximum Security Prisons

Today’s subject checks all of the boxes I care about: helping those less fortunate, racket sports and finding purpose in our third chapter.

Roger BelAir was a successful businessman (and was even on the cover of Money Magazine!) who was an avid pickleball player. One night, the show 60 Minutes aired a segment on Chicago’s Cook County Jail. Roger noticed that many of the inmates were playing cards or watching TV. Being an avid pickleball player, he commented to his wife, “They should be playing pickleball. They’d not only get exercise but learn valuable "life skills" like learning from mistakes and how to be a good teammate." And so, “Pickleball in Prison(™)” was born. The success of his program in Chicago led Roger to prisons from coast to coast, from Rikers Island in New York to San Quentin in California. A documentary is currently in the works. Find out more at https://www.picleague.org/ .

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