Preparing for Pickleball Tournaments with Pro, Lauren Stratman
Professional pickleball player Lauren Stratman stepped into pickleball a few years ago when some of her tennis students started urging her to try it. At first, she considered it a game primarily for the senior players or senior professionals. Lauren didn’t have much interest in playing it but decided to try it only for the sake of those students who persistently tried to convince her to do so. She wasn’t immediately hooked, however. That happened only when she played her first pickleball tournament.
She played her first tournament at the 4.0 level, and that’s when she started taking interest in it as a participant. She enjoyed the competitive side of tennis from a young age. After she had stopped playing in tennis tournaments, competing in a pickleball tournament brought back all of those feelings and memories.
Lauren’s father was a tennis pro, and he got her into tennis as a young kid. He coached her throughout her life. Unbelievable as it might sound, Lauren started playing a toddler version of golf when she was only two. Her dad would come home and roll balls to her on the grass, and she would swing the golf club and try to hit them.
Growing up, she participated in a tennis tournament every weekend from the age of seven. She played for Columbia University during her first year before transferring to Westmont College in Santa Barbara. After college, Lauren played a few lower-level pro tournaments but ultimately felt like she wouldn’t be able to progress up to a top professional level in tennis. She moved on from that dream and started teaching tennis instead.
Pickleball re-ignited that fire and re-awakened that dream of becoming a professional player for Lauren. She considers herself almost there in pickleball due to her success as a player and is hopeful about her future career. She is working hard and training every day to get where she wants to be as a pickleball player. She thinks it’s easier to make a career in pickleball than in tennis, primarily because there’s less competition. There are so many more people playing tennis than pickleball, and reaching that top 1% is much harder. Tennis is a massive investment compared to pickleball, and it is straightforward to transition from a good background in tennis to pickleball, according to Lauren.
On the pickleball fire podcast, Lauren said that many pickleball pros have experience in tennis. So, they bring similar strengths to the game. However, some tennis techniques and strategies can’t be directly applied to pickleball due to subtle differences in both games.
