Dave Fleming Featured On Bonjour! Sports Talk

Watch our own Dave Fleming as he was interviewed on Amazon Prime’s Bonjour! Sports Talk.

Transcript

Interviewer 1: [00:00:00] Welcome back to Bonjour Sports Talk Live on Prime and on Amp. Madeline Burke, Reid Fowler, and Imani Tumor live in New York City on Wednesday, May 17th. And hey, if you ever need to step away from the TV and can’t watch us on Prime, don’t forget, you can also listen to Sports Talk Live on Amp Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM Easter.

Interviewer 1: Now Amp of course, is a live audio app where you can actually join the sports conversation as it happens. Just head over to the app. Store Download, AMP and Follow at PV Sports Talk. Or simply ask Alexa to play Sports Talk on amp. Welcome back to the show. We’ve got a great show for you today. We’ve got a great lineup and very excited to welcome in our next guest.

Interviewer 1: He is a player, a broadcaster, a general manager, a man who wears many hats in the world of the Pro Pickleball Association. Welcome to the show, bonjour, Dave Fleming. Thank you so much for joining us this morning. Dave

Dave Fleming: Bonjour, to you. How are you guys? Let’s talk some pickle.

Interviewer 1: So excited to [00:01:00] talk pickleball right now.

Interviewer 1: We’ve gotten a lot of pickleball guests on this week and it has been so incredible to watch the way the sport is just sweeping the nation, sweeping the world. Um, I’m so curious though. You wear so many hats in the sports. How do you switch gears from the booth to the court, to the front office? How do you keep it all, keep it all straight.

Dave Fleming: Yeah, I definitely have to remember what role I’m playing on that particular day. But I think the, you know, the big thing, and it’s such a privilege for me, is to be part of a sport that is just on fire that so many people are loving. I think, you know, my, my play enables me to be a better broadcaster and knowing the players enables me to be a better general manager.

Dave Fleming: So the three parts all work together really well, but, uh, the thing I love is being able to, Share my knowledge of the game in the broadcast booth and I can’t wait to do it this weekend On your fine network Prime. I can’t wait to do it.

Interviewer 2: Absolutely. And you said you wanted to teach during your broadcast, so what would [00:02:00] you teach the novice, the non-believer, the never watch pickleball, but what would you teach them?

Interviewer 2: What would be the first like Pickle 101?

Dave Fleming: You know, first of all, just learn the rules. As a tennis player, I came in and I didn’t know what this no-volley zone is. What are you talking about? You gotta, you gotta close. They talked about a kitchen. I didn’t see any appliances anywhere. What are we talking about here?

Dave Fleming: So, uh, you know, learn the rules, learn the scoring, and just see the unbelievable athleticism of our top athletes. It’s. Gonna be on display this weekend and you know, your neighbors are probably talking about it. They’re probably out there playing. And once you see the top level, I think a lot of people will aspire to play themselves.

Dave Fleming: Now you

Interviewer 3: talk, you, you talk about the different hats that you play. You also, you’re the general manager of the Dallas Pickleball Club and the Seattle Pioneers of Major League Pickleball. Like how does that work? How do you. How do you get all these personalities together? [00:03:00] How do you keep it so that you’re not favoring one team over the other?

Interviewer 3: If you get a player that comes in that you wanna put on, how do you figure all this stuff out alongside with broadcasting alongside of all the other stuff you do at Pickleball? GM is a full-time job for one team. You’re doing it for two. How do you make it all work?

Dave Fleming: Yeah, you gotta budget your time Amani, that’s for sure.

Dave Fleming: Uh, you know, the, I am not the general manager of two teams in the same division. Yeah. Just to be clear. So I don’t have a favorite child. Mm-hmm. Uh, but I certainly am keeping track of all the great players as you can see. The amazing play on the court right there. And I think you have to understand, and it’s no different than any business or any other sports team, you have to find the right blend of personalities.

Dave Fleming: You have to find two players, especially doubles is so important in the pickleball world who can play well with another person because the two best players. Aren’t always the best team. So that’s a big [00:04:00] part of the general manager role. And it’s a real job. I mean, I’ve had to cut it person and that’s not fun, but that’s the realities of this because this is a lot of people’s dream and hope to be a professional pickleball player.

Dave Fleming: And I hold the keys in some, in some ways to that dream. So it’s not a position I take lightly.

Interviewer 3: I have a quick follow up. You said two divisions, explain the different divisions in turn, in the two different divisions that you’re working in. Because I, I kind of went over my head a little bit.

Dave Fleming: Yeah. So in, uh, major League pickleball, there’s a top end. It’s sort of like European soccer. There’s a top end and then a second division. So that’s why I am able to be a general manager in both and not have a conflict of interest, which we would never wanna have. Absolutely.

Interviewer 1: And it’s, it’s so interesting, right? So many people are just discovering the sport as pickleball is becoming so much bigger on on any stage.

Interviewer 1: You have already won several titles as a player in pickleball. How did you first discover and fall in love with the sport?

Dave Fleming: [00:05:00] Yeah, I was a high level tennis player and my double’s partner’s wife ran their rec program at their church and she said, Hey, Come play pickleball. And this was, uh, six years ago and I’m like, I have no idea what you just said, but I’ll do it.

Dave Fleming: And uh, we came and we broke every rule ever. Uh, but the tennis translated pretty well to pickleball and it was so fun. And you know what’s great about pickleball is you can have an eight year old on the court with an 80 year old and it’s such a community and I just fell in love with it and I. Thought my tennis would, would translate well, loved to hit my two-handed backhand.

Dave Fleming: That works beautifully in pickleball. And the next thing you know, I was playing in, in high level tournaments and who knew that there was something called senior pro at 50 years old, people would pay me to play a sport. Come on, how great is this? So, uh, it’s been an absolute privilege [00:06:00] to. Be someone that, uh, gets to be the mouthpiece of a sport that is on fire, and I get to play it at a high level and talk about it and share it with you, and it’s, it’s, it’s truly a dream come true.

Interviewer 2: Dave, you mentioned that you, you have a tennis background and now you’re in the pickleball. We’ve heard that a couple of times now from, from players that are currently on the tour. Jack Sock, Sam Qury, they’re joining the tour of, as former tennis players. I mean, we know that there’s a natural progression, but how do you feel?

Interviewer 2: Do you see more of that coming through?

Dave Fleming: Yeah, I think we will. Uh, I had the privilege of calling Jack Sock, who’s a friend’s debut in the pro pickleball world last week, and he is a unicorn. Just to be clear, he is a absolute stud, doubles player in tennis, and that is what elements you need to bring to pickleball.

Dave Fleming: He has great hands. He’s used to poaching. And he loves pickleball, and what he said is he wants to be, you know, that bridge between tennis and pickleball, and I hate it whenever [00:07:00] there’s any discussion about one versus the other. I want the word and to be used there. So I think as the money grows, as the ability to see our sport on, great.

Dave Fleming: Networks and great places and streaming on Prime this weekend, that is really going to get a lot of people’s attention. If you’re number 500 in the world, in, in tennis, that’s a really tough life. So you may think that your tennis will translate to pickle, but I can tell you the top pro pickle athletes are something else.

Dave Fleming: So it’s not easy. Jack is a, a freak and, uh, I expect we’ll see more of him. He won a title in his very first event. That’s how good he was. Yeah, Dave,

Interviewer 3: I hear a lot of the pickle, uh, pickleball players talking to tennis players, and they ha and there’s like a resistance. What, what is that resistance? Why are so many tennis players so dead set against this pickleball when it’s kind of, it’s not a, it’s like you say, it’s a extension of the racket sport.

Interviewer 3: Why, why is there such [00:08:00] a, tell us, what are some of the conversations you have with a tennis player when you approach ’em about pickleball? Why are they so apprehensive?

Dave Fleming: Yeah, I mean, I think sometimes it’s new, you know, certainly in some places tennis courts have been switched over to pickleball courts, and I understand why that would be frustrating for a tennis player, but as a lifelong tennis player, I always show the benefits of both.

Dave Fleming: And, and I think once people see that and, and see just the joy that pickleball brings to so many people, it’s a lifestyle. I mean, this is, this is something that’s getting the country moving. And it’s fun and it does not have to be an or, it should be an and. And once you try it, I don’t know anyone that’s quit pickleball.

Dave Fleming: I mean, that’s how much fun people are having with it. So I always steer them to the positive parts of pickleball. And you know, for the most part, I think people have really started to embrace it.

Interviewer 1: Absolutely. It’s been something that, that’s the one word we hear consistently is how much fun people [00:09:00] are having playing this sport.

Interviewer 1: Dave Fleming, thank you so much for taking part of your morning to talk with us about pickleball and good luck this weekend. We’ll be seeing some pickleball right here on Prime Video. We look forward to seeing much more success from

Dave Fleming: you as well. Thanks so much for having me guys, and for having the Carvana PPA tour on Prime video.

Dave Fleming: Can’t wait. Thanks again.

Interviewer 1: Cannot wait. Now. Love it. As Dave says, Hey, you don’t see any appliances out there. What’s with this? Kitchen? Kitchen, but right here. But you know what, we are educating fans as well because like you said, Amani, a lot of people are saying, oh, well tennis is this. How is pickleball that?

Interviewer 1: But you know what? The more you know, the more

Interviewer 2: you find out. I know what he said. No one’s quit pickleball. Right? That was a beau. Like if some, if talk about the conversations, that’d be the one thing that I would say, and I would just walk away. Yeah. Nobody’s saying walk away. This is pickleball

Interviewer 3: Racket drop.

Interviewer 3: Exactly, exactly. Pickle, pickleball dropped.

Interviewer 1: Racket drop. All right, well, we’re quick taking a quick time out after the break. We’re gonna turn our attention to the association, the host, host of the Carrie Champion Show. Carrie Champion herself in studio with us live on Bonge Jore sports talk. Madeline Burke, Reed Fowler, and Iani Tumor will be back with more after this.[00:10:00]