There are a lot of things that you might guess if someone asked, “You know what restored my faith in humanity?” A kind gesture from a stranger. A heartwarming story on the news. Ted Lasso. Malala. And now… Pickleball.
During a recent interview, Karl Sanders from South Carolina death metal legends NILE opened up about his love of the sport, and confessed that it, in fact, restored his “faith in humanity.” Sanders also divulged that he plays with a Cannibal Corpse paddle and that he previously played tennis with original NILE drummer Pete Hammoura before the pair discovered paddleball.
“There’s a social aspect to the game, and it somehow is a game that encourages sportsmanship and politeness with your opponents,” Sanders told Side Jams With Bryan Reesman. “You’re pretty close to each other, especially if you’re playing doubles and your partner’s right next to you. So it encourages, in the most incredible way, very nice socialism between people.”
“You’ll see the best human behavior you could possibly imagine on the pickleball court,” Sanders continued. “It’s unbelievable. [If] you ran into that person in the parking lot at Walmart it would probably be a normal Walmart parking lot experience, you know, not necessarily the most humane thing imaginable. But put those same people on a pickleball court together, and they act like civilized human beings who care about one another. It’s just the damnedest thing.”
Sanders went on to admit that he’s always liked “the violence of tennis,” but appreciates that pickleball has “a little more chess to it.” He also explained that the social aspects of paddleball make it very enticing.
“After the pandemic, I was very disappointed in how I saw people treating each other,” Sanders shared. “I was like human beings are better than this. It is possible to be a good person and treat other human beings like human beings.” He finally added, “Pickleball has restored my faith in humanity.”
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