Cristen Kessler: "Pushing Myself to Reach My Potential"

From tennis to pro pickleball: She knew what she wanted to do and realized that in order to move forward, we sometimes have to leave even good things behind.

The best thing about talking with strangers is that you never know what stories you’re going to hear. Several weeks ago, a sideline conversation at an APP pro tournament led to such a conversation. I was chatting with a new friend, Nick Bolea, while waiting for a break in the current pro qualifier game before entering the enclosed court. 

In this article:
- From tennis to pickleball
- Moving forward when others resist your growth
- The rewards of pursuing your goals
- The importance of being valued
- Pushing yourself toward your potential

Nick, a tennis player and instructor from Buffalo, New York, mentioned that his girlfriend, Cristen Kessler, had a great story with pickleball. He was right about that. It’s a great story about pickleball, but it’s also a great story about life, listening to your intuition, and taking risks. In a fortuitous conversation before her next game, Cris talked enthusiastically about her journey from tennis to pickleball.

In action at an NPL Tournament.

I was matching her enthusiasm as I scribbled (or rather thumb-typed) notes furiously on my phone. Because while she was talking about leaving competitive tennis behind to go all-in on pickleball, she could just as well have been talking about leaving a corporate job or pursuing a new business or ending a damaging relationship or following your courage to enter a new chapter. 

From tennis to pickleball

Cristen Kessler is a senior pro pickleball player on the Kansas City Stingers who got into pickleball just a couple years ago. She’d been involved in tennis for decades, playing Division 1 tennis for Saint Bonaventure University, coaching Division 1 college tennis for Canisius College, and playing competitively over the years. You could say she was pretty invested in the tennis thing.

Her son, Mike Kessler, works for Diadem Sports and he was the one to encourage her to try pickleball. According to Cristen:

He’s the one who thought I could be great and urged me to try it.  He also urged my boyfriend, a great tennis player and tennis instructor, to try pickleball and we both decided to give it a try.  It wasn’t long after that that I realized how awesome this sport was, and that I wanted to see how good I could get. My boyfriend definitely helped me get better because of how quickly he got great [at the game].

She didn’t straddle the two worlds, but jumped with both court-shoes into pickleball, leaving tennis behind. Some friends gave her a very hard time the first year, saying things like, “How could you give up on tennis? It was so good to you.”

They weren’t wrong, as it had been good to her. But she knew what she wanted to do and realized that in order to move forward, we sometimes have to leave even good things behind.

Moving forward when others resist your growth

About her move, Cristen says:

“When I first started, I never thought about going pro, I just wanted to get better and play competitively.  It wasn’t until I started playing tournaments and started beating high-level players, including many younger players, that I started wondering what my full potential was.  For me, I knew I had to walk away from playing tennis and go all in on pickleball to become a true well-rounded pickleball player.  My focus and training needed to be pickleball only for me to be my best.  Then a friend of mine encouraged me and some others to go to the first NPL Combine in March of 2023.  I had only been playing for 15 months, and was thrilled to get drafted to Austin Ignite.”

As Cris left tennis and went all-in on pickleball, some friends were hurt, almost like she was abandoning them. Anyone who’s left one job for a better job or to go out on their own can relate. There can be slight-to-major dissonance between work friends when one chooses to leave. You used to be part of the same “thing” and shared a culture and traditions and language, and now your bags are packed for exotic new horizons. Horizons made exotic because they’re new and because you are choosing to leave for something that could be even better for you.

It’s like a rubber band, where in our groups we can sometimes resist the expansion or growth that happens when one member takes a risk. We like the rubber band comfort zone just like it is, and, like crabs in a bucket, can sometimes try to limit the growth of even people we love. Their growth challenges the group and individual status quo. 

Put frankly, if you’re feeling stagnant yourself, it can be tempting to want the people around you to remain the same; it makes you feel better about your own lack of progress. I have no personal experience with this phenomenon at all. This article out of the Wharton Business School is a fascinating look at the status quo bias in the workplace, but it’s relevant to so much of life and our relationships.

The rewards of pursuing your goals

Two years into a very eventful pickleball journey, Cris says emphatically about her move, “I absolutely don’t regret it.”

Her highlights over the past couple years include: 

• A winning record her first year in the NPL.

• Helping her first team, the Austin Ignite, win the regular season and take home the silver medal in the championship tournament.

• 5 senior pro medals with three different female partners and two different mixed doubles partners. (For context, there are apparently a number of pro players with many more years experience playing who have never earned a single senior pro medal, so this is quite an accomplishment.)

• Having a winning record on her current team, the Kansas City Stingers.

And about the skeptics and naysayers, she says, “Some people thought I was crazy, they never thought I’d get this good. Now they’re all really happy for me.” She has no ill feelings for their skepticism; she just knew she was right about what she was choosing to do.

Sometimes the rewards of growth won’t be as visible as medals, but there are always rewards to pursuing growth over stagnation. Sometimes it’s an expansion of your soul and mind and creativity. It might be a richness of connection with others. It might be a growing portfolio and skillset. Sometimes and often, in at least the long-run, the rewards are financial. But there are always prizes or recompenses on the path of potential. And no matter what the rewards are, they sure make more of you to share with the world.

The importance of being valued

I asked what her experience has been on the Kansas City Stingers. “I love the NPL and have nothing but good to say.” She’s been on two awesome teams, teams with great owners and great people. “What makes a great owner?” I asked. As she answered, I almost forgot we were talking about pickleball for how relatable it is to employment. “Great owners provide a lot of structure. They’re good communicators, they are generous, and [they] strengthen the bond.”

She described being nervous at draft time, because the team you’re drafted to makes a really big difference. I mentioned a conversation I had with a not-to-be-named NPL player who has had a different experience on his team, and she replied, “If you’re on a team where you don’t feel valued, it would all be different.” 

There’s a lot to that “being valued” thing. Great leaders value their people. Great owners value their players. Great players value themselves and their owners. Great people value great leaders. It’s one big happy cycle, one which we sometimes have to interrupt to get to where we’re meant to be.

Pushing yourself toward your potential

For anyone hesitant to push themselves, I like what Cristen shares.

Trying out for the NPL has been one of the best decisions I ever made. I’ve met incredible people, made wonderful friends and I continue to get better. It has also given me the courage to play APP Tour tournaments and Senior Pro Tour tournaments… My goal is to keep improving and earn more medals.  I know I haven’t reached my full potential yet, so I will keep pushing myself to improve. 

But here’s the the thing: she never would’ve been in a position to try out for the NPL if she hadn’t tried something new, been willing to focus on this one thing, and close the chapter on something she’d loved.

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The Pickleball Times was created to be a thoughtful look at the game of pickleball, the industry, the people, and its rise in our society. It’s also meant to hopefully influence the sport to stay classy and each of us to make pickleball a wonderful part of an intentional, balanced life. If this resonates, please consider subscribing today and sharing to help it grow.