Mick Unplugged - Wally Green | Overcoming Adversity: Wally Green on Life, Ping Pong, and Pickleball

Episode Date: November 18, 2024

Welcome back to another gripping episode of Mick Unplugged! Today, we have a remarkable guest joining us: Wally Green, a name synonymous with resilience and transformation in the world of table tennis. Once self-dubbed the worst player in the pro circuit, Wally went from being a struggling athlete to an international table tennis professional, with a journey marked by profound personal growth and unexpected turns. In this episode, we'll unravel Wally’s story—from his challenging youth marred by domestic violence and gang involvement to his eventual rise in the table tennis world, fuelled by sheer determination and the guidance of unexpected mentors. We'll dive into the pivotal moments that defined his path, including a life-altering opportunity in Germany and a surprising mentorship that helped steer him away from a troubled life. Wally also shares his candid thoughts on the sport of pickleball, confronting its growing popularity and the arrogance he perceives among its players. Despite retiring from professional table tennis, Wally’s competitive spirit remains unshakable, as he now sets his sights on proving his prowess in pickleball. Join our host, Mick Hunt, as we explore the depths of Wally’s multifaceted journey, including the mental fortitude required in ping pong, the significance of mentors, and the vital importance of asking for help. Stay tuned, as this episode promises an inspiring and raw portrayal of a unique athlete’s relentless quest for self-improvement and acceptance. Takeaways: ·       Mindset plays a crucial role in achieving success in sports and life. ·       Ping pong provided Wally with an escape from his troubled past. ·       Mentorship can change the trajectory of a person's life. ·       Overcoming adversity is a key theme in Wally's story. ·       Asking for help is essential for personal growth.   Sound Bites: ·       "I was living in the street for a year." ·       "Ping pong is what saved my life." ·       "I’m going to prove everybody wrong." ·       "If you need help, don't be afraid to ask." Connect and Discover Instagram:        Instagram.com/wallygreennyc Tik Tok:            @wallygreennycofficial Youtube:          wallygreennyc X:                     @wallygreennyc  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I'm probably the biggest hater of pickleball, especially online. Online, all the big pickleball pages, they all know me. They all know me because I'm always in the comments, just like, kind of shitting on the sport. And the reason why I was like that was because... Not only am I going to compete, not only am I going to dominate, but I'm going to be the best. Not one of the best, but the best. What was that journey like, man? I was never the best in the world, right? As a matter of fact, I was probably, when I started playing pro, the worst in the world.

By far, the worst in the world. What's one thing that you want to message out to the world today? One of the most important tips. If you need help, don't be afraid to ask. Right? It is very difficult to do everything on your own. One of the most important tips, if you need help, don't be afraid to ask. Right. It is very difficult to do everything on your own. And then more importantly, Welcome to Mick Unplugged, where we ignite potential and fuel purpose. Get ready for raw insights, bold moves and game changing conversations. Buckle up. Here's Mick. insights, bold moves, and game-changing conversations. Buckle up, here's Mick.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Mick Unplugged and today we have a phenomenal guest. We're talking about a world-renowned athlete and ambassador for the sport of table tennis. Known for his electrifying performances, an inspiring journey from the streets of Brooklyn to international acclaim. His dedication, resilience, and ability to connect with people of all backgrounds have made him a true icon in the world of sports. Please join me in welcoming the dynamic, the inspiring, the transformative, the wall breaker himself, Mr. Wally Green.

Wally, how are you doing today, brother? I'm great. Thanks for having me. himself, Mr. Wally Green. Wally, how you doing today, brother? I'm great. Thanks for having me. Absolutely, man. So we're about to start where, you know, we were talking offline. And I said, Wally, when I was introduced to you, I was like, wait, I've seen that guy. Because there's not a lot of people that look like me and Wally that you see on TV or out doing table tennis, right?

So, Wally, man, tell me how you went from Brooklyn to picking up table tennis. Oh man, it's pretty crazy because I actually hated it. I hated the sport. They had it in my high school. I used to make fun of all the kids that played it. At the time I was playing football, I played basketball for the wrestling team. And I would see it in the lunchroom and I would make fun of everyone. I'd be like, look at these kids with their short shorts and a stick. It was just funny for me to see. I started shooting pool one year and while I was shooting pool, I got hustled for a little bit of money. I got upset, took my pool stick, slammed it on the table and it shattered. It broke. It just

shattered. I was so angry. And back then, I used to take everything that was bothering me, I would take out on other people. I would blame everyone for everything and never myself. And so I saw some kids playing ping pong and it was like the perfect storm. The sport that I hate, I broke my pool stick, I'm angry. I'm going to go mess with these kids. So I went over there to where the kids were playing ping pong in this pool hall. And I asked one of the kids, I was like, can I get a hit? And the kid was like, you play this? I was like, I don't play it. Just give me, just give me the paddle. Right. And my original goal was when he hit the ball to me, to smash him in the face with the ball and then just say my bad. Right. And then it wouldn't look

like I was starting something. It was a mistake. But unfortunately, the angle of the racket happened to be down when I went to smash a ball in his face and it went on the table and it hit the table. And the kid was like, oh my God, it's a great shot. He's like, oh, you know, you gotta go check out this ping pong club.

And I said, there's no way that there's a place where people gather and play this sport. There's no way that there's a club for this. And he was like, I'm telling you, go check it out. Go see, you got to check it out. And back then I was going through two kinds of lives. I was in a gang at an early age at 13, owned six guns at 13, so I was a very violent kid. And the balance to the violence was sports, and also the balance to the abuse that was going on home with sports. If I joined every possible team that I could play, I'd be exhausted. And those things will bother me less.

So I just joined every sport. And so when the guy was telling me that this is a sport in the front, I was like, there's no way this is a sport, but in the back was like, well, maybe it is. So I went down to check out this, this was like, there's no way this is a sport. But in the back was like, well, maybe it is. So I went down to check out this sport. And when I walked in, it was another pool hall, much bigger, but they had like, I think, I don't remember, nine tables, maybe eight ping pong tables had a section was just ping pong. And, you know, guys were standing back making a lot of noise and ripping these balls back and forth. And the craziest thing about it was, is that every person who happened to be playing that day was black. And then I was like, wait a minute,

black people play this? I was shocked because for me, only Asians played ping pong. And I was like, what? So it was like, wait a minute, black people play this? And I saw them playing and then immediately my mind changed. And I was like, yo, I wanna play this too. And then that's how I started. That was the first start of me touching a paddle and trying to learn the sport. That's amazing, man. And I'm gonna say you conquered it, right?

Because knowing Wally like I know, when you put your mind to something, you don't just go like halfway in, like you were gonna be the best, you don't just go like halfway in, like you were going to be the best. So what was that journey like from starting at the clubs, the table tennis or ping pong clubs to saying, not only am I going to compete, not only am I going to dominate,

but I'm going to be the best, not one of the best, but the best. What was that journey like, man? It was crazy, right? Because I was never the best in the world, right? As a matter of fact, I was probably, when I started playing pro, the worst in the world. I was by far the worst in the world. And it was not because I didn't have the skill to do it. I just had the wrong

mindset. Like I was a great athlete. I played every sport. I got MVP in every sport I ever played, every sport. And so I just figured, you know what? I'm going to be great at this too. And I'm going to beat everyone. And that was my mindset. But I wasn't really respecting the sport and respecting the people that actually put, you know, years into the sport since three years old. Because of that, I would go play these tournaments. Like I would, you know, leave America, go to China and lose like 11-1, 11-2, 11-3, 11-1. Maybe don't get five points in one match.

And my tournament would be over. So I just flew from America to China and one day that's it. I was done. And this happened for a long time. Like I was just losing and it wasn't, I couldn't play. I could play as practicing every day and I was practicing different countries. But my mindset was wrong. I was thinking that because I'm such a great athlete, I should be great in this.

And because I started to believe that I wasn't learning, right? I wasn't learning why I was losing. I wasn't learning why the score was 11-1 or 11-2. And then I started to try to figure out how could I get better, right? Because people will come up to me and they would say, you should be playing basketball. I've had people tell me that. you should be rapping. I mean, I was doing some hip hop back then. You should be doing this. And it's you should be doing everything except this sport. Like this is not, they were telling me this is not for you. Like, and people were telling me this. And I started to like think like, man, you know, all right, something's is off here. Like I got to figure out how can I get better?

And then I came up with this idea and I said, you know what? Maybe I'm putting too much pressure on myself. Instead of me trying to win a match, let me get five points. If I can get five points in one match, not even five points in four out of seven games, just one match, I get five points, I'm the world champion. And so I conditioned my mind to believe this. So people thought I was crazy. That's why everyone in the world, like they know me because they thought I was crazy. Cause I would go and play these tournaments

and I would lose four zero. I got one game, five points. You would see me go, yeah. And I'd be happy, right? But I knew at that time that one of the most important things is celebrating those smaller goals, like the smaller tiny ones. Small wins.

Yeah, you need to celebrate those. So I was celebrating, like I was a champion. And I went from that to winning, getting five points in every game, then going from five points in every game to winning one game, then winning from five points in every game to winning one game, then winning two games, then winning a match. And that's the way that I changed my mindset to actually start to win some matches, right? But I never became the best. And I realized, you know,

there's a point where you realize like there's one champion, there's one number one in the world, and you have to figure out whether, okay, if I can't be the best, then what can I do? And then I realized that, I was like, wait a minute, hold on. There's nobody like me in the entire world of ping pong. First of all, I'm black, I bring the swag to the sport. Electrifying. I bring the swag to the sport. Electrifying. I bring this energy that no one has.

So maybe I don't have to be the best. Maybe I don't need to be number one. Maybe I don't need to be number two. So then I went on this journey of being the most popular player. And what happened was is I would play a tournament and lose and the media would come to me immediately. I would get the interview, not the guy who won, which was crazy. I was like, and I kept getting these interviews. And there was an incident one time in China where normally in a ping pong match, you'll have a preliminary round. And in the preliminary round, there

might be four people or three people in the group, right? Each person plays each other. And normally there's no TV table for the preliminary round, right? And if you do get one, it's one. And you're lucky if you get that because it's almost no one's getting this. And I noticed when I would go to China, all my matches are on the TV table. And I'm like, why do these people keep pulling on the TV table? I didn't want to be on the TV table, right? And so I would go to the head person and I would say, hey, why do you guys keep putting

me on a TV table? I just played. Just put me on a different table, but I don't want to be on a TV table. And the director said something which really hit me. He goes, Wally, no, you are good for TV. And when he said that, I was like, yeah, you know what, you're right. And then, you know, I had less pressure.

I started to play much better, right? Because- You were free. I was free. I was free from, you know, trying to be the best of the best, right? And I got really, really good. Yeah, and it was a very interesting journey.

And the media went crazy with it because technically I shouldn't even be playing the sport. More or less be good at it. Yeah, and then you became the most marketable star in table tennis, man. Like crazy, right? Yeah, yeah. But if it was gonna be someone,

it would have had to be someone from Brooklyn, right? Yes. Yeah, for sure. For sure. For sure. Man, so I want to unplug a couple of things that you actually hit on earlier. But before we go there, I got to have a confession on table tennis, because I was never big in table tennis, but could play right, you know, in college, you got nothing to do on a weekend. You and some fellas, you go hit, and you try to show out for people that are in there, right?

But I hadn't played in a while. And last summer, my best friend Daniel Song has five kids. So Natalie, Leah, Lauren, Nicole, Nate. I'm talking to you right now. Uncle Mick is talking to you guys. Wally, they whooped me, bro. So Natalie, Leah, Lauren, Nicole, Nate, I'm talking to you right now. Uncle Mick is talking to you guys. Wally, they whooped me, bro.

Like when I say they whooped me, they took turns and it was comical for them. They were salivating to get their turn to beat Uncle Mick. But that was last summer. Nieces and nephews, I've been working on it now. You don't want this anymore. I'm ready. Oh, I've been watching Wally Green tapes and I picked up some skill. And I know that intimidation factor now because I watch what Wally was doing.

So so part of that game is mental. Right, Wally? Yes, a lot of it is. Yeah, so it's 90 percent mental. Sure. So I want to go back and unplug something really quick, man. So you talked about 13 years old in a gang looking for that escape, man. So at MICK Unplugged, we talk about going deeper than your why and really finding that because,

that thing that drives you, that really fuels you to be the best version of yourself every day. At what moment did you really say to yourself, I've got to be a better person than who I can be? Because let's be honest, man, because everyone watching and listening has that friend or have that situation for themselves where you choose path A or path B. And a lot of us don't choose the right path. Right? So what made you say, I'm going to go down the right path and not only go down it, but stay there because it's tough. Yeah. Oh man. I get chills from this question. It's always a very deep question. So I grew up

with really severe domestic violence. My mom used to get beat up all the time, a chill punch in the face. My stepfather used to mentally abuse me, used to beat me too, but I got a lot of mental abuse. And the kind of mental abuse was my stepfather always saying that you'll never be successful, you'll be dead,

you'll be in jail, you'll be a failure the rest of your life. I would come home from school. And we're talking about as a kid, as like junior high school student, I would come home from school. Maybe I'm in a good mood, which is rare. And my stepfather would say, Oh, how was your day? And I would say, Oh, it was good. And he would say, Oh, it doesn't really matter how it was because you're going to be a failure anyway. So he would systematically try to make me feel less than the same time being on my mom. And, um, you know, as a kid, you know, you always want to protect your mom.

Like I've been with my stepfather has been there since I was one. Cause I don't remember my mom and my dad together, but my stepfather and my mom been together since I was like one. So this abuse started since I was like one. So this abuse started since I was one. And as a kid, you always want to protect your mom. You know, you just think about this every day. When I was like, I don't know, like seven or eight, I was thinking of how I could put boric acid into his capsules of the pills that he took. Wow. Right? Because like I said, I watched my mom get hit that he took. Wow. Right?

Because like I said, I watched my mom get hit all the time, right? And it wasn't until the pandemic came where I learned about narcissism. I learned what it was. And I was like, oh my God, man, that's why none of my family never came to my house. Right? But yeah, so I always thought I wanted to protect her. And I had an incident in school when I was about 14.

I got caught with a loaded weapon in school. I got into a lot of trouble because I had other problems, other priors before. The judge was trying to really put me away. They were trying to give me 10 years in jail, like from juvenile to adult. And, um, I have one thing going for me. And that one thing going was I always have my schoolwork done, which is wild, but there's a reason to have my schoolwork done was because I needed those sport teams and without good grades, you can't be on the team and I needed those

teams because those teams made me less violent. And I knew that. So I had people do the work for me, for protection. I had people doing my work. I had people like taking notes. Like I was on point because I needed those teams to just keep me from doing something even worse. So anyway, my mom convinced the judge that they would send me to boarding school.

They would send me away to Africa. So I got sent away, like away, away. And when I got there, it was me trying to find myself all again, over again. It was me trying to prove myself again. And it was kind of weird because I thought, if I go to Africa, then it's going to be easy peasy. Right. Everyone's black like me is going to be chill, but it wasn't the case at all. It was the opposite.

You really, when I tell people this and they go, how's that possible? When I went there, I think the most racism I ever felt was there because for them, I wasn't the real black. They would call me in their language, the kid who eats butter, try to say I'm soft. So I spent a lot of time fighting. I spent a lot of time trying now because I had no gang members with me, it was just me.

I spent a lot of time trying to find myself again. And I joined this crazy military thing there called Man of War and Man of War. And Man of War, it's like, I do not explain it. It's like Boy Scouts times 10,000. Yeah. Like they make you do stuff like just standing straight up and falling. Like it's wild.

But that made me much stronger. And that made me, you know, you know, made me think or know that I can finally protect my mom. So I came back to America when I was 16. And an incident happened where my stepfather was choking my mom. And I just looked over. And when I looked over, my stepfather says, what are you looking at? If you look over here, you're going to get the same thing. And I just lost it. Like, I don't even remember running out the house. I just kind of like just lost it, ran out the house.

I went and got a gun, came back in the house, and I put it to his face. And I was going to kill my stepfather. And my mom called the police. And my mom's exact words were, you guys need to hurry. My son's trying to kill my husband. And when she said that, like, I can't explain it. Like, I was just empty. It was like the ultimate betrayal that the person that I wanted to protect since I was

a kid, turn around and said this. And I took the gun I put to my mom's face and I was going to end both their lives that day. That day I was going to, it was it. I was going to end both their lives. I was shaking, I was crying and I was going to end both their lives. But then I remembered something. You can say divine intervention, little birdie, whatever people want to call it came to me and says, hey, hey, if you do this, if you do this right now, every single thing that your stepfather said is going to happen to you right now today, if you do this. And luckily I was smart enough to listen. And I think more than being smart, I hated my stepfather so much that having nothing that he ever said come true was more important than me ending both their lives. So I walked away. And that's the answer to your question.

That was the first step of like, you can do it because I tell people it's easy to pull that trigger. It's not hard. I'm telling you, it's not like I could have. It's easy to pull it, to walk away is the hardest thing I ever did to not do it. Because after that, I was questioning myself. You had your chance. Now you have the other side of you. Yo bro, you had your chance. You didn't take it.

You could end that guy's life. And now he's still walking around. Your mom and this still together. And look at you now, you're living in the street. You should have did what you had to do. And then had to deal with that. But after I was able to get over that, then I realized like, you know, maybe I can do this, right?

Maybe I can want something different for my life. And that's when ping pong came around. That's amazing. I want to go to one spot where you, the ultimate betrayal, right? For a mama's boy. And I mean that affectionately, cause I'm a mama's boy too, right?

So, so for a mama's boy to lose that purpose, right? To lose that, your words, everything that you were doing for the first 16 years of your life was not because of you, was solely because of your mom. Putting your mom first in everything that you were doing. What was that moment like? And what were the next few years like for you? Because I'm sure this is an assumption,

so I want you to be able to talk about it. I'm sure your heart hardened a little bit, right? It probably made you a, I can only imagine what I would go through and like, I wouldn't trust people. I probably wouldn't get close to people. You know, I'm probably looking over my shoulder, right? I'm trying to wonder what everybody's angle is, right?

Like you're from New York anyway, where everybody has angles. So it probably made it at a 10, right? Like what was those next few years like for Wally, like going through that? The year following that, like, you know, I lived in the street. So I lived in the street for a year, hanging out every day, you know, hanging out with my gang, just doing real

dumb stuff. And I just felt empty. I felt lost. I didn't care. I didn't care about anything. I just didn't care. And it was to the point to where, like I said, anything that I felt, I would take on other people. And I could be angry at any given moment for no reason. Like for no reason at all. I could be talking like this, and all of a sudden, now I'm angry because what happens, I start remembering. You know, because I tell people, you know, that trauma and those words, they're with you all the time. Like they never leave you. Like I hear this all the time in my head. You know, you guys have to hurry. My son's trying to kill my you. I hear this all the time in my head. You guys have to hurry. My son's trying to kill my husband.

I'm never going to forget it. It's always in my head. It was really difficult. Like I said, I had no direction and it was the ping pong. That's what I say. The ping pong is what saved my life. It was a sport that I hated that I got so interested because I saw people like me doing it.

That just took over my mind because you know, ping pong is a very interesting sport because it's such a small ball and it's so fast. It occupies a lot of your mind. Like when you're playing, it's very hard to think about stuff because it's so fast. Like if you play basketball, right, you have time where you can think about something. There's no time because it's 10th of a second. It's been a decision. So I noticed that, you know, when I played ping pong, like I thought less. I didn't get into those thoughts or remembering those words

or remembering what my step was. I was just focused on ping pong. When I played other sports, there'd be periods where I would, you know, start. You have you have idle time, idle moments. Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. That's exact words. Yeah. Yeah. So the ping pong is really what helped me get through it. And I don't know if you heard the other part of the story. There was a guy who used to come to the ping pong club

and he had met me and asked me if I had a partner. Right. And at this time I was like kind of living in the street and I was like, no, he was like, listen, you know, I'll pay you $20. If you could just hit with me, be my hitting partner like twice a week. And I was like $20. Yeah, of course. You know, that's easy. Right. I just hit with this guy. I wasn't great, but I can, you know, I can hit basic balls. And so this guy would play with me, we played together. And then, you know, we became sort of kind of close, right, because I had no, like adult figure that I could talk to. And I really need to talk because this was right after.

And then, you know, I was such a bad head. And I would talk to this guy sometimes. And plus, for me, he was like this random dude. So it didn't even matter. Right. It wasn't anything serious. And for him, it was more like a TV show. Right. So I always tell people like, you know, if you don't know anyone who's lived that life or been in that life. It's impossible to understand. It's impossible for a lot of people to understand how a 13-year-old has guns. For me, I hear it. I'm like, okay, that's normal. I'm not going to go, oh my God, really? But he was like, oh my God, really? That's impossible. So he never really

kind of like took it seriously. Then one day I went to the club and a 22 fell out of my bag in front of him. And he saw it. And immediately I said, yo, I got to go because I don't know what he's going to do. He's going to call police. I don't know what he's going to do. So I left least, I don't know what he's going to do. So I left and I thought, you know, that'll be the end of the $20. But the guy called me actually the next day, it was two days later and says, Hey, are we still playing? Which was weird because, you know, in my mind, like I say, he was a white guy, he was an Israeli guy. And in my mind is like, if you're calling me to say, are we still playing? Without mentioning what happened, like, you know, like, what's,

like what's really going on, right? But I needed that $20. So, you know, I went and met with him and then he says, Hey, I want to invite you to meet my family, which was also weird. I mean, you don't invite the guy who just dropped the gun in front of you to your house. And he had an apartment in New York. He had a house upstate near Hunter. And, uh, so I was like, okay, you know, it's kind of weird, but, you know, so I go with him.

Um, we go to meet his family and, you know, now they're, everyone's sitting at the table, you know, real kind of like, I don't know, little house on the prairie kind of like family thing where people passing food to each other and thank you, yes, no. And everyone's kind of like smiling, oh, how was your day? And I was getting angry because I was like, why would this guy bring me here knowing that I don't have this? Like, you know, like, so I was becoming really angry about it. And then he tells me, he goes,

Hey, you know, I really want to help you. I know you really like ping pong. I have a connection in Germany and I'm going to pay for you to go to Germany to learn ping pong. And I was like, what? And he was like, yeah. And at the time, at the time, it was all crazy to me because the only thing I knew about Germany was Hitler. And I was like, why is this dude sending me to Germany? Or I didn't know about sports schools in Europe, because we don't really have sports schools. We don't have sports schools in New York City. We have schools that have sports, but we don't have sports schools. And so it was all new.

But, you know, like I said, I was always a smart kid and I knew that it was something better. And I took the chance and agreed. And that's how I actually got out and, you know, started like that real life of ping pong. Yeah. And the moment that truly changed your life, that changed your trajectory of your life was that. And that's where I say, whether it's mentors, accountability partners, whatever it is, every human being on earth should be either seeking

one of those or delivering the other, right? Either seeking mentorship, guidance, and accountability, or being that for someone. Because to me, that's how the world moves forward, because we all need wisdom. We all need to seek wisdom or give wisdom. And so I love that you actually shared that part of the story, man.

So kudos to you and kudos to that man and that family for allowing the world to see the real Wally Green, man. That's dope, that's dope. So I know table tennis, you're like, I'm retired, right? You're done. What's Wally Green doing now? Cause I know you're not just gonna sit still. I know you well enough to know, hey, you're either going to break out into hip hop, you're going to be a dope producer,

or you're going to find some other sport to go dominate. So what's Wally Green doing, man? Yeah, man. So there's another sport that I also hate. I mean, I think I still hate it. I'm sure I don't love it yet. And it's the sport of pickleball. And I'm probably the biggest hater of pickleball, especially online. Online, all the big pickleball pages, they all know me.

They all know me because I'm always in the comments, just like kind of shitting on the sport. And the reason why I was like that was because this sport's been out for a little while, but it just started getting popular since the pandemic. And when it came out, people were obnoxious. They were like, oh, this is the greatest sport in the world. Oh, it's the best sport in the world. They started taking people's courts. There's another sport that I played pro called paddle tennis, and they would come and take our courts. And I'm like, this is not a pillow ball court,

it's a paddle tennis court. And it was so just, it being such an obnoxious sport, it just made me go on like this rampage of hate for the sport. So whenever it popped up on my feed, I would just trash talk it. And then people were like, oh, you don't talk about the great sport. And I'm like, man, this sport was created for 70 year olds. That's the original reason the sport was made. And yeah, so I really hate this sport. My sponsor, they are now the number one pickleball company for equipment. My table tennis sponsor. So they jumped into pickleball

a few years ago and they became the number one right now. The number one selling racket is from my table tennis sponsor, which is wild. And who is that? Yola, Yola. Yola, okay. So spelled J-O-O-L-A. Yeah. They're number one now.

And they mentioned to me four years, I think like four years ago, maybe, I should play pickleball. I was like, you're crazy. I've never played this sport. And I'll give you a sneak peek of why I'm playing it. I'm actually going to film the unboxing and this, and I will tell the story in my unboxing. Um, but I guess that I hated the sport, really didn't like it.

They didn't care for the people in it. And, uh, in the ending of December, I had surgery on my right hip on your hip, sorry, left hip, and the ending of December. So I have a full bionic hip right now. And, um, I was riding a city bike to PT physical therapy. And I took a different route. I took very, I took way, way on the east side. And as I was riding, I saw a park where there were pickleball courts. And I've never seen a real pickleball court. I've only seen the videos. So I started, so I was like, oh, the pickleball court looks a lot

like my paddle tennis courts. That's why these guys keep jumping on the courts. And so I got down, I pulled over, walked down the stairs, like these little stairs that go into a smaller part where the courts are. And I sat down and I watched it for a little while. And then I could appreciate, okay, I

can see why people like this because there's a low learning curve, right? It's very easy to play, very easy to start. And maybe people who normally don't get exercise can now do something fun and exercise, right? So I was having some small appreciation. Then I look over, there's a guy sitting next to me and I says, hey, do you play pickleball here every day? And the guy goes to me, what? I'm a four or five. You're what? And you know, and I, okay, I know what a four or five is now. It's, it's, you know, pretty high level. But yeah, at that time, I didn't really talk about it. I was already me four or five. I said, bro, I didn't ask you what you were, right?

And I said it more intensely than what I'm saying now. You know, but I said, you know, I didn't ask you what you were, I just asked you if you played. So you asked him a question, and then he did what he did. He goes, and looks up and looks away opposite direction. Oh, just straight disrespect, huh? Listen, oh man, I'm telling you, it took a lot for me not to hit this dude, bro.

I just wanted to hit him so hard. It took a lot. I got so angry inside and I said, you know what? I'm gonna be here tomorrow. And I started going every day. And that's why I play the sport now. And then I noticed at the higher level, like everyone's so cocky and they write you off. Now, I don't know if it's because, you know,

there's not a lot of black people that play this sport or what, but what I notice is when I go meet new people for the first time and it's a high-level game and I say, hey, my name is Wally. You know, they'll look at you like, what is this guy doing here? Yeah. Without knowing that I'm a world-class athlete, they're just right. It'd be written off right away. And, um, then when you play and after you show them all of a sudden, now they want to be a friend and want to get your number for games later.

And I'm like, nah, I'm good. Right? So that cockiness in this sport, that makes me want to play every day. And it's like the ping pong. It was the same thing exactly, exactly like the ping pong, right? So I'm going to prove everybody that I'm going to,

not only am I going to play, not only am I going to be great at it, but I'm going to do it the way I want to do it. That's what I'm gonna not only am I gonna play, not only am I gonna be great at it, but I'm gonna do it the way I wanna do it. That's what I'm talking about. And that's why I play the sport. The swag is coming to pickleball. Yeah, it is. And it's coming hard.

The swag, Wally G. Yeah, yeah. Is coming. Yeah. Wally G is coming. That's what I'm talking about, man. I gotta introduce you. I don't know if you, you know, or remember Hall of Famer Rick Berry from

basketball, he did the the underhand free throws. Yeah, he is now a pickleball legend. Like he is a champion and we were just talking the other day. And he is like, just casually. Yeah, I'm like four time champion. I was like, what? What? That's great. So those competitive juices don't leave. Wally, man, I know you're so busy.

I appreciate you taking some time with the viewers and listeners. What's one tip that you want to leave the viewers and listeners with? I don't care if it's sports, if it's life. What's one thing that you want to message out viewers and listeners with? I don't care if it's sports, if it's life. What's one thing that you want to message out to the world today? I think this is probably one of the most important tips.

If you need help, don't be afraid to ask. It's very difficult to do everything on your own. And then more importantly, if help is offered to you, take it. Take it. You never know where that help is gonna get you. If I didn't take the help that was offered to me, I wouldn't be here talking to you. I would be dead or in jail, just like my stepfather wanted.

So yeah, if people offer you help, you definitely should take it. Don't try to do everything yourself. I love it. I love it, brother. Man, so where can people follow you and find you? On Instagram, Instagram, Wally Green NYC. That's the best place for it.

There we go. Wally, brother, I appreciate it, man. We're gonna make sure that we are journaling and showing your experience in pickleball. I wanna have you back on in a couple of months after the holidays so we can see, you know, exactly what's going on. And if there's anything that the Mekong Pluck community can do,

brother, we are there for you, my man. And when we come back after the holidays, we talk about my North Korea diplomacy for world peace. That's what we're doing. Yeah, we'll save that. Part two after the holidays. I love it. Ladies and gentlemen, remember, your because is your superpower.

Go unleash it. Thank you for tuning in to Mick Unplugged. Keep pushing your limits, embracing your purpose, and chasing greatness. Until next time, stay unstoppable.