By Jen Mulson – Red Line Editorial
If there’s something to compete for, chances are Ken Sawer and Kathleen Fors are willing to give it a try.
Sawer, 80, is a former high school tennis coach and teacher and ski instructor. Fors, 77, is a life coach. Together they’ve spent the last four years learning to play pickleball, earning wins and trying to tolerate losses whenever they step on a court.
“Our strength is we’re both competitive and habitual learners,” Sawer said. “I’m a coach by nature and she’s a coach by nature. So, we have our ups and downs like any husband and wife, but we’re on the same page also.”
July 12 at the USA Pickleball Golden Ticket tournament in Colorado Springs was one of those days when mental fortitude comes in handy.
Fors competed in the final of her singles division against a woman more than a decade younger. She covered the court well and hit impressive shots, but she trailed midway through the match.
“That’s OK, Kathleen,” Sawer called out to his wife from the sidelines. “That’s the way you want to be.”
During a timeout he beelined over to coach her.
“A competitor has to learn how to lose and in life you have to learn how to lose,” Sawer said. “She’s a life coach and we know all the pitfalls, and right now when I went over I said, ‘You’re getting beat but you’re having good points.’”
He tried to throw out ideas that might help change the course of the match, he says, like changing her technique, or playing high balls or low balls or coming into the net more, but sometimes none of it works.
As Fors walked off the court, sporting a loss, Sawer consoled her.
“You had some good rallies,” he said.
She took it all in stride.