Psychology professor joins national pro pickleball circuit

Six years ago, Danielle Polage hadn’t even played pickleball. This summer, she learned that she is among the best senior circuit players in the country.

After honing her skills among top players from around the state for the past couple of years, the CWU psychology professor was drafted by the U.S. Legends Pickleball League to compete against other accomplished picklers from coast to coast.

“A friend of mine who I used to partner with bought a team and asked me to try out,” Polage said. “So I went to a combine in Virginia with hundreds of other players and ended up getting selected.”

Polage and her team, the DMV Picklers, are playing in a series of doubles tournaments throughout the fall, mostly on the East Coast. The D.C., Maryland, and Virginia-based team, owned by Chandra Soucek, will continue into January, when the championship tournament is held.

The Legends Pickleball League features 12 teams with rosters of 14 senior pros (50 years old and older) from all over the U.S. Polage explained that pickleball continues to gain popularity across the country, including here in Central Washington.

She and her fellow Legends Pickleball League competitors are considered professionals, although they do not earn regular paychecks. Instead, they compete for prize money and receive sponsorships from sporting goods companies like Selkirk (Polage's sponsor).

“There are players from across the country, but all of the tournaments are on the East Coast because they have the largest facilities,” she said. “All of the tournaments are on the weekends, so it fits in pretty well with my teaching schedule. I’m going to be traveling a lot, but it’s a great opportunity.”

Polage played tennis and competed in track and field in high school, and she’s also been involved in water-based activities like paddling over the years. But none of her other pursuits rival her love for pickleball — a passion she discovered during the pandemic when all of the tennis courts in Yakima were shutting down.

“When I got back from sabbatical during COVID, our tennis club was all abuzz about pickleball,” she said. “Then my dad started playing it down in Florida and he started to get me into it when I visited him. I loved it from the first time I played, and I decided, ‘this sport is the perfect match for me.’ I got to the point where I didn’t even want to play tennis anymore.”

She enjoyed the sport so much that she started teaching others how to play, taking on a lead instructor role with Yakima Parks and Recreation for the past three years.  She also has become actively involved in growing the pickleball community in Yakima, where she and her family live.

“I will teach anyone to play,” Polage said. “I love seeing the sport grow and doing everything I can to get more people involved. It feels like we are part of a big movement, and that’s super exciting.”

She would also like to see the sport continue to grow in Ellensburg and at CWU, where her daughter, Elyse, is a student. The younger Polage talked to University Recreation last spring about starting a pickleball club, and she hopes to continue those conversations this year.

“We had over 70 signatures from people on campus who were interested in starting a club, so I think there’s a huge opportunity,” Danielle Polage said. “I would even be interested in providing instruction. Hopefully we can keep the conversation going because I think a pickleball club at Central would be a hit.”

As much as Polage enjoys playing and teaching pickleball, she is even more passionate about the strong sense of community the sport engenders for people of all ages. She wishes everyone could discover what she has over the past six years.

“The friendships you make playing pickleball are unlike anything I’ve ever experienced,” she said. “You play with a group of people for 20 minutes and you form a lasting connection with them. You don’t need to have a partner to play; just show up at the courts and you will find dozens of other people who want you to join them. It’s just amazing.”