Pickleball becomes ‘lifeline’ for Army veteran with PTSD
By Patrick Lynn and Shelly Johnson
Most pickleball players begin their journeys in the sport by having a friend drag and coerce them into the park or onto a court. This was not the case for Gene Sheets, an Army veteran. Friends were in short supply at this point in his life.
Sheets, 37, from Plover, and his brother Donovan were walking past the Mead Park pickleball courts on their way to a basketball court. Donovan Sheets about the courts, and Gene Sheets replied, “I think they’re pickleball courts.”
After they left the basketball court, Gene Sheets hung around the fence of the courts and watched.
The next morning he purchased his first paddle. The next evening, he went back to the courts, paddle in hand, and stood outside the fence again. Waiting.
He didn’t wait long. Before he knew it, he was on the courts. He never looked back. From that first time in August of 2023 to now, Gene Sheets has gone from beginner to 5.0. The quick rise of the sport has mirrored Sheets’ learning curve. The road he traveled to picking up that first pickleball match, though, has been anything but smooth.
As an Army veteran of two tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, Gene Sheets is no novice to battles. Straight out of high school in 2005, he joined the National Guard. He transferred to active duty Army almost six years later. His deployment assignments were convoy security and 13 Fox Forward Observer, meaning he was assigned an extremely dangerous job. From 2006-2007 and for nine months in 2009, he stayed deployed in the war zone, experiencing difficult and gruesome scenarios that left him mentally scarred.
Sheets retreated into video games when not on duty. He said, “Making friends was something I always struggled with. Growing up, my family was quite dysfunctional and we relocated more than several times. I learned to stay away from people, knowing we would just be leaving. In the Army it was the same, but for different, more obvious reasons.”
Memorials on base were all too common to Sheets and his fellow soldiers. Several medical diagnoses led to leaving the Army in October 2018. Those medical conditions persisted and continue to this day. A tumor on the pituitary gland, PTSD, and pericarditis make Sheets’ everyday existence challenging.
When he returned to Wisconsin, the VA assigned a health coach to help with his mental and physical recovery. Gene credits her with his ability to become an active and stable community member. Together they found a way to keep Sheets active and to work within his competitiveness in a positive manner. Pickleball has been that answer.
For Sheets, pickleball became more than just a sport; it became a lifeline—a tangible symbol of his journey toward healing and wholeness. With each swing of the paddle, he confronted his fears, reclaiming a sense of agency and control over his own life.
“In the midst of chaos and uncertainty,” he reflects, “pickleball gave me something to hold onto—a sense of purpose, a reason to keep moving forward.” But perhaps even more transformative than the game itself were the connections Sheets forged on the court.
Through pickleball, he found himself surrounded by a community of kindred spirits—fellow players, some veterans, of all ages and supportive players who understood the weight of his experiences without judgment or pity. Together, they rallied around each other, offering encouragement, camaraderie, and the healing power of shared laughter.
Sheets plays every chance he gets, with whomever he can, on any court available, both inside and outside. He’s found that through the sport of pickleball, he is able to make friends, and they are friends he can count on to be present. The players who play against Sheets may fear his shots, but they don’t fear him.
“I set milestones for myself. Initially to become a 4.0, win gold in tournaments and become a 5.0 player. Now I want to be as good as the pros. Not necessarily to become a pro, but be able to keep up with them. My new goal is to help my current group of people get better by playing against me and see if they can figure out how to beat me. I want to inspire them to become the best that they can,” he said.
Plover has planned 12 pickleball courts at Lake Pacawa Park. Stevens Point debuted its first official pickleball court in 2022. The city now has nine pickleball courts at Goerke and Mead parks.
