Numbers game: Baltimoreans of a certain generation might find some amusement in Lamar Jackson’s trademark dispute with Troy Aikman over who has promotional rights to No. 8. At least until Jackson leads the Ravens to a Super Bowl victory, for the burghers at the other end of the Chesapeake Bay, the most revered No. 8 is Cal Ripken Jr.

On edge: As the MLB trade deadline approaches and the Orioles’ need for a front-line starting pitcher grows urgent, baseball insiders have done a lot of speculating about the Tides’ talent pool — which players are untouchable and which aren’t. We shall soon find out.

Idle thought: The Open Championship served as another reminder that Tiger Woods has been a ceremonial golfer for quite some time now.

TV timeout: I’m reading a lot about the ACC’s “identity crisis,” created, in part, because the conference can’t keep pace with the media reach of SEC football. Don’t see how the additions of SMU, Cal and Stanford are any help with that.

Future watch: The distinct possibility exists that the inclusion of Oregon and Southern Cal in the Big Ten will expose the conference’s brand of football as highly overrated.

Weird and wacky: Under Jim Harbaugh, who compared the first training-camp practice to childbirth — “it was like coming out of the womb” — the Chargers’ season may be good or bad, but never dull.

Looking ahead: Dak Prescott is about to become the first quarterback to break the $60 million-per-season barrier. And yes, he’s still 2-5 in playoff games.

Girl dads: Some of the increased popularity of the WNBA — TV viewership for its All-Star Game jumped 300% this year — is credited to men warming up to women’s sports. That’s true in a sense. But it doesn’t take into account the dads who have always supported and coached their daughters on the grassroots level. There wouldn’t be women’s sports without fathers.

Just asking: Something has been left out of reports on the WNBA’s new 11-year, $2.2 billion media rights deal with Disney, Amazon Prime and NBC Universal. Does Caitlin Clark get a cut?

Nostalgic: Because Olympics coverage is programmed for a female audience, boxing — once a major attraction — has been given an eight-count by TV since Sweet Pea Whitaker took gold in the ’84 LA Games, with Howard Cosell at the mic for a national audience. For broadcasting purposes, boxing isn’t what it used to be. But as a result, neither are the Olympics.

That guy: Bob Beamon holds the Olympic record in the long jump, and swimmer Michael Phelps has won the most medals. But nobody had a bigger impact on a prominent Olympic sport than Dick Fosbury, a 1968 gold medalist whose Fosbury Flop — leaping over the bar backward — revolutionized high jumping.

Another oddity: Breaking — breakdancing — which deserves ridicule as an Olympic “sport,” is not the only event entering the Games on a trial basis. Surfing is another. Surfing in France? Not exactly. The competition will be held in Tahiti, a French protectorate located almost 10,000 miles from Paris. Don’t try to understand it.

Tennis tussle: Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, who haven’t met on court in more than two years, could tangle in the second round of the Olympics. Djokovic leads their head-to-head 30-29, with Nadal up 8-2 on the red dirt of Roland Garros. The “lions in winter” vibe adds to the anticipation.

Real politics: With the IOC’s ban of Russia from the Olympics, only 15 Russian athletes — seven of them tennis players — will compete. But why 15? Why not zero?

Bob Molinaro is a former Virginian-Pilot sports columnist. His Weekly Briefing runs Fridays in The Pilot and Daily Press. He can be reached at bob5molinaro@gmail.com and via Twitter@BobMolinaro.

I was so upset and angry that I asked the question, “What is going on? Is this 2024 or 1944?”

One of the Black players kept a notebook of some of the things done to him and the hurtful and ignorant words said to him, including being teased during Black History Month and being told by a teammate that they couldn’t see him during a recent eclipse.

When I wrote the column, I wondered if things would change or would it be swept under the rug and forgotten.

My answer came last week.

In front of an auditorium filled with prospective baseball players and their parents, Kempsville’s administration held a press conference to introduce Luke Stice as the program’s new coach. He replaced John Penn, who is no longer with the school.

Kempsville student activities coordinator Zach Wolff, who got the job in June, knew changing coaches would be his first major responsibility in his new position.

He saw how much negative publicity the school endured.

“I spent 10 years at Kempsville, and it hurt to see the whole process. That a child, and children, would have to go through something like that,” he said. “Professionally, I knew it was going to probably be the biggest decision that I was going to make in my first year.”

The hurt didn’t just come from Wolff’s connection with Kempsville, but also his own feelings.

Before he was born, his parents adopted two of his biracial cousins. And though they were raised under the same roof, he knew his experiences were far different from theirs.

He remembers when they would go out as a family and he’d see the stares from other families as they wondered what was going on with his family makeup.

“I’m never going to say, ‘I know what they we’re going through’ because I don’t,” he said about his sisters. “But I understand it. And I don’t want it to happen to anybody else.”

That’s why when it came to hiring a new baseball coach, the committee wanted to make sure to get a coach who wouldn’t be afraid to address the elephant in the room.

And Stice did that.

“The questions were formed in a way that we were inviting people to talk about it,” Wolff said. “We really wanted to see if they were going to talk about it, or if they were going to come in and treat it just as a baseball interview. It was not just a baseball interview. He came in and immediately addressed it and immediately talked about it.”

As soon as Stice finished, the committee members knew they had their man.

“He wasn’t afraid to address the elephant in the room, like so many others who sat at that table for that interview that were afraid to do. He came in, he addressed it and he talked about it,” Wolff said. “And that’s really what we need right now. Someone who’s not afraid to address it and have tough conversations about it because we’re not here to stick our heads in the sand.”

I got a chance to talk to Stice before and after his introduction as coach.

What impressed me was his sincerity and love for his players. He coached the school’s junior-varsity team the past two seasons. He said he had no idea what was going on with the varsity program.

“Just being first-hand in the situation and seeing the impact that it had on the boys really drove me to say, ‘This is really screwed up,’ ” he said. “I just kept communicating with them the whole time, keeping that door of communication open with them and letting them know that I’m here for them.”

When he heard the school was looking for a new coach, he wanted the job.

“The players on the JV team also faced some challenges to deal with once the news came out,” he said. “I knew from that moment, if anything changes, I want to be the man for the job.”

He believes he can change the culture of the program.

“I’m not going to put a timeline on it. It could be a year, it could be five years. I don’t know how long it will take,” he said. “With the (administration’s) support, I know we’ll get the culture right. … Wins will come after that.”

Melissa George has been at Kempsville for 13 years, including seven as a principal. She admitted it hurt to hear the things people said about the school. She said it “was a very trying time for everybody.”

She said the school is looking forward.

“We’re not just going to be a better baseball program, but we’re going to be a better school for it because our eyes were opened to things that I think we weren’t fully seeing,” she said. “Now that our eyes are fully open, we will be looking at ways that we can improve to ensure that all students, no matter what sport you’re on, no matter what classroom you’re in, that everybody who walks through the doors knows that they are welcome. And that they’re not going to experience what was experienced earlier by some of our players on the baseball team. It was something I wish we never had to go through, but if we did go through it, let’s find out what we can learn from that. And that’s what we’re going to do, we’re going to learn from it.”

Wolff said the hiring of a new coach is just part of what’s changing at Kempsville. The school also is redoing its athletic policy and putting together an athlete development program for its coaches and athletes.

“I’m not ignorant to believe we’re going to solve everything with a wave of a magic wand and everything is fixed,” he said. “But I’m excited in the direction that we are moving in.”

Kempsville rising senior TJ Davis, who is Black, is encouraged by what he heard last week from the administration and from Stice.

“I’m very excited to see what he brings to the team, and how he creates bonds with all the players and brings us together,” said Davis, a pitcher and outfielder.

He said he’s spoken with Stice several times and likes the direction of the program.

“I feel good,” he said. “Hopefully with a new coach, things will get better.”

Larry Rubama, 757-575-6449, larry.rubama@pilotonline.com

Idle question: In 2024, calling the MLB showcase the best of its kind in sports is faint praise indeed. During a night full of stars, shouldn’t the average fan be able to name more of them?

Quick hit: Baseball can now return its All-Star uniforms to the softball teams they borrowed them from.

Legend: Corbin Burnes was the first Orioles pitcher since 1980 to start an All-Star Game. Baltimore Hall of Famer Jim Palmer started four in the ’70s. At the risk of ruffling the feathers of Cal Ripken Jr. fans, don’t sleep on Palmer as the greatest Oriole of them all.

Money matters: After Jalen Brunson volunteered to take an historic discounted contract extension that gives the Knicks more cap room, we can say with relative certainty that there’s at least one NBA star who doesn’t equate less money with “disrespect.”

Net results: Novak Djokovic has yet to win a tournament this year, but after he lost the Wimbledon final to Carlos Alcaraz, the ATP computer rankings have the Serbian second, one place ahead of Alcaraz, who is coming off back-to-back Grand Slam titles. Who you gonna believe, a computer or your own eyes?

Future watch: Good news for Rafael Nadal fans — and who isn’t? Using a protected ranking, he has entered the main draw of the U.S. Open.

Obvious: This is the time each year in college football for rampant speculation, but identifying Nick Saban successor Kalen DeBoer as the coach under the most scrutiny is a no-brainer.

Mind games: Alabama players he left behind took offense, but it’s possible that in his new role at ESPN, Saban is just trying to take a little pressure off the Tide by picking Georgia and Texas to play for the SEC championship.

Not so fast: MLB commissioner Rob Manfred is smart to hold off on robot umpires until at least 2026, until “technical issues surrounding the definition of the strike zone” can be ironed out. Not, I’m guessing, that they can ever be ironed out to the satisfaction of every player.

Wondering: Do robotic ball and strike calls generally favor hitters or pitchers?

A reminder: An argument for why the remarkable Patrick Mahomes could be underrated: In his six years as the Chiefs’ starting quarterback, he’s been to six AFC title games. Not to mention four Super Bowls.

That girl: Caitlin Clark, who put up a WNBA-record 19 assists along with 24 points Wednesday, appears to be figuring things out very nicely.

In closing: WNBA stalwart Diana Taurasi reportedly has recovered from a lower leg ailment in time to compete in her sixth Olympics. Her return saves the U.S. selection committee the trouble of thinking up another excuse for keeping Clark off the team.

Bob Molinaro is a former Virginian-Pilot sports columnist. His Weekly Briefing runs Fridays in The Pilot and Daily Press. He can be reached at bob5molinaro@gmail.com and via Twitter@BobMolinaro.

The team did well as it reached the finals of the Triple Crown World Series.

But when the team returned to Hampton Roads, DeMartini decided to take his players to another coach.

For many coaches, they would never do this. DeMartini didn’t let his ego get in the way.

He contacted Lee Banks, who has been a prominent figure in elite showcase baseball in Hampton Roads for more than 25 years.

He’s coached many of the elite baseball players who have come through Hampton Roads and helped produce many college and Major League Baseball draft picks, including Michael Cuddyer, Jason Dubois, David Wright, BJ Upton, Justin Upton, Ryan Zimmerman and Mark Reynolds.

“I knew I had a special group on my hands, and that’s why I took them to Lee,” DeMartini said about Banks, who also is an assistant baseball coach at Grassfield High. “I trusted Lee. I knew the group of guys that I was bringing to Lee, that he was going to have their best interest at heart.”

DeMartini was right as that team enjoyed much success, including finishing runner-up at the 2020 PBR World Series.

Many of those players, including DeMartini’s son, Carson, went on to play Division I baseball.

And this weekend, some of those same players, including Carson, could hear their name called when the Major League Baseball draft begins Sunday night and ends Tuesday.

“That three-year run of that Tidewater Orioles team had 15 Division I players, and a slew of Division III players,” Tommy DeMartini said. “I think off that team, you’re going to probably have five players get drafted.”

DeMartini remembers that special group of players with Cuddyer (ninth overall pick in 1997, two-time All-Star), Wright (first round in 2001, seven-time All-Star), BJ Upton (second overall pick in 2002), Reynolds (16th round in 2004), Justin Upton (first overall pick in 2005, four-time All-Star) and Zimmerman (fourth overall pick in 2005, two-time All-Star)

“I was fairly new in the coaching scene with coach (Pete) Zell at Salem High School during those years,” he said. “We coached against David and the Uptons, and Zimmerman, and all of those guys. It was a very impressive group of ballplayers back in that time. And it was fun to watch and to follow their careers.”

He thinks this year’s group could be special, too.

“I feel like this is a similar-looking group,” he said. “And it’s going to be interesting to see how these guys pan out as opposed to that group, who were major league All-Stars and had incredible careers. You have a very talented group coming through again.”

Carson DeMartini is rated the No. 93 prospect by MLB.com. The former Ocean Lakes star went to Virginia Tech, and scouts like his power as a “compact and strong left-handed hitter.”

He showed his power during one week this season, when he blasted seven home runs with 11 RBIs and 10 runs. He was named ACC Player of the Week and National Player of the Week by D1Baseball.

For the season, he batted .269 with 21 homers, 57 RBIs and 62 runs.

Tommy DeMartini has prepared his son for this moment, both on the field and off.

“I’ve been heavily involved in his development and watching him grow throughout the years. It’s getting to the point where reality is setting in,” he said. “But I’ve told him now it’s out of his control. The hay is in the barn, as they might say. Regardless of where he lands in the draft, the next big thing is how he performs. It’s about to be a lifetime achievement of his, to become a professional baseball player.”

Ethan Anderson, who starred at Cox High and Virginia, is rated the No. 78 prospect by MLB.com. A switch-hitting catcher and first baseman, he hit .331 this season for the Cavaliers with eight home runs, 40 RBIs and 67 runs.

Outfielder Harrison Didawick is rated the No. 125 prospect by MLB.com. The former Western Branch High star tied Virginia’s single-season record for home runs with 23. He also batted .292 with 68 RBIs and 78 runs.

Other locals who could hear their name called are infielder/outfielder Fenwick Trimble (Cox/James Madison), outfielder Kennedy Jones (Maury/UNC Greensboro/South Carolina), outfielder Cameron Pittman (Nansemond River/Radford/Virginia Tech), pitcher Ethan Firoved (First Colonial/Pittsburgh), pitcher Nathan Hawley (Cox/Virginia Military Institute) and pitcher Dawson Newman (Great Bridge/Coastal Carolina).

Another player from that Tidewater Orioles team who already got drafted was pitcher Blake Dickerson. The former Ocean Lakes standout was a 12th-round selection of the San Diego Padres last year. Earlier this year, the Padres traded him to the Detroit Tigers. He is currently pitching with the Florida Complex League Tigers, who are a rookie-level affiliate for Detroit.

The DeMartinis anxiously await Carson’s fate, hoping he will be drafted on the first day.

“It’s a little bit nostalgic and a little bit emotional just knowing that all of his hard work is about to pay off,” his father said. “He and his mother and I will be watching the draft Sunday night. Hopefully, we don’t have to watch it on Monday.”

Larry Rubama, 757-575-6449, larry.rubama@pilotonline.com

Meanwhile: Nobody wearing U.S. colors is under more pressure to bring home the gold than the NBA stars.

The old vet: If anyone could have been excused for sitting out these Olympics, it’s 39-year-old LeBron James.

Her: Caitlin Clark is the Taylor Swift of sports. For the impact she’s had on court, for the new, young audiences she’s attracted while dragging the WNBA out of the shadows and for the multimedia debates she’s generated. Seven months into 2024, Clark is America’s Sportsperson of the Year.

Slugging it out: You get the sense that baseball fans — especially young ones — think the actual All-Star Game is a sideshow to the Home Run Derby. In truth, one is as much a gaudy exhibition as the other.

Over the top: The media’s All-Star Game selection coverage is so melodramatic. Stories coming out of big-league towns inevitably insist that certain local players who didn’t make the team were “snubbed.” The dictionary definition of snub is “to treat with scorn, contempt, disdain …” That’s not what’s going on when there’s just not enough roster space for every good player to make the cut.

Net results: For someone so young, Carlos Alcaraz knows how to handle the big moments. It’s something great athletes are born with.

Fast-tracked: Novak Djokovic, who likes to think he’s persecuted, can’t complain about his route to the Wimbledon semis, which included a very weak draw and a quarterfinal walkover that allowed him three days’ rest.

Going backward: The ATP, which runs men’s tennis, is going back to pre-Covid protocols, allowing a player to ask for a towel from the ball kids rather than fetch it himself. The change is as unnecessary as it is unhygienic for the kids. The ATP wants to reduce the amount of time wasted during matches. But players can do something about that by not toweling off and otherwise dilly-dallying so often.

Whoa there: Cooper Flagg is a young man in a hurry, at 17 headed for Duke when he should be a senior in high school, then onto the NBA next year as the top pick. That’s the path laid out for him, especially after the way he played in a pre-Paris scrimmage against the U.S. team. But he’s 17. Can the media turn down the hype a little? Of course they can’t.

In NIL news: Arch Manning, the backup quarterback for the Texas Longhorns, reportedly received between $50,000 and $60,000 to promote a college football video game. Imagine how much he could have made if he were first-string. Or how little if he wasn’t a Manning.

Happy to stay: It surprises football people that Manning, behind Quinn Ewers for another year, hasn’t transferred. By the end of last season, nearly two-thirds of the top 20 quarterbacks for each of the 2019 through ’22 recruiting cycles were either in the portal or had already switched schools.

Trending: On June 13, the Yankees were in first place with the best record in baseball, while the Red Sox were 13 games behind them. After a bad spiral, New York dropped to second, behind the Orioles, and Boston was within 4½ games of the Yankees through Wednesday. And with so much summer yet to go.

As is: The meeting this week by the NCAA men’s basketball committee produced no news about the possible expansion of the Field of 68, a good thing. If it ain’t broke …

Bob Molinaro is a former Virginian-Pilot sports columnist. His Weekly Briefing runs Fridays in The Pilot and Daily Press. He can be reached at bob5molinaro@gmail.com and via Twitter@BobMolinaro.

The Davis-Madueno fight will be the first of three bouts headlined by Shakur Stevenson’s WBC lightweight world title defense against Artem Harutyunyan. The fights can be seen on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+ beginning at 8:30 p.m.

Davis is coming off a sixth-round technical knockout of former two-division champion Jose Pedraza to improve to 10-0 with seven knockouts.

Now Davis, nicknamed “The Businessman,” is ready for Madueno (31-3, 28 KOs).

“I feel like I got a lot better from that (Pedraza) fight skillfully, and especially physically,” said Davis, a 2020 Olympic silver medalist who attended Granby High. “I went back to the drawing board and started doing more strength and conditioning. I just want to change my style. It’s like I just want to go in there and be a punching machine if I have to. Honestly, that’s how I’ve been training. Coming into this fight, you might see a whole another Keyshawn.”

Davis’ older brother, Kelvin, also will be on the fight card Saturday night.

Nicknamed “Nite Nite,” Kelvin (12-0, 7 KOs) will fight an eight-rounder against Kevin Johnson (12-3, 8 KOs) in a bout that will stream on ESPN+ before the televised main card.

“Kelvin is going to fight a tough opponent in Kevin Johnson,” Keyshawn said about his brother. “(Johnson) has been in the ring with a lot of former world champions. This fight for Kelvin is definitely going to be a breakout fight for him, and he’s going to put the boxing world on notice after he stops Kevin Johnson. I’m more looking forward to his fight than my fight.”

The Davises, along with younger brother, Keon, are known collectively as DB3 — Davis Brothers 3. Keyshawn and Kelvin will have plenty of support on Saturday night as a sold-out bus will be taking fans from Norfolk to New Jersey for the fight.

“The ESPN cameras will be getting them off the bus and into the arena,” said Davis, who also sponsored a family to come to the fight. “This bus trip and this fight, it’s just going to be legendary.”

After Saturday, Davis has another goal: To bring a fight to Norfolk later this year.

“I think about the Scope with Young’s Park right there, you’ll have people walking from there to come see me fight,” he said smiling. “That’s why this is a beautiful story. And Scope is going to happen sooner than you know.”

Larry Rubama, 757-575-6449, larry.rubama@pilotonline.com

Idle thought: Is it asking too much of college athletes making the really big bucks to pay their own tuition? Assuming they go to class.

Star treatment: A Lakers No. 9 jersey, to be worn by the 55th player selected in the NBA draft, is now on sale along with his father’s jersey. Do we really have to ask how many other late second-round picks had their pro jerseys online before playing a game? I’m wondering, then, how soon until Nike gives Bronny James a signature shoe?

Family dynamics: Are we supposed to believe that if Daddy LeBron had advised his 19-year-old son to go back to school, his son wouldn’t have done it?

The difference: The Caitlin Clark Effect was in evidence again when the WNBA’s All-Star fan voting increased this year by almost 600 percent.

Wondering: Am I any less of an American patriot because the U.S. loss to Uruguay in the Copa America didn’t make me lose sleep?

Numbers game: Does the USA defeat sting any worse because Uruguay’s population of 3.4 million is dwarfed by our 340 million? It shouldn’t. All they’ve got in Uruguay is soccer. We’ve got pickleball, y’all.

Ballin’: In addition to his hitting and fielding talents, Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson is a young star who bursts out of the batter’s box looking to turn singles into doubles. Too many big leaguers turn doubles into singles.

All his: If he stays healthy, Aaron Judge — who at the halfway point in the schedule is enjoying a Triple Crown season — is on his way to locking up the AL MVP award.

Rising: The Red Sox are better than people thought they’d be. A wild-card contender.

Magical memory: It was a great decision by Norfolk State to install in its Hall of Fame the 2011-12 men’s basketball team. By upsetting No. 2 seed Missouri, the Spartans created a special moment that only the early rounds of the NCAA Tournament can produce.

Wrong audience: A changed, enfeebled Sports Illustrated is trying to annoy this longtime reader by including in its current edition a story about “breaking” (once called breakdancing) as an Olympic sport in Paris. I don’t need this sort of aggravation.

Hoop du jour: To be fair, 3-on-3 basketball is another new Olympic event that strikes me as pretty lame.

Future watch: The 34-year-old Klay Thompson signed by the Mavericks isn’t the player he was before tearing his ACL and rupturing an Achilles tendon. But Dallas is getting someone who in his peak years with the Warriors scored an NBA-record 37 points in a quarter. And showing his prowess as a spot-up shooter, he once scored 60 points in three quarters on 11 dribbles. Thompson taking passes on the perimeter from Luka Doncic might work out very nicely for the Mavs.

Anniversary: On July 1, long-retired Bobby Bonilla received another installment of $1,193,248.20 from the Mets, his 14th. He’s got 11 more payments coming to him.

Bob Molinaro is a former Virginian-Pilot sports columnist. His Weekly Briefing runs Fridays in The Pilot and Daily Press. He can be reached at bob5molinaro@gmail.com and via Twitter@BobMolinaro.

Not only would campers learn about football, but they would also learn about life off the field.

“I shared this vision with Vaughn last year during (organized team activities),” Holmes said about his late stepfather, Vaughn Parker. “I just wanted to get 15 to 20 kids in a room and talk about real-life stuff. Teach them the same stuff that we do at the college and NFL level.”

Sadly, Parker never got to see his stepson’s idea come to fruition. He died by suicide on June 11.

To honor his stepfather, Holmes, a defensive lineman for the New York Jets, started a football academy — not a camp — with the introduction of the “Vaughn’s Way Defensive Line Academy.”

“I don’t want to just teach them the basics of football, but about life and how to be an entrepreneur,” Holmes said. “It’s such a learning curve from high school to college. We’re just trying to get them ahead of the game, whether it’s life or football.”

Holmes was a two-time, first-team All-Tidewater selection at Lake Taylor. He helped lead the Titans to the program’s first state title in 2012.

He went to Ohio State and was a two-time All-Big Ten Conference selection. He had 85 career tackles and helped lead the Buckeyes to the 2015 College Football Playoff National Championship.

The Minnesota Vikings drafted Holmes in the fourth round with the 102nd overall pick in 2018.

He’s also played with the New Orleans Saints, New York Giants, Chicago Bears and the past two seasons with the Jets.

He brings his lessons from the NFL to help future players.

Asked if he wish he had something like this when he was coming up, he said, “They don’t know how lucky they got it.”

Holmes brought in current and former NFL players along with trainers and local businessmen to help educate the more than 15 players who came to his invitation-only academy.

“It’s not your normal football camp,” he said. “They’re getting the top-notch of everything.”

He also got plenty of help and support from this mother, Tasha Holmes-Parker, to make the event a success.

One of the first things players had to do was develop an “elevator pitch” — a brief way of introducing yourself with a key point or two, and making a connection with someone.

Participants also learned about public speaking and business options before they even set foot on the football field.

Tallwood High lineman Namarih Byrd said he’s glad he came to the academy.

“I just wanted to be a sponge,” he said. “I wanted to learn as much as I can from Jalyn Holmes and become a dominant factor on the football field.”

Atlantic Shores Christian lineman Aric Cooper said he came after getting a text from his father. After he looked up who Holmes was, he was even more excited to come.

“I was like, ‘Why not?’ There’s always a chance to get better,” he said. “You want to learn new things. There’s always room to get better, whether on the field or off.”

For Lake Taylor lineman Kaleb Shortridge, it was a chance to learn from a former Titans standout.

“We were out on the field learning how to play the gaps, learning different pass rusher’s moves and then we went back into the fieldhouse and then watched some NFL players do what we were just getting taught on the field,” he said. “I’m very happy and glad that someone who went to my own high school has come back to their hometown to do good in their community.”

The number of Americans playing pickleball increased from 4 million in 2021 to 13.6 million in 2023, and participation grew by 51.8% from 2022 to 2023.

The craze has impacted my home.

The first time I ever heard about the sport was when my wife, Wanda, told me she tried it at Williams Farms Recreation Center.

“I have a good friend, Priscilla, who I played tennis with, who invited me out to come play pickleball with her one day,” she said. “After a month of playing, I became addicted to it. ”

Wanda told me that a lot of skills from tennis transferred to pickleball.

“It’s just a smaller court, and you have to learn more pickleball strategies. But it was an easy transition,” she said. “It’s not about banging the ball hard. A lot of times, it’s just a small dink that can win a point. I love the game.”

Words such as “dink,” “drops” and the “kitchen” are heard around the pickleball court, and the latter has nothing to do with cooking.

I was kind of surprised how obsessed she became with the game because we both loved playing tennis.

Now, I can’t get her on a tennis court.

She is so hooked on pickleball that she plays nearly four times a week — on a bad knee.

Have I tried it? Yes, but I’ll talk more about that later.

I want to focus on the real pickleball players.

Pickleball is sweeping the nation — and my house. https://t.co/Exi5vg8pJR pic.twitter.com/6RTz5LSAhL

— Larry Rubama (@LHRubama) July 1, 2024

One of the persons I can blame for my wife’s addiction is Tony Jaume, the owner of 7 Cities Pickleball.

He, like my wife and I, played tennis.

He played at Granby High and one year of college. He gave it up after he realized that playing tennis in college was “another level.” He chose to focus on his studies.

One day, he was in a gym getting some shots up in basketball when he saw some people gathering around a net.

“I went over and asked the people what was the net for,” he said. “They said, ‘Come play. You’ll like this because you played tennis.’ So they showed me how to play the game, and it was fun.”

A former personal trainer, his business took a hit during COVID. He decided to get more into pickleball.

Five years later, Jaume is all-in.

“I’ve started three programs in the area and hopefully getting more people introduced to the game,” said Jaume, who gives lessons and does programs from Virginia Beach to Williamsburg and in parts of North Carolina.

He’s even started programs for veterans and for people who have autism.

He admits he is surprised how fast the game has grown.

“As much as I love the game and as great as I think it is, it’s surprising that it’s gotten as big as it has,” he said, “Even the paddle industry alone has grown. Before, it was a multi-million dollar industry. But now, it’s almost a billion-dollar industry.”

One of the things I realized about pickleball players is they have a special and tight community.

So close-knit, you better watch your words around them.

“It is a cult,” Jaume said with a chuckle. “I think if you say something about pickleball in a negative connotation, one of those people might jump on you.”

But seriously, the pickleball community is very friendly.

Ben Holtzclaw, 23, was a four-time conference tennis champion at Western Branch High.

He played club tennis at James Madison when a friend of his asked him to try pickleball. They ended up winning the tournament.

“I really started learning the game and really getting into it in January,” he said. “Now I play about two, three to four times a week.”

What he loves most about the game is the community aspect and the “inviting space.”

“It’s unlike any other sport that I’ve played. When you go and play tennis, if you and I were to hit around for an hour, we can’t talk to each other because we’re so far apart,” he said. “I play at Riverfront. When I went there, I didn’t know anybody. But now we have a community of people where we’re on first-name basis. I consider these people friends and we only met a month ago.”

Last weekend, I attended the 2nd Annual 24 Hours of Pickleball Tournament at Pickleball Virginia Beach (PVB).

Yes, people played pickleball for 24 hours in a row in temperatures that hovered around 100 degrees.

I spoke with Jim Aldrich, the owner of Pickleball Virginia Beach, about how the tournament got started.

He said he and his friend, Jack Singer, came up with the idea.

“We were sitting around one day talking about pickleball tournaments and we were watching the 24 hours of Le Mans,” Aldrich said. “And he said, ‘What if we do a 24 hours of pickleball?’ I was like, ‘All right.’ We invested $10,000 of our own money and held the first ever in the world 24-hour pickleball tournament last year.”

The tournament had players from beginners to advanced levels. It attracted players from as far as California, but most players came from New York, Delaware, Tennessee, Texas, California, South Carolina and North Carolina.

Players camped out in tents or slept in RVs to participate in the 24-hour tournament.

Kieran Moriarty, 56, and his wife, Michele, drove to Virginia Beach from Fripp Island, which is located off the coast of Beaufort County, South Carolina.

“We play pickleball there. And our leader, Roger Stern, found this tournament and said, ‘This will be fun, let’s go do this,” he said. “We just love playing pickleball. We thought it would be a fun time. It’s something we can talk about for a long time … that we played for 24 hours.”

Moriarty has been playing for four years.

“I just like trying to get better, trying to always improve,” he said. “Even when you lose, if you play well and you play against somebody who is better than you, you’re like, ‘I did a good job.’ I’m just trying to constantly improve. It’s a great sport.”

Aldrich, 64, turned the former tennis facility into a growing pickleball facility that has more than 700 members. He currently has 26 courts, but will add 18 more soon.

“We’ll be the largest pickleball facility on the East Coast,” he said. “And I have four people on every court almost every single day, all day. That’s a lot of people having fun playing this sport.”

Aldrich introduced the sport to students at Seatack Elementary, who now have a pickleball club. During the school year, the club met after school twice a week. It helps that Seatack is next-door to Pickleball Virginia Beach.

Aldrich added that for the first time, Major League Pickleball and the Professional Pickleball Association tour will be coming to Virginia Beach this fall.

“We call it the best drug you can have because you get addicted to this sport,” said Aldrich, who has been playing for six years. “You walk on this court and play it one time, and you go, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m addicted. I mean, look out. It’s 100 degrees and they’re out here playing for 24 hours.”

Elaine Webb, 73, was introduced to the game through her son.

“My son said, ‘Mom, have you ever played pickleball?’ I said, ‘Pickleball? Who would ever play that?’ ” said Webb, who plays in Jaume’s open play at Old Dominion University. “Then I went to the Y and they wanted to start pickleball. So I joined.”

She was hooked. She started playing in tournaments in Suffolk.

“And I took first place. And when I did, the gift was lessons with Tony,” she said about Jaume. “And I’ve been taking lessons with Tony ever since.”

She said pickleball has helped her with her mobility and stamina.

“In school, I never played sports. So, this was my first sport that I’ve played,” she said. “I want to keep playing as long as I can.”

Joe Giovinozzo, 76, was a mailman for 35 years. He played ping pong, but his son encouraged him to try pickleball.

He’s glad he did. Now, he’s been playing for four years.

“I play an average of two to three hours every day except Sunday,” he said. “The thing I like about it is I’ve never really run into a bad person playing pickleball, and I’m pretty sarcastic.”

Morgan Combs, who turns 31 in July, was introduced to the sport in January through her husband, Sean.

“I was struggling to find exercise that I enjoyed. I kind of stumbled upon pickleball, and it’s been amazing,” she said. “I’ve never not smiled when I’ve played pickleball.”

Combs had a double lung transplant 10 years ago because of cystic fibrosis, which caused her lungs to fail. She’s also looking to get a kidney transplant. But pickleball has helped her with exercise.

“I have free range to do whatever I want, but I definitely struggle finding that exercise portion,” said Combs, who admits to being more fatigued. “My body is not equipped to do a lot of things just because I’ve been on so many medications for so many years, and they’ve been damaging to my body and other organs. But pickleball has been great for me and it gives me that joy. If I didn’t have pickleball, I’d probably be doing nothing.

“I talk about pickleball all the time. People probably get tired of me now,” she said giggling. “I wake up excited to exercise now. I wake up excited to play pickleball and do something with my husband that’s active.”

Which brings me back to me and my wife, who has been successful in it. She’s played in four tournaments and won two, including the Veterans Day Tournament in 2023 at PVB.

She asked me to play, and I tried it. I enjoyed it, the community, and it was a great workout.

But after playing just three times, she signed us up for a league.

Bad idea: we lost every game. Anyone who knows me knows I’m very competitive.

What bothered me more was the people we played with in the league were so nice — even while they beat our butts.

But to save my marriage, I’ve retired.

I’ll stick to golf and softball, and leave pickleball to her and millions of others.

Larry Rubama, 757-575-6449, larry.rubama@pilotonline.com

Sacre bleu: Three French players going in the top six picks of the NBA draft is proof again that the Euros are better at our roundball game than we are at theirs.

Age gauge: Of the first seven NBA players selected Wednesday night, six are 18 or 19.

Goliath: At 7-feet-4, with a retro game rooted in the paint, Memphis Grizzlies pick Zach Edey is the draft’s most intriguing prospect.

Up to date: Now that an indelible line has been drawn between the four great revenue-generating college football conferences and the “other 28” leagues representing universities hewing closer to the tradition of educational institutions with extracurricular activities, even the most naïve fans might be coming around to the idea that the big-time schools are commercial enterprises.

Anticipation: The Caitlin Clark-Angel Reese competitive dynamic will take an intriguing twist if, as anticipated, they team up for the WNBA All-Star Game on July 20.

Future watch: When attrition to their pitching staff requires the Orioles to make a move this summer — and they might want to hurry up with that — outfielder Heston Kjerstad, currently being showcased with Baltimore after another call-up from the Tides, could be good trade bait.

Sarcasm ahead: I don’t know how I ever managed to enjoy a baseball game on TV before the introduction of exit velocity.

Maybe this time: Twenty-four years after the incandescent Michael Johnson followed up his 200- and 400-meter gold-medal performances at the ’96 Atlanta Olympics with another 400 gold at the 2000 Sydney Games, U.S. track and field is still looking for its next mainstream, household name.

Fair play: The case of baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle, who led Texas A&M to the final round of the College World Series, then jumped to Texas, serves as a rebuttal to complaints about players hopping between schools. Good for the goose, good for the gander.

Feuds: Georgetown and Maryland are resuming their basketball series decades after the stubborn reluctance of John Thompson and Lefty Driesell to meet left behind only the coolest embers of a rivalry.

Numbers game: The sportsbooks make Alabama, without Nick Saban, 16-1 to win the national title. It’s the longest odds since 2008, Saban’s second year in Tuscaloosa.

Well-handled: New Lakers coach JJ Redick didn’t dodge the question when asked his thoughts on the team’s pursuit of Dan Hurley. “Dan Hurley,” he said, “is a two-time national champion at UConn. I understood.”

Picked up piece: At 19, LeBron James, the 2003 No. 1 pick, averaged 20 points, five assists and five rebounds. At 39, he averaged 26/8/7. Does this not speak to a unique greatness?

Bob Molinaro is a former Virginian-Pilot sports columnist. His Weekly Briefing runs Fridays in The Pilot and Daily Press. He can be reached at bob5molinaro@gmail.com and via Twitter@BobMolinaro.