‘Keeps me alive’: 82-year-old Charlotte woman inspires all ages to hit the pickleball courts

CHARLOTTE — Pickleball became the newest sport that the buzzing Queen City welcomed with open arms, and Channel 9′s Elsa Gillis hit the courts with one local woman who uses it as a way to inspire those around her.

Joan Meacham-Wolfe is well known at the pickleball courts at Cowan’s Ford Golf Club along Lake Norman. At 82, she’s the oldest person on the court -- but ask a player if they’ve been beaten by Joan, they’re likely to admit defeat.

“This is what keeps me alive. Makes me want to jump in the morning and come out here.”

Her friends - and admittedly, competition - call her an inspiration.

“She’s just a phenomenal player and great person, she taught me how to play,” said Mo Sandoval, a fellow pickleball player.

She told Elsa that she wishes there could be more people in their 80s playing, and she loves playing against players of all ages and levels.

“I tell the men, just hit it! Hit it as hard as you want to, I don’t care I’m not scared,” she said. “You’re only you are only as old as you think you are.”

Her love of sports started when she was a young girl.

“The women in the family would say, ‘oh Joan, you gotta quit playing and stay in the kitchen’, you know when you have a fire in your gut for sports, you can’t quit,” Joan shared.

Now, she spends five days a week playing, regardless of her health or age.

“I do have a bulging disc. I do have arthritic knees, I have all those things, but I lay on ice in the morning and come out here and play, go home and lay on ice,” she said. “If I couldn’t do this, you might as well put me in a casket, but I might try to fight you to get out.”

Joan spent some of her free time turning Elsa into Charlotte’s newest pickleballer, and you can watch that at the video at the top of the page.

(WATCH: Charlotte hosts NC’s largest professional pickleball tournament to date)

Charlotte hosts NC’s largest professional pickleball tournament to date

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