Coming up on Kentucky Life... Pickleball is the fastest growing sport in the United States and has taken Kentucky by storm.

We'll learn about the game, and I'll go up against some Kentuckians who are major players.

We'll meet Kentucky's former poet laureate, Crystal Wilkinson, as we continue our celebration of National Poetry Month.

We'll check out one of the most unique places in the Kentucky State Park System, Carter Caves.

And we'll introduce you to some of the Commonwealth's best middle school musicians as they try to make the cut for the Kentucky Band Organization.

All that's next on Kentucky Life.

█ █ █ █ Hey, everybody, and welcome to Kentucky Life.

I'm your host, Chip Polston.

Our celebration of 100 years of Kentucky State Parks has brought us to one of the most distinctive gems in the system.

Welcome to Carter Caves State Resort Park.

Located in Olive Hill, the park boasts five natural bridges along with six caves, and the drive into the area is one of the most beautiful I've encountered in a state park.

So how exactly did all of this form hundreds of millions of years ago?

We'll explore that a little later in our show.

But first, back in 1967, two men in Washington State wanted to create a game that their families could all enjoy together.

So they combined elements of tennis, ping pong, and badminton to create pickleball.

The low-impact nature of the sport has made it appealing to all ages, and it's slowly spread across the country until in the last few years when it has exploded in popularity.

Now, pickleball is the fastest growing sport in America, and Kentucky is no exception to that.

Just last year, a study even found that Louisville Just last year, a study even found that Louisville has the most pickleball courts per capita in the entire country.

There are more than 750 courts all across the Commonwealth, with more being built.

So I decided to get in on the action and learn a thing or two about the game with some Kentucky experts.

At parks around the state, you can hear that now-familiar sound of pickleball.

To see what all the hype was about, I decided to meet up with pickleball coach, Larry Roberts.

Now, at 80 years old, he holds national championships in singles, doubles, and even mixed doubles pickleball.

I'm hoping he can train me to face some professional competition, but maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself.

Larry, how big is pickleball in Kentucky right now?

What are you seeing?

It's huge here.

It's overwhelmingly huge.

We've got players that can't get on the courts now.

We're in the Wild West, basically, because everything's building, and there's not enough courts.

We've got three different private companies coming in to build pickleball courts in Lexington, because it's a happening.

So they're meeting the market need, basically.

Yeah, and I think those guys who invest that kind of money know what's coming, so I think it's going to be huge.

Why the appeal of pickleball?

Why do you think so many folks are really enjoying it?

Because they can adapt to it faster, and they can hit the ball hard, and you get a lot of balls coming back and forth, and that's fun.

That's fun for people.

So the action's fast.

Yes, much faster.

So I like to get out and hack around on the weekends with some guys I went to college with.

You think you could help me improve my game?

Sure.

Let's give it a shot, okay?

All right.

Let's do it.

Okay.

█ █ █ █ What is the one thing most people who first start playing pickleball do wrong, and how do they correct it?

All right, they do this.

They bend that elbow, and they flip it up in the air.

So nothing out of the elbow?

No, keep it straight, just like you're playing cornhole.

It's push the ball.

Okay.

Then you want to clear it about here.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay, so that it will drop in the kitchen and make me hit up.

All right.

█ █ █ █ Aha!

So you changed your stroke totally.

That's a very difficult shot, and nobody does it.

Even the pros don't do that.

Oh, wow.

Larry was determined I would hit like the pros, too, or at least not hit like that.

Oh, you got to get rid of that shot.

There's that silly cut.

[laughter] Yeah, you love that shot.

I do love that shot.

[laughs] You're hitting just like that, and you're trying to cut the piece, the ball in half.

Don't do that.

Turn it like this.

Okay.

and hit it Flat Got it.

The angle of the paddle makes it go up.

Now, see, you're cutting right under it.

I'm still, yeah.

Get it flatter.

So it's angled up.

Now all you do is push forward.

Okay.

█ █ █ █ That's the shot.

Got it.

That's perfect.

Larry, that was fun.

Now I'm headed to meet former University of Louisville tennis player, Mari Humberg.

Now, she made the switch to pickleball a couple of years ago, and now she plays it professionally.

When you found out about pickleball, what'd you think about it?

I thought it was a joke, as a lot of people do, right?

I mean, you see, like, the news about, you know, older people playing it, but I didn't realize how much fun I could have competing again.

That's really what I missed.

So, funny story, the first time I went out and played, I lost to some ladies that are a bit older than me, and I was really mad.

[laughs] So from that day on, I actually didn't stop playing.

When you say a little bit older, what are we talking about?

50 plus.

50 plus.

Okay.

Okay.

And it really is a social sport.

There's much more of a social aspect to this than I see in other things that you can go out and do.

Absolutely.

As an adult, I think it's something that we, you know, we have our friends from college, we have our friends from church or whatever else it might be, but this is a really great way to meet people.

The amount of people that I've met through this sport that are going to be friends forever is incredible.

And there's a little bit more of that community aspect to, like, clinics.

You take a clinic with people, you get their numbers after so you can play with them.

Or you go to a park, and I used to hang out at the parks for hours at a time, right?

So you just get to know people, and I've met incredible friends through the sport.

Now I thought I'd test my skills with a professional.

What's the worst that can happen?

So in pickleball, you play till 11, right?

Yes.

Yes.

So let's you and I play.

Okay.

And I'm going to guess, if you go full tilt on me in about three minutes, you're going to take me to 11.

What do you think the over-under is on that?

In three minutes?

Yes.

I mean, how fast are we going to pick up the ball?

[laughs] I think it's going to be quick, it's going to be ugly, but it's going to be fun.

How about that?

We'll make it happen.

They say the Kentucky Derby is the fastest two minutes in sports, but this game might just give it a run for its money.

█ █ █ █ [Laugh] I was that close.

[Laugh] █ █ █ █ [Laugh] █ █ █ █ Get over it.

This is killing me.

Match point.

Ah!

█ █ █ █ ahh █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ You're amazing.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

That was a lot of fun.

Sorry about that.

I didn't give you one.

[laughs] Clocking in at a little over two-and-a-half minutes, well, I guess I need a little more practice before I get to the professional level.

So I'll see you out there on the courts.

█ █ █ █ Our next story continues our celebration of National Poetry Month and the poets of Kentucky.

Crystal Wilkinson is a writer based out of Lexington who grew up on her grandparents' farm in Eastern Kentucky.

Through hard work and determination, Wilkinson has found success as a writer, having published a handful of novels, a poetry book, and most recently a cookbook/memoir.

She's also a recent inductee into the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame.

Now from 2021 until 2023, she served as Kentucky's Poet Laureate, where she was a champion for the rich art and culture of our state.

Let's check out her work.

█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ O Tobacco O Tobacco You are the warm burnt sienna of my grandfather's skin soft like ripe leather.

I cannot see you any other way but as a farmer's finest crop you are a Kentucky tiller's livelihood.

You were school clothes in August the turkey at Thanksgiving Christmas with all the trimmings.

I close my eyes see you tall stately green lined up in rows.

See sweat seeping through Granddaddy's shirt as he fathered you first.

You were protected by him sometimes even more than any other thing that rooted in our earth.

Just like family you were coddled cuddled coaxed into making him proud.

Spread out for miles you were the only pretty thing he knew.

When I think of you at the edge of winter, I see you brown, wrinkled just like Granddaddy's skin.

A ten-year old me plays in the shadows of the stripping room the wood stove burns callused hands twist through the length of your leaves.

Grandaddy smiles nods at me when he thinks I'm not looking.

You are pretty and braided lined up in rows like a room full of brown girls with skirts hooped out for dancing.

I'm Crystal Wilkinson.

I am a writer, a former poet laureate of Kentucky.

I'm an Afro-Latin poet writing about rural people, particularly rural Black people in Kentucky.

I was grandparent raised, so my grandparents had already raised their children when they took me in.

My grandfather had 64 acres of land, and because there weren't any children, other children four miles away, I think my imagination became my playmate.

To be raised by my grandparents makes me kind of old-fashioned, and so I think that I'm always thinking about them, and I'm always thinking about, well, who came before them?

I also think, again, that's an untold story of Black rural life, that I'm always trying to reach for that and to recreate that.

I wrote a lot of bad rhyming poems as a child, and it was just a form of expression.

I didn't -- I knew I wanted to be a writer, I knew I wanted to be a storyteller, but I didn't know that I wanted to be a poet.

And poetry for me has always been a respite.

Whole worlds and universes are conveyed in a short space of time with a poem.

There's always two things happening in poetry.

There is the concrete images that are there, and what makes it the most wonderful is what's sliding underneath.

Like, there's always something sliding underneath, I think, for the reader of poetry.

Part of that ambiguity gives space to us as readers.

Like, you know, you're reading about someone's life in a really distilled space and time.

The speaker of the poem is giving you, but yet there's room for you to slide underneath it and to learn something new, or to see something new, and to have something shifted.

█ █ █ █ Praise song for the kitchen ghosts.

Supper in my childhood was always on the table by six in the evening.

Lamb fries.

Frog legs.

Fried whiting or catfish.

Neck bones.

Fried chicken livers or gizzards.

Corn pudding.

Tall glasses of cold water pulled from the well or sweet iced tea.

Biscuits topped with cooked rhubarb, butter, and sugar.

After supper, we'd watch TV.

Sometimes I ventured out to catch june bugs or lightning bugs in a mason jar.

My grandfather nodded in the reclining chair.

My grandmother sewed or quilted but always had her eye on something in the oven.

Bread.

A pie for the preacher or someone who'd lost a loved one.

I read a book.

There was always something dead in the kitchen.

On occasion a squirrel or rabbit shot and skinned by my grandfather.

A bucket of recently caught fish.

A chicken with feathers.

I remember an entire hog's head in a galvanized tub, its tongue sticking out.

█ █ █ █ My grandparents hoisted the tub with the hog's head up on the stove.

It covered all four burners.

After it cooked all night, my grandmother made souse.

She used a hand-cranked meat grinder to make relish from cucumbers, onions, and green peppers.

By nightfall everything outdoors belonged to nature, but inside we were full and warm and fed.

█ █ █ █ Well, it's important that poetry is accessible.

Poetry is for the people, you know, whoever the people are and whatever the poems are.

I mean, I think that it was designed to be a spoken art.

It's always for the people, whether it's on the page or the stage.

It has to be accessible, I think.

█ █ █ █ Carter Caves State Resort Park is one of the most interesting state parks in Kentucky.

Along with 30 miles of hiking trails, there's RV and primitive camping, boating and fishing, rock climbing and rappelling, and many special events throughout the year.

And don't forget about those six caves for multiple types of guided tours.

We had a chance to go into one of them a little while back.

It's known as X-Cave and it was a really cool adventure.

Come along as we go spelunking at Carter Caves State Resort Park.

█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ Paul, when was this park established and how did it all come to be?

So, the Kentucky Park System comes into existence in 1926.

Carter Caves by that time was actually a very, Carter Caves by that time was actually a very, very big tourism destination and doesn't become part of the Department of Parks until 1946.

There were several families who owned the property and they had all kind of met together and it was right after World War II and they just kind of, as a good service to the community, they sold the property to the Department of Parks and it became one of the Department of Parks.

And here we are today.

And here we are today.

The natural arches here in the park, tell me about those.

So, we boast five natural bridges here at Carter Caves State Resort Park, including what could be considered the largest natural bridge in the state of Kentucky, Smoky Bridge.

It is a geologic phenomenon.

I mean, it's this massive arch that you can go down and take a look at.

Natural Bridge is also, and we call it the Carter Caves Natural Bridge, but the Carter Caves Natural Bridge is one of the only ones in the eastern United States that supports a paved road over the top of it.

So, not only do you have that uniqueness of the caves in this area, but you also have all these arches.

So, Paul, this is literally the Bat Cave.

Tell me about what this is.

So, Bat Cave here at Carter Caves is one of the largest cave systems in Carter County.

This particular site is one of the most important sites in Kentucky and even in the eastern United States for what's called the Indiana bat.

It's a species that finds protection, finds warmth, finds kind of important to be together, and it's because of that that the habitat is so important for them.

But this type of bat is very prone to disturbance.

They don't like disturbance, and so that's why we're actually doing this outside of the gate, because this time of the year they're swarming, and they're starting to socialize, and they're starting to pack on that weight to get them through that hibernation season.

So, from those terms, it is both an important cave, geologically speaking, but most importantly for that Indiana bat.

So, given the sensitive nature of this, is this closed to the public?

Can people go in and see this?

Yeah, this is also a Kentucky State Nature Preserve, and what we have here is from Memorial Day to Labor Day, we take tours through this because the bats are not hibernating.

They're not roosting inside of there, so we're not impacting their habitat during that time.

But after Labor Day, of course, it starts that swarming season.

Most of the other caves that you come to, you've got lights, you've got a guide with you, there's paths, but this is not developed in any way, shape, or form.

So, for many people during that summertime period, it's kind of your first venture into wild caving, but after that Labor Day season, we don't even go in there.

When folks take those tours during that limited time during the year, will they see bats in there, or are they all out at that point?

Yeah, you'll have bats here year-round, and that's the case with all of our caves, but I will say, as the name might imply, I mean, our Bat Cave Tours, you almost assuredly are going to see bats, and not just the Indiana bats.

Throughout Kentucky, you find about 15 species that live in Kentucky year-round.

Seven of those are found here at Carter Caves, and you, on a tour, could potentially see many of those types of species of bats, big browns, little browns, tricolored bats, you know, you're going to see a lot of them.

Why is it so important to protect places like this?

Why do we need to be so careful?

This is a birthing colony for the species, so many of the species in the eastern United States are coming from here at Carter Caves.

So, from that standpoint, it's so incredibly important for us to make sure that, that habitat is here for them to be able to use every single year.

█ █ █ █ So, Paul, we've got other caves here in the park as well.

Tell me about where we are right now.

So, we're standing in front of X-Cave, and X-Cave is just one of our several commercial tours.

These are the lit, prepared trips that you can come through, really, year-round.

You can come and see these types of tours, but X-Cave is what I like to call our unique cave, and because of how it's formed, it really just creates a very, very unique formation within the cave, and that's what we feature on one of these cave tours.

So, the folks who come in for the tours, what do they get to experience when they're they're back here?

Over the past, you know, 30, 40 years, we've tried to focus in on the science behind it, how these things are formed, why you get such beautiful formations.

So, if you come here, that's what you're going to see a lot of.

You're going to hopefully learn a little bit, but more importantly, you're going to make that connection with the resource and hopefully have a better appreciation of it than when you came.

Well, we'd love to check it.

Can we take a look?

We absolutely can.

Let's do it.

You lead the way, boss.

So, this was my first time to Carter Caves State Park, and I was already impressed by what I'd seen above ground, but when it came time to go subterranean, I was blown away by how gorgeous the actual cave proved to be.

The caves are so unique to this area.

You can go into one a hundred different times, and if you really pay attention to what you're seeing, you're going to see something every single time that's going to be different.

Well, the caves have been amazing today, and thanks for showing us around and letting us take a look.

I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Every year, the Kentucky Band Organization invites middle schoolers to audition for their prestigious KBO All-State Band program.

Only the best young musicians make the cut.

The music's tough, rehearsals are long, but the final result is much greater than the sum of its parts.

And if you pay attention to the saxophone section, one name keeps popping up year after year.

█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ Since 2019, the Kentucky Band Organization has been pairing the state's top young musicians with renowned conductors for an intense weekend of rehearsals and an amazing final concert.

It's a powerful experience for everyone involved.

They're middle schoolers, but they are performing They're middle schoolers, but they are performing at a high school level.

And when they perform, I think, at that level, they can feel it on stage that this is different.

This is not just a performance in a gym.

This is where everybody's paying attention to every rest, and everybody's coming together, and everybody's breathing together.

And I think that kind of shared experience is something that's so memorable and deep for them.

They do a good job of judging the best of the best.

And so that's why it's such a good experience.

A lot of my kids go, and they really get a feeling for how much they need to work, what they need to work on, and how good they are.

One part of our process is giving feedback to the students, and I think watching them get the feedback and their appreciation for that, that's probably the most satisfying thing.

It's not just their placement.

It's about their growth.

And I think if they feel like they're growing, that's mission accomplished.

My mom in middle school and high school My mom in middle school and high school did a lot of honor bands and extracurriculars with music, and she wanted me to do those as well and she wanted me to do those as well because I think she knew how much fun it would be and how much it would help me grow.

This year's program took place at UK's Singletary Center for the Arts.

The KBO keeps the show moving.

Past venues include Eastern and Western Kentucky Universities and the Youth Performing Arts School in Louisville.

Another element that changes every year is the guest conductor.

Our guest conductor this year is Christine Wolfe, and she's actually from Salt Lake City.

She is a fantastic middle school band director and has been for 30 years.

And the biggest reason why we brought her in was because she's a fantastic educator and treats her children well.

The conductors are brought in from all over the country, and their influence is felt beyond the rehearsals and performances.

Sometimes they talk to them and they realize, you know, not my band director might have told me I'm great, but this guy from Texas told me I'm amazing.

And that changes like their viewpoint of like themselves and their self-esteem, and I love that.

As important as the influence of the guest conductors has been, the students have gotten to this level with hard work and the devotion of their middle school band directors and private teachers.

And if you take a look at the KBO's saxophone sections, one teacher really stands out.

Making Allstate is hard to do, man, on any level, middle school, high school.

And it says a lot about the student, and it says a lot about the teachers that are coaching them to kind of motivate them to get to that point.

Ron is incredible.

For years and years, we would always look at the Allstate list, and you would see a Ron Jones student, a Ron Jones student, a Ron Jones student.

So anytime anyone around looks at the saxophone list, we know it's going to be a Ron Jones studio.

In addition to teaching saxophone for more than 30 years, Ron Jones has been playing professionally for longer than that, and he brings all that experience to his students.

It just blossomed into something that you see today.

I had no idea that I would want to teach music like I am now, and I found out that I had a niche for working with young people and helping young people to develop as musicians.

Over the years, Ron has helped a multitude of young musicians, but this year's first chair alto sax is someone special.

Louisville eighth grader Wyatt Quiles has been working with Ron for two years, and he's made quite the impression.

I've taught a lot of students.

He's different in a very positive, good way.

I love working with him.

Every lesson is a journey, and he has a lot of really great questions.

He's very inquisitive.

2...3... █ █ █ █ Music is important to me because it really helps me free my mind from everything that's going on, and it helps me enter a world where I can just choose what I want to play and choose how I want to express myself.

I can't think of one lesson since he's been taking lessons with me, which started in the sixth grade, where he's come in here and he said, Mr. Jones, I didn't practice this week -- Never happened.

Like all great teachers, Ron focuses on lessons that go beyond the subject at hand.

Mr. Jones always had a saying, don't be upset with the results you didn't get with the work you didn't put in, which is just what I apply to in everything in my life.

I'm just a driven person, man, in my playing, in my practice.

My students see that.

They see I'm not going to tell them to do anything that I myself don't do.

So when they come to see me perform, they see the fruits of my labor as far as practice is concerned.

When you look at teachers like Ron Jones and organizations like KBO, you realize that their effects go way beyond the music.

They reveal the importance of art for the happiness and development of our kids and the communities they will one day be entrusted to lead.

The arts are so important for the students because it's an avenue for them to experience, to create.

And really, I think when you talk about character and creating a person, a human being, the arts is a huge part of their development.

█ █ █ █ We've had a great time here today at Carter Caves State Park.

Now, over the course of our season, as we've been celebrating the 100th anniversary of the state park system here in Kentucky, I've been rafting, fishing, kayaking, golfing, and rock climbing, just to name some of our adventures.

But going down into the caves here was one of the coolest things I have found to do in a state park.

And if you haven't been underground here yet you really should check it out.

Now, if you've enjoyed our show, be sure to like the Kentucky Life Facebook page or subscribe to the KET YouTube channel for more of what we like to call Kentucky Life Extras, where you'll have access to lots of other great videos.

Until next time, I'll leave you with this moment.

I'm Chip Polston, cherishing this Kentucky life.

█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █