As you would expect, the get-togethers are all about competition when Thomas Wilson and A.J. Koller are involved.
Koller comes up with the ideas, Wilson plays along and the family vacations become a battle of the PPA stars.
“It’s always competitive,” said Wilson. “We have an Amazing Race competition. It’s Win or Die Trying.”
Well, happy National Cousins Day to Wilson and Koller who share time together on the PPA Tour and still find time to compete against each other off the courts, too.
“It’s always tons of fun on family trips,” Koller said. “It’s not hard for us to entertain ourselves for days with silly games we make up. It gets cutthroat and people go all out. Usually someone gets upset in the end, but it’s all in good fun.”
Koller’s mother and Wilson’s mother are sisters and both Wilson and Koller got involved in pickleball about the same time. Wilson says Koller convinced him to give pro pickleball a shot. Koller said pickleball came much easier for Wilson.
“My mom introduced us,” Wilson said. “A.J. started doing well on the pro tour and convinced me to get out there.”
“I started playing first,” Koller said. “And I had a much longer learning curve to get up to the pro game. T was able to walk in and play at a high level.”
The cousins have had a successful run, sometimes together, often apart on the PPA Tour.
Their best finish together was earning a silver at the National Indoor Championships back in February of 2022. Koller has 12 medals on tour, including three golds. Wilson has six medals. They played a bulk of the 2022 season together and the two will be teammates on the Utah Black Diamonds in the second half of the upcoming Major League Pickleball season.
Wilson and Koller have been close since they were very young, played sports together, made up games together, and now talk pickleball together.
“We talk about some pickleball, of course, since it’s a big part of our life but, real-life stuff, too,” Koller said. “It’s important to balance that out with people you are close to.”
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