Victor Patrocino never got to play pickleball with his brother.
But he thinks about him every time he steps on the court.
Victor and his brother Kevin did everything together growing up.
“We were a duo,” Victor says. “We were always competitive. Anything we got into we excelled at.”
So, when Victor started playing pickleball a few years ago, despite having no background in racket sports, he fell in love with the game, and naturally decided to share his discovery with Kevin. “Pickleball would have been the next thing we did together.”
But here’s the thing, they never did get to play.
“We talked and FaceTimed and all that,” Victor said, “but we never played.”
Kevin was in the Navy and started playing pickleball because of Victor’s encouragement. The two brothers joked frequently over the phone about who would win a matchup between the two of them and looked forward to playing together when both were back stateside.
Kevin was on active duty in Iraq and planning to move to Texas after finishing up his last tour. He was killed in action. “He happened to be in a place where a missile fell on him,” Victor said.
“I lost him two years ago,” Victor said. “The last thing we talked about was him getting into pickleball. He fell in love with it, and now, pickleball just means more for me. “I feel like he’s watching. He never watched me play, and I never saw him play, but I know he’s watching and that’s what I play for.”
Victor, who now works as a full-time security manager for UPS, is a former marine. He also served overseas with his last tour ending in 2015.
“My father in-law was telling us about this game, and I looked it up on Youtube. I thought it looked like something old people do,” Victor said, remembering the first time he saw the game. “Well, maybe I can do it, too. I found a rec center and played that first time out for like six hours.”
And now Victor, a 4.0 player, doesn’t just play the game, he grows the game. Victor got into the game, and like so many others who play, got addicted to the game. Addicted so much, he started the pickleball program at Lifetime Fitness in Charlotte, N.C.
“They gave me a back tennis court and I just started it up on my own,” Victor said. “I got some tape, got some friends, and the next thing you know, a lot of people who had no interest in the sport before were joining in on the games.
“Pickleball did so much for me,” Victor said. “There are some people who don’t have a lot of friends. I’m not going to be that guy. I will take the time to play with you. People appreciate that. That’s what I do. Deep down, that shows me that I’m in the right place.”
Victor said pickleball has saved him.
“If it wasn’t for pickleball and the people I met, I don’t know what would have happened,” he said. “My family and wife are now into it. They play because I love it. It brings a lot of joy to me. It’s a second home for me. I don’t think about anything, I just play. I let loose.”
A former wrestler, Victor received a full-ride scholarship to Rutgers, he also competed in Brazilian jiu jitsu. That was until pickleball came around.
“And that was it,” Victor said of pickleball. “I was drawn to it. When I lost him [Kevin], I felt like I lost everything. We were extremely tight and pickleball kept us together even though we didn’t play together.”
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