Episode 228 - Behind the Scenes with Ireland Horvat: Pickleball, Media, and Mindset

How saying yes to one game of pickleball shaped a career

TL;DR

• Say yes to things you're unsure about. They might change your life.
• Set a short, timed block to start the task you keep putting off.
• Ask people ahead of you for honest feedback, and stay open to it.
• Notice when your work quality starts to slip. It may be burnout.
• Everyone is fighting through something, so bring a smile anyway.

Introduction

Yes, we talk about pickleball in this episode, but it's so much more than that. Ireland Horvat creates content for the PPA Tour, and she'd just been in Melbourne for the tour's first-ever Australian Open.

She studied sports broadcasting at Arizona State University. In the year and 10 months since her first pickleball interview, she's gone from barely knowing how the pro game worked to filming thousands of clips each tournament, interviewing the sport's biggest names and doing sideline interviews on live TV.

Whether you're into pickleball or not, this one shows that putting your head down and getting the work done gets results. I found it very inspiring.

Lesson 1: Say yes to the thing you're unsure about

Insight: When her best friend's mum asked if she wanted to play pickleball, Ireland thought it was for old people. She went once just to make them happy and ended up playing for five hours straight.

Back at college in Arizona, her professor asked if anyone wanted to cover a pro pickleball tournament. She said yes, messaged a player directly to ask for an interview, and that led to the job she has now.

For Ireland, the best thing about pickleball is the community. You can play with your grandparents or show up to a court where you don't know anyone and make 10 friends.

Action: Say yes to one invitation this week you would normally turn down.

Outcome: You give yourself a chance to find something you didn't know you'd love.

Lesson 2: Give yourself 30 minutes to start

Insight: Ireland's main focus is her work at the PPA, with her personal brand second. After editing all day, she sometimes finds it hard to edit her own videos.

So she sets aside 30 minutes. Even if she doesn't finish, she'll get halfway, and by then she wants to finish it. She also posts at least one Instagram Story a day so her followers always see something.

She was nervous about posting at first, worried about what her old friends from school and college would think. She decided to try it anyway, and people told her they liked her tournament vlogs.

Action: Pick the task you've been avoiding, and set a 30-minute timer to start it.

Outcome: Starting gets easier, and you'll often keep going.

Lesson 3: Tell stories, not just highlights

Insight: At a tournament, Ireland works about 12 hours a day and films around 2,500 clips. The team can turn around a highlight edit about 10 minutes after a match ends.

Many of her ideas come from other sports accounts, and she puts her own twist on trends. But storytelling gets people's attention. Every pro on the tour has a different story, and helping people get to know the players helps them love the game too.

She's also working on dropping her "broadcast voice" so more of her personality and humour come through. I think when you can mix the polished side with the real you, that's when you can really kill it.

Action: Share one real story behind something you do this week, rather than just the result.

Outcome: People connect with you, not just your content.

Lesson 4: Ask for feedback from people ahead of you

Insight: Ireland still gets nervous doing sideline interviews. During the Australian Open, she checked in with her producer after her first few interviews to ask how she went. By championship Sunday, she felt great.

She's always asked people further ahead in their careers what she's doing wrong. More experienced broadcasters on the tour have helped her with what to ask and how to ask it, and she takes those lessons into the next one.

I asked how she knows which advice to take. She says advice from someone who's already been where you want to go is usually worth hearing, even if it sounds like something you already know. They might be saying it in a different way.

Action: Ask one person who's ahead of you for one honest piece of feedback.

Outcome: You speed up your learning and improve faster.

Lesson 5: Notice when burnout shows up in your work

Insight: Ireland's boss warned her she'd burn out. She didn't believe him. Then came four-week stretches away from home and 12-hour days, and she noticed she wasn't making as many videos as she used to. She was running out of ideas and didn't have the brain capacity to keep going.

She asked for help, and the team hired another content creator so they could split tournaments. She admits she hasn't figured out work-life balance yet. Right now, her work is her life, and she loves it.

For me, when it's on, it's on, and I take time off when it slows down. But everyone is different. The key is being honest with yourself when it's too much.

Action: Ask yourself if the quality of your work has slipped lately, and if so, what support you need.

Outcome: You catch burnout early and ask for help before it takes over.

Lesson 6: Everyone is fighting through something

Insight: I asked Ireland what makes a good or bad tournament. She doesn't think there are bad ones. It depends on how you are, physically and emotionally. She's so busy that by the end of a bad day she's usually forgotten what she was upset about.

As she's got older, she's realised that everyone has something going on. If she's feeling bad, others probably are too. So she puts on a smile, because it's always someone's first time at a tournament, and she wants to make that special for them.

A yoga instructor once told me that the mindset you bring to the mat is the vibe you'll get out of it. I've found the same with pickleball.

Action: On a tough day, do one small thing to make someone else's experience better.

Outcome: You shift your own mood while helping someone else.

Quick wins

• Say yes to one new experience.
• Use a 30-minute timer to start.
• Share the story, not just the highlight.
• Ask for one piece of honest feedback.
• Bring a good mindset to the court, the gym or work.

Closing insight

Ireland's advice for Australians is to pick up a paddle. Don't be nervous. Go by yourself or with a friend. People will be excited to teach you. But the bigger lesson is about saying yes, putting in the work and asking for help. She went from not knowing how pro pickleball worked to having full creative freedom in a job she can't believe is hers.

Connect with Ireland

You can follow Ireland on Instagram, and follow the PPA Tour for more pickleball content.

Listen to the full episode

The full conversation is on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube, or press play at the top of this page.

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