Christine Foley Player Spotlight: Healing, Competition, and Connection Through Pickleball

---

When Christine Foley first picked up a pickleball paddle two years ago, she wasn’t searching for medals—she was searching for healing. “My story’s kind of sad,” she shared. “My husband passed away, and I was worried about what I was going to do in the winter. I needed something to do.”

A close friend suggested pickleball, and Christine found herself with the “Plantation Street group” in Worcester, shoveling snow and ice just to get games in. “We were shoveling courts because we only played outside,” she said. “I didn’t even really know how to play, but here I am shoveling ice. That group just saved me…my mental health.”

It wasn’t until her sister-in-law, Lisa Foley, nudged her to “step out a little more and join RT.12” that everything truly shifted. “We came here and took a lesson from Julie, and I just felt so welcomed,” Christine recalled. “It had such a good vibe, a nice feeling. Julie was awesome. I just felt so encouraged and welcomed. From there, I’ve been hooked on it.”

Pickleball quickly became more than a pastime. “It’s opened up a whole new community, a whole new life for me,” she said. “I don’t think I’d be the same person right now if I hadn’t found pickleball. I always leave here happy.” She now travels to play, including a summer trip to the Senior Games in New Hampshire with mixed doubles partner Mark Davis: “I have whole new groups of friends now, and I have a whole life—that’s really saved me, mentally.”

For Christine, RT. 12 feels like family. “I walk in here and I honestly feel happy,” she said. “It feels like it’s an extension of my home. There’s always someone who’s like, ‘Hey!’ and they seem genuinely happy to see me.” The competitive side matters, too: “I’ve been an athlete my whole life, played college basketball. To be able to have a partner again as an adult is like, what? You don’t get a lot of team activities as an adult.”

That joy has spread to her family. “Now my three sons are playing,” she said. “We try to play twice a month, and now I’m playing with my son in a league. That was his Christmas present, but it was really a present for me. I get to be with him for eight weeks in a row.” She laughs that the whole league night feels like a party: “I know every single person here. I’ve played with everybody here. It’s awesome.”

On the court, Christine mixes creativity and grit. Her favorite move? “It’s a shot when I’m on the left side and someone does a drop shot,” she explained. “I’m looking at you like I’m going to go right, but I actually go left, and it goes down the line with a spin. I love a fake out.”

As a physical education teacher in Worcester, Christine brings the same uplifting mindset to her students that she brings to the court. One teacher mindset she brings to the courts is “establishing relationships,” she said. “I love to establish great relationships first with my students. If I don’t have a good relationship with them, they’re not going to want to learn from me.” The best feedback she gets at RT.12 is about her energy: “People say, ‘I always leave feeling happy. You lift me up. You’re so positive.’ That is what I want. I want you to feel my energy.”

Now you may be wondering, do her students know about her pickleball skills? They sure do! She reminisced with us about the time she was teaching her PE students how to play and “They said, ‘Yo Miss, you’ve got mad skills,’” she laughed.

Golf is another big part of Christine’s life, and pickleball has reshaped her relationship with it. “From golf, you have to be a lot more patient and easier on yourself,” she said. “But it’s reversed. I’m learning more about golf from my play in pickleball—to stay positive, to not be so hard on myself. I went through a really tough time where I hated golf. My husband was a scratch golfer and taught me how to golf. I left the golf course after he passed crying a lot and thought, this is not it. Pickleball is changing my view of golf—you have to have fun, enjoy the round, look at nature, enjoy the people you’re with, keep that positivity going.”

When asked about a proud sports moment, Christine went back to her roots. “I was the only girl to be on an all-boys soccer team,” she said. “I saw the picture recently and thought, that little girl was brave to be the only girl with all these boys. And then I thought about it—like, you do it now, girl. You’re sometimes the only girl out there with all the guys, so you’re still keeping that same flow. I’m kind of proud of that little girl that was strong at that time and has continued to get stronger and still feel confident.”

Her perfect free day blends all the things she loves most: movement, friends, and family. “We’re getting up early, we’re going to Green Hill, we’re going to hit balls, do a little putting, play 18 holes on a beautiful morning,” she said. “I’m going to go get some lunch with my best friends, and then I’m going to play pickleball for four hours after that.” Ideally, her boys are in the mix: “The days that the four of us play, it’s amazing. I feel like the luckiest mom in the world to be able to come here and the four of us play.”

Looking back on a difficult few years, Christine balances honesty and gratitude. “I miss him so much,” she said of her husband. “But I’m proud of my boys. We play pickleball, we are close, it’s tight. I’m so thankful for that.”

And through it all, RT.12 has been part of that journey. As Christine put it, “I really thank pickleball and RT.12 for helping me through—and continuing to help me through this.”