Matthew Nola: Building pickleball in Laos

At the bottom, there's only one direction to go: up. When Matthew Nola left the Nong Khai refugee camp and boarded a one-way flight to America with his family, he could only have imagined that his return ticket would come in the form of an unexpected game: pickleball. Now recognized as the fastest-growing sport in the world, pickleball has transformed Matt into one of its most passionate advocates. From playing in tournaments, developing future stars to building a brand that would help put his ancestral homeland of Laos on the map, Matt has become a key figure in the sport's rise. When we spoke with him in 2022, pickleball was barely known in Southeast Asia. Today, courts are springing up across the region and Matt is leaving a lasting impact by spreading America's latest sports craze and changing lives along the way. Music: Summer of 1984 by RKVC Nong Khai refugee camp photo by John Burgess