Pickleball Magazine 3-3 Courtesy of Pickleball Tournaments | Page 22

PLAYER PROFILE
Serving
Time
Roger BelAir taught
pickleball to maximum
security inmates at
Cook County Jail in
Chicago—and he’s
looking to do more.
20
I
f you know Roger BelAir, you know he has a passion
for pickleball. By day, he’s a financial expert and
author of several investing books and a frequent
speaker at business conventions. In his off time,
he plays pickleball daily, competes in tournaments
nationwide and teaches clinics wherever he goes.
So, when Roger saw a “60 Minutes” feature on Cook
County Jail in Chicago, he knew his next challenge
was to teach pickleball in what has to be the most difficult setting
possible—maximum security.
For the next six months, Roger negotiated terms with Tom Dart,
Cook County’s forward-thinking sheriff, who listened to his appeal
and saw the merit in it. And then the vetting started.
“There was a fair amount of background checking on the
game and me,” Roger says. “The system moves at a slow pace
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