Competitive Drive Keeps Ken Sawer And Kathleen Fors Thriving on Court
The couple recently earned a trip to Nationals through a Golden Ticket tournament in Colorado Springs.
By Jen Mulson - Red Line Editorial
If there’s something to compete for, chances are Ken Sawer and Kathleen Fors are willing to give it a try.
Sawer, 80, is a former high school tennis coach and teacher and ski instructor. Fors, 77, is a life coach. Together they’ve spent the last four years learning to play pickleball, earning wins and trying to tolerate losses whenever they step on a court.
“Our strength is we’re both competitive and habitual learners,” Sawer said. “I’m a coach by nature and she’s a coach by nature. So, we have our ups and downs like any husband and wife, but we’re on the same page also.”
July 12 at the USA Pickleball Golden Ticket tournament in Colorado Springs was one of those days when mental fortitude comes in handy.
Fors competed in the final of her singles division against a woman more than a decade younger. She covered the court well and hit impressive shots, but she trailed midway through the match.
“That’s OK, Kathleen,” Sawer called out to his wife from the sidelines. “That’s the way you want to be.”
During a timeout he beelined over to coach her.
“A competitor has to learn how to lose and in life you have to learn how to lose,” Sawer said. “She’s a life coach and we know all the pitfalls, and right now when I went over I said, ‘You’re getting beat but you’re having good points.’”
He tried to throw out ideas that might help change the course of the match, he says, like changing her technique, or playing high balls or low balls or coming into the net more, but sometimes none of it works.
As Fors walked off the court, sporting a loss, Sawer consoled her.
“You had some good rallies,” he said.
She took it all in stride.
“I feel pretty good because I don’t play that much singles and she’s a lot younger,” Fors said. “In the Olympics and golf and tennis, the pros all have people who help them with their mind game. I am very good at it. Kenny is a good athlete, but I have a lot of tenacity on the court and that is from my own work on myself of high performance.”
Despite Fors’ loss, the couple had already qualified for the USA Pickleball National Championships this November in San Diego. They won mixed doubles in the 75+ division, and they each earned tickets in their respective age group for singles and men’s and women’s doubles as well.
Last year they medaled in singles, doubles and mixed doubles at the U.S. Senior Pickleball National Championships in Casa Grande, Arizona.
The couple from Carbondale, Colorado, were tennis players first. They recently won gold at United States Tennis Association’s National Husband & Wife Doubles Championships in Kansas, which came a couple months after taking home a silver from the USTA’s Husband and Wife Grass Court Nationals.
Before they play at USA Pickleball Nationals, they’re looking forward to the Huntsman World Senior Games this October in St. George, Utah, where they’ll compete in five days of tennis, three days of pickleball and two days of golf.
“Anything that is competitive we like,” Sawer said. “She’s probably more competitive than I am. Together we’re driven. It’s all fun.”
The two first met at a tennis club in 1982 when Fors spent a couple of years in Aspen, Colorado. They reconnected after Sawer’s wife of 47 years died and have been married for half a dozen years.
Sawer helped revitalize Fors’ interest tennis after she hadn’t played in two decades. He also taught her how to golf.
They learned how to play pickleball together, and it’s become a perfect activity for the athletic couple.
“I like competition, and he likes competition,” Fors said. “One of my attributes is being athletic for my age. Kenny is very good and he’s very fast. So any short balls I can’t get to he gets to. We’re really good at strategy, like finding out the person who’s a little weaker or has a little weaker backhand and play those shots.”
Jen Mulson is a freelance contributor to USA Pickleball on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.
