Today we talk with Roger BelAir about the Power of pickleball. In 2017, CBS’s 60 Minutes featured Sheriff Tom Dart of Chicago’s Cook County Jail, where Roger, an avid pickleball player, noticed inmates idle and suggested introducing the sport. Sheriff Dart agreed, and pickleball’s introduction proved transformative, reducing disciplinary issues and fostering teamwork among inmates, including gang members.

The program’s success in Chicago, highlighted in USA TODAY, led Roger to expand it to prisons nationwide, earning recognition from outlets like The Washington Post and NPR, even garnering interest internationally. With 95% of inmates eventually released, pickleball equips them with life skills, promoting personal growth and safer communities. Today, the sport is the fastest-growing in the U.S., inspiring others to replicate Roger’s initiative in their local prisons.