Gale H. Leach -- Bio

Gale and her husband moved to Sun City Grand, an active adult community, in the summer of 2004. Prior to that, neither of them had ever heard of pickleball, but they decided to give it a try. After an initial lesson, both of them loved the sport.

They played as much as possible. After a few months, however, Gale was sidelined due to an illness. She had been a technical writer before taking early retirement, so she thought immediately that she would buy a book and learn more about the sport if she couldn't get out there and play. She bought the only two books she could find and read them both, but neither was quite what she was looking for.

Gale decided she would gather as much information as she could from the fine players around her, hoping that might help her to become a better player at the same time. She began interviewing people at Sun City Grand, some of whom are considered to be among the finest players in the nation, and talked with other people who were recommended from neighboring communities. She soon realized she had the start of a book: the book she'd been looking for all along. She began writing in earnest. The Art of Pickleball was published in November, 2005, and in 2008, she updated it with some corrections and the revised set of rules as a second edition.

Gale lives in Surprise, Arizona, with her husband, three cats, one dog, and seven computers.