• I tore my Achilles tendon while playing pickleball. • I joined a club that includes Klay Thompson and Jayson Tatum, Al Gore, and Brad Pitt. • I reached out to Sterling K. Brown on Instagram and surprisingly he replied with advice.

I heard the pop first. It sounded like a pickleball thwacking off a paddle, precisely what I was intending to do when I exploded from the set position and backpedaled to return our opponent's smash.

The pain came next. Like I'd been shot in the lower part of my right calf. As I crumpled to the court, the arch of my foot throbbing in pain, I yelled to my doubles partner, "Shooter?!"

He ran over, his face ashen.

"There's no shooter, dude," he said calmly, but with concern. "I'm pretty sure that sound came from inside your leg."

I had torn my Achilles ten

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