We’ve featured Megan Fudge on quite a few occasions. Last year, she was the most-medalled female player on the APP Tour, with 28 in just 13 tournaments, and has 21 pro golds. What you might not know about her is that she and her husband, Ryler DeHeart, now live on the road in an RV, traveling from venue to venue following the pickleball tour trail!
Unprecedented Times
Megan and Ryler, former tennis stars from the University of Illinois, found themselves drawn to pickleball during the pandemic, joining the ranks of many who sought new activities during those unprecedented times. Reflecting on their initial introduction to the sport, Fudge told NBC2, “Our kids were like watching us they’re like ‘What is this thing? Like, you know, what is this? This is not tennis.'”
Fudge said, “And we’re like, ‘No, it’s pickleball,’ and they’re like, ‘Well, we want to play. If you’re playing, we’re playing,’ so it just became this all-family thing.”
Pickleball Globetrotting
Years later, the couple, along with their children JR and Lily, have made the jump into professional pickleball globetrotting to compete in tournaments. The decision to embrace a nomadic lifestyle came naturally as they found themselves away from home for extended periods.
“We were living in Clearwater, in Tampa Clearwater, and we were just not spending enough time there to make it worthwhile,” Fudge said. “Just became a very expensive dog house. So we’re like, you know what, the dogs can come on the road with us if we get an RV. So we went all in, got an RV, and went full-time RV life, but we haven’t looked back yet. We’ve been together for just over a year now since March last year, and it’s been such a fun journey.”
“It’s cool, it’s a simple life,” DeHeart said. “We like it. It’s a lot better I think, for the family just to have a home on wheels and for the kids to have a little stability. We homeschool them as well. So it’s going really well so far. I wouldn’t change it.”
“We Had Some Awesome Trips”
Their home, their school, everything is now on wheels, making every day some kind of adventure.
“We had some awesome trips,” DeHeart said. Last year, we tried to go to some cool places. We went to the Grand Canyon and some other national parks during some of our breaks on tournaments.”
“We’re just embracing every step that we get to take, meeting people, and seeing different cities in different parts of the country,” said Fudge, who grew up in Germany. So it’s been fun to learn America a little bit more.”
Every aspect of their lives, including the kids’ education, now takes place on wheels, transforming each day into a thrilling escapade.
Overlapping Schedules
Despite the challenges of overlapping schedules, the family finds ways to support each other’s endeavors. “Sometimes we miss a lot of our matches, which is tough,” Fudge admitted, “but it’s been a good fun experience.” Cheering each other on from different sides of the court, they relish the camaraderie that comes with being a pickleball family.
“Sometimes we miss a lot of our matches, which is tough,” admitted Fudge. But I always get the reports as soon as I get off the court, and I say, ‘How’d he do?’ and he finds out how I do, so we’re texting each other on different sides of the facility, but it’s been a good, fun experience.”
“Sometimes I’m running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to watch everyone, but it’s awesome,” DeHeart said. “We love it. It keeps us busy.”
Going International
Their passion for the sport sometimes takes them beyond national borders. “We’re definitely enjoying the American circuit, but we’re actually traveling more and more international,” Fudge shared.
“We were in Mumbai about six weeks ago at the Indian Open. We’re planning on going to the English Open and the Spanish Open this year and hoping to get out to the Australian Open as well. So just kind of expanding the horizon and being ambassadors for the sport worldwide.”
DeHeart sums it all up by saying, “We’re just lucky to be able to do this as a family. It’s been awesome for us.”
Dropping Out
It would seem that Megan and Ryler are re-evaluating their pickleball strategy as they decided to withdraw from the 2024 MLP Draft. Their profiles have been subsequently removed from the MLP website.
Megan posted the following on her Instagram account:
“As a family, we decided to withdraw our application to the 2024 MLP draft. There’s too much unknown at this time that creates uncertainty for my family, the draft process and our schedules.”
