Once a Champion, Always a Champion: Kyle Gardner Finds His Competitive Edge Again

From a lifelong connection to baseball to competing with the Kansas City Stingers, Kyle Gardner reflects on his father's influence, the competition he missed, and what it truly means to be a champion.

For as long as Kyle Gardner can remember, there was a ball in his hand.

Long before he joined the Kansas City Stingers, Gardner’s athletic life revolved around baseball. He played through college, later became a high school baseball coach, and built lasting relationships through the game. Baseball was more than something he played. It shaped how he competed, connected with others, and understood himself.

A lifelong love of the game

Gardner’s earliest memories include going to the softball field to watch his father play. His connection to the sport began so early that one of his favorite family stories starts at the ballpark: his mother went into labor with him at a softball field, and because he was breech, he jokes that he “came out sliding.”

That love of baseball carried him through his own playing career and into coaching. While he remembers the accomplishments and conference championships, the moments that matter most to him are not found in a record book.

“I think I was always a good teammate,” Gardner says. “The biggest accomplishments that I have are the relationships.”

Following his father’s example

Gardner’s father did more than introduce him to baseball. He also showed him the kind of influence a coach can have.

At one point, his father changed jobs so he would have the opportunity to coach Gardner. He became known for coaching the underdogs and investing in players who might otherwise have been overlooked. Years later, people Gardner grew up with still ask about his dad and remember the impact he had on them.

That example now shapes Gardner’s own work with young athletes. As a high school coach, he hopes the teenagers he works with will remember not only what he taught them about baseball, but also how he made them feel and the confidence he helped them build.

Getting the competitive edge back

Eventually, Gardner reached the point when his body could no longer keep up with baseball. Coaching and playing baseball kept him connected to the sport, but he still missed the feeling of being on the field and competing.

Then, near the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, a neighbor invited him to play pickleball. Gardner had never heard of the game, but he quickly discovered that it gave him a chance to move, be athletic, and compete again.

Encouragement from fellow player Steve Hodges helped him see what might be possible if he committed to improving. Gardner began drilling, saw the difference in his game, and realized that pickleball could become much more than a casual activity.

Competing with the Kansas City Stingers has brought back something he thought he had left behind.

“Getting in the league now has brought back that competitive edge,” he says.

The athlete who once played baseball still shows up on the pickleball court. Gardner’s favorite shot is the reset, where his hand-eye coordination and comfort reacting to short hops allow him to use instincts developed over a lifetime in sports.

More than what happens on the court

Pickleball has given Gardner another arena in which to test himself, but it has also reinforced a lesson that reaches far beyond winning and losing.

“Once a champion, always a champion because of the person that you are, not because of what you do on the court,” he says.

Gardner still wants to win. The competitive edge is still there. But he also knows that a match is only one part of a much larger life. A few minutes after the final point, the result gives way to family, relationships, and the people who matter most.

His story reminds us that an athletic chapter can end without the athlete disappearing. The court may change, and the game may look different, but the drive, character, and connections built through competition remain.

Once a champion, always a champion.