Every Junior PPA player likely remembers a specific moment that influenced their pursuit of pickleball.

For 11-year-old JZ Holmes, it was a chance encounter with Jay Devilliers several years ago at PPA Desert Ridge in Arizona.

JZ had been playing pickleball casually for about a month (and didn't know the difference between a dink and a drop, according to his mother, Mandy) when he headed to the tournament with his family to watch some of his favorite pros in person.

The youngster planned to follow Anna Leigh Waters, Ben Johns, Anna Bright and Tyson McGuffin, but things didn't play out that way after meeting the man affectionately known as "The Flying Frenchman" across the picklesphere.

"I remember we were at the front of the venue, and I was just sitting there waiting to go to a court when I saw him. I was like, 'Oh, that's a pro! I'll ask him for his autograph!' He was just chilling at a table under an umbrella with another pro, just hanging out," recalled JZ, a fifth-grade student at Sky Crossing Elementary in Phoenix. "He signed my hat, and we took a picture together. He was super kind."

Admittedly, JZ didn't know who Jay was at the time. He saw a guy wearing pickleball gear and simply went for it. Talk about a good call.

Their interaction continued from there, with Jay striking up a conversation.

He asked JZ an important question: "Will I see you out here on the court someday?" 

JZ enthusiastically replied in the affirmative, and Jay instantly gained a new fan for life.

"After that, we watched him wherever he went. We kind of followed him that whole day and watched every single match," said Mandy. "Ever since then, we've been following his journey online because he made such an impression on our family that we're like, 'What a kind pro! This is the community, this is the pickleball culture, that you can walk up to the pros and talk to them and interact with them.' That really stuck with us as a family, that this is a community and a sport that we really wanted to get involved with."

JZ felt the same way.

That experience with Jay was definitely a catalyst for things to come.

"Ever since that happened, I've been inspired to play pickleball," affirmed JZ. "Jay was the motivation, just asking me that question."

Fast forward to earlier this week when JZ and Jay shared the court for the very first time at a "Play with a Pro" event at Center Court Pickleball Club in Scottsdale.

That meant the world to him.

"Just to play with Jay and get that opportunity is pretty cool, and you get really good coaching, too. It wasn't quite a private lesson, but close to it," mentioned JZ. "It was really fun just to see all the shots that he hit. You learn so much from that. He also had a special message for me, just to never give up in a match, even if you're down 0-10, just keep your game going. " 

"We reminded Jay that he was JZ's first pickleball autograph," added Mandy. "He started following JZ on Instagram right after that and sent him a DM saying, 'It was so great to see you again!' Then he reposted our post and said, 'Future legend right here!' We have plans to meet up with him at The Masters in January."

It's plain to see that JZ is hungry to make his pro dreams come true.

He's putting in the work - both on and off the court - to reap the rewards in the near future.

"JZ comes home from school every day and studies tape. He'll look up what happened in a tournament while he was at school, and he reviews it, he learns from it, and takes notes about it, and then when he goes to play, he tries to implement whatever he's learned. That's how the brain works here," revealed Mandy.

"Every coach that he works with always says that you can't teach that IQ, you can't teach that drive. He'd rather be studying pickleball tape than going on a bike ride with his friends. He's totally driven by himself. He wants to be pro by 15 or 16 years old. He sets his own goals, and we support them. It's very self-driven."

Along with learning from Jay, JZ is also paying especially close attention to the play of Hayden Patriquin and Federico Staksrud on Pickleballtv broadcasts these days.

Both players have key attributes that he'd like to mimic.

"Hayden's hands are amazing. I also love his trash talking. It really gets in his opponents' heads," praised JZ. "With Federico, his angles are really good in singles. I've always watched him. He's one of my favorites."

Mandy couldn't be happier that JZ has committed to America's fastest-growing sport.

She's grateful for everything it has provided him thus far, especially from an interpersonal standpoint.

"From a parent's perspective, I have seen him work through social anxiety. Pickleball really helped at the beginning where you would have to walk up to a stranger and say, 'Hey! Do you want to play with me?' That was hard at the start, and then once he got comfortable doing that, now he'll play with anybody. He has no fear," explained Mandy.

"It's really established his ability to get along with adults. I remember him telling a local magazine reporter that one of his favorite parts of pickleball is that he has a lot of friends in their 70s. He can have conversations with adults now. He hangs out more with older people than younger people because of pickleball. It's really helped him mature in a social aspect, and it's very cool because everyone at his school knows he's "Mr. Pickleball." Even the principal knows about all his accolades, and his whole class has watched videos of him playing. It's just been really cool to educate people who don't know about pickleball through him."

How about that?

And to think, it all began with a small gesture from one of the nicest pros on tour.

"At the end of every day, we do our peak and our pit of the day as a family. We talk about the highest point of our day and the lowest point, and on Monday night, all three of our peaks were about meeting Jay and connecting with him," concluded Mandy. "He truly loved JZ, he'll remember his name, and he was like, 'We'll see you in Palm Springs! We're going to meet up again!' Just really fostering that relationship was everybody's peak of the day, which was super cool."