Kansas City pickleball instructor Aaron Trost is gearing up for a special trip.

Trost will soon embark on a three-week experience in Kyiv, Ukraine to teach war victims the fundamentals of America's fastest-growing sport and spread joy in the process.

It will mark his second trip to the country after previously visiting in 2023.

“A couple times, there would be you know, like bomb sirens or plane sirens, stuff like that, people would take shelter,” recalled Trost, in a story by KCTV reporter Katie Byrd published on June 7. “Other than that it felt pretty normal.”

Trost is the founder of the non-profit organization Pickleball Planter, which is primarily focused on bringing the game to different places across the United States and abroad.

“Planting pickleball domestically at churches, at-risk youth organizations, urban core ministries and at missions conferences! Growing pickleball internationally by introducing and teaching to faith-based organizations in Honduras, Hungary, Ukraine, England, Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Hong Kong,” explains the Pickleball Planter website. “We have helped efforts that are developing the sport in Argentina, Japan, Brazil, Pakistan, Jamaica, Togo, Singapore, Mozambique and South Africa. With more to come!”

A 5.0 player and former teaching pro at Chicken N Pickle, Trost loves bringing pickleball to the masses.

“I'm passionate about pickleball, a sport that has changed my life,” he shared on the Pickleball Planter website. “It is intergenerational, portable, inexpensive and simple to set up in a variety of indoor and outdoor settings.”

Click here to learn more about Pickleball Planter.

Click here to visit Pickleball Planter on Facebook.