Lacy Schneemann has one of the coolest backgrounds on the pro pickleball tour. As a former aerospace engineer who decided to quit her job at Boeing and go play pro pickleball, her story is pretty fascinating.

Recently, she went on the Pickleballers Podcast and shared her small town Texas upbringing and revealed that she actually won a rodeo event when she was a kid.

“I’m from a small town in west Texas and it’s in the middle of nowhere. It’s dry, it’s got some ranches there, so it's very southern and very Texan. I didn’t love it. I’m more of a city person. I like having concerts and events going on all the time. And there wasn’t much to do in my hometown. The only thing to do was play sports and go to school,” Schneemann explained.

But because it was Texas, of course, they had an impressive rodeo.

“We actually do have an unreal rodeo in San Angelo,” she said. “It’s actually the second biggest in Texas, behind the Houston Rodeo.”

“Fun fact, when I was five or six years old, I won a competition in the rodeo called mutton busting,” she revealed.

“If you’ve never heard of it – you should look it up. It’s basically like these little kids get placed on top of a sheep and they wrap your hands around it as tight as they can. Then, the sheep are let out of the gate and they run around while the kid holds on as long as they can. And I won that event,” said Schneemann.

“My claim to fame was mutton busting,” said Schneemann.

Mutton busting wasn’t the only activity Schneemann did growing up. Her parents put Schneemann and her twin sister Anna in every sport.

“I played softball, volleyball, basketball, soccer, tennis, and gymnastics. Then I dwindled it down to tennis and basketball and then eventually just tennis as I got into high school,” she shared.

But after graduating salutatorian of her class, Schneemann had ambitions to get out of her small town in Texas. So, she flew to Southern California and attended USC to get her bachelor’s degree and her master’s degree in aerospace engineering.

“I actually chose aerospace engineering because of a job questionnaire I did in the eighth grade. I did this comprehensive test that gave me some options at the end and I didn’t even know what aerospace engineering was, but I thought it sounded cool and I committed to it,” she said.

Throughout her college experience, Schneemann continued to play club tennis and was captain for two years. And in 2015, she and her dad discovered pickleball but in 2021, she decided to take the leap and pursue pro pickleball as a full-time career.

Currently, she’s ranked in the top 10 for women’s doubles and hopes to crack the top five.

Though Schneemann knows she made the right decision to quit her aerospace job, she knows she can always go back when her days of pro pickleball come to a close.

Schneemann undoubtedly has one of the coolest backup plans on tour.

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