ORLANDO, Fla. — It’s not an understatement to say that pickleball has become one of the most popular sports to play in the country. Part of the rise in popularity comes from the fact that anyone, of any ability, is able to pick it up.

Every point and every win is earned, not given: That’s the way Petey Bruce chooses to lead his life every day. 

“Once you get in, you get in, you know?” the pickleball player said. 

Bruce was born with no hands and just one leg, but he still finds a way to prove himself. When friends told him they were going to play pickleball, Bruce wanted in but knew he had to get creative.

“They were saying they were gonna go to play pickleball. ‘Let’s go.’ And I said, ‘Alright, you mind if I join you?’ Bruce said. “But something told me to bring my strap, and I basically use this to hold the paddle. I played one day and got immediately hooked.”

Bruce doesn’t just “find a way,” he dominates on the courts. His serve leaves opponents chasing the return. His speed and agility make him a threat on the advanced court, no matter who is across from him. 

“I love pickleball for that fact that it keeps my mind moving and gets my thought process to really think over, ‘OK, I don’t have hands, I have short reach’,” Bruce said. “That means I have to move a lot. That means I have to find my angle, find my way of getting the right shot at the right time to get the point that I need.

“I think that’s what we’re all waiting for: What’s my shot? With my limitations, where can I go in this world?”

Bruce’s journey has already brought him around the world. Born in the Philippines, he was adopted when he was 5 years old and proved that his physical limitations do not limit his abilities and drive to be like anyone else. His adoptive parents could not have children of their own, so they brought in 10 children with limitations, ranging from vision to hearing to physical like Bruce. His parents wanted their biggest message to be felt by all the children: never back down or let your abilities keep you from your potential. 

“There are days when I cry. There’s days when I get frustrated,” Bruce said. “There’s days where I wish life wasn’t so hard. But all of that, if I ever gave into that, that means I didn’t learn a single thing from my parents.”

Bruce has always proved that by the way he’s lived his life. He has played football with a semi-pro team in Massachusetts, recently ran a 5K, and he plays the drums.

“It’s just with like, haters on the court. You just gotta shut their mouths and put it to the test,” Bruce said.

It’s why he plays on the advanced courts at Cady Way in Winter Park, to prove he can be like, or play like, anybody else. 

“The initial reaction for people who have never played with me is, ‘Take it easy on him ‘cause I don’t know if he can actually play.’ Until they start seeing me play, and they go, ‘Oh, he can serve like that? He can hit the ball and smash it like that?’ Bruce said. “We always say to each other when we play against each other. No mercy, no mercy, because no one wants to play this game like that. Nobody wants to live life like that.”

He brings that same mentality off the court.

Bruce took a leap of faith, moving to Orlando a year ago with nothing but his faith and his steadfast belief in himself. Recently, he began a new job working at Publix.  

In Massachusetts, Bruce had opportunities to work with his father, but he wanted to prove to him, himself and others that he can create his own path as well. 

“I like to tell a story, especially a good story and a true story at that,” Bruce said. “He loves to make me think two ways. He goes, ‘You could come back because you have a job that could be available to you, or you could stay and see how that story turns out.’ And that’s what I’m here for. That’s why i stayed because I believe that God’s still got a very big story to tell, and this is just one part of it.”

Pickleball has begun a new chapter in Bruce’s story, creating a renewed sense of purpose with a community to inspire and be inspired by.

“I’d like to think me being here and just loving the sport is something that people love to see in anybody because it helps them see it in themselves, too,” Bruce said.