Pickleball entered Valerie Simon’s life as physical therapy.
At the time, simply moving comfortably from side to side was a challenge. Valerie had spent years as a nationally ranked junior tennis player, reaching No. 1 in Florida and competing among the top players in the country. Then came an injury that was repeatedly misdiagnosed, two major foot surgeries, and a recovery that stretched through much of her high school experience.
Her mom, Daniella, was already playing pickleball and thought it might help. The movement required Valerie to stay low and work side to side, much like she needed to do in physical therapy.
So Valerie started playing.
“When I first started playing pickleball, even at my first tournaments, I was unable to move in both directions,” she says. “But I learned to move, and I had the support of my community on the pickleball courts.”
She kept at it. The movement got better. The competition came back. Eventually, the teenager who thought she had lost her chance to compete at a high level became a professional pickleball player.
But during those long months away from tennis, Valerie and Daniella had also started building something else.
When Valerie Simon’s Original Plan Changed
Before her injury, Valerie knew where she wanted tennis to take her. She was one of the top junior players in the country and preparing for opportunities that could move her closer to playing professionally.
Instead, she found herself trying to figure out why her foot still hurt.
Valerie says seven MRIs failed to properly identify the injury. She continued competing, at one point playing a major junior tournament on a broken ankle, before eventually undergoing internal navicular fixation surgery. Months of rehab followed, and later, she needed surgery on her other foot.
There were long stretches in a wheelchair and on bed rest. Because Valerie needed to keep her foot elevated for much of the day, attending school normally wasn’t always possible.
The hardest part wasn’t being unable to play.
“My whole tennis was gone for me: my identity, my love, my passion,” Valerie says.
Daniella was watching her daughter deal with all of it while trying to figure out how best to help.
“As a mother, watching your child in pain is awful,” she says. “Combine that with watching your child lose her passion, and the sport that she loved and devoted herself to. That is even harder.”
Then Valerie started looking beyond her own situation.
She had seen the medical bills from her surgeries. She knew how difficult it had been to find the right diagnosis and care. And she began thinking about families going through similar experiences without the same resources.
Daniella remembers sitting with Valerie and talking about what they could actually do.
“How can we move forward? How can we help everyone?”
The answer eventually became Serve for Strength.
From Recovery to Serve for Strength
Valerie founded Serve for Strength with her family in 2024, with a mission shaped heavily by what she had experienced herself.
“I founded Serve for Strength with my family to help others and make sure that other people had a support system when I didn’t have one,” she says, “and that other people had the best medical research and the best medical advances that were not accessible to me.”
Its first pickleball fundraiser benefited the Hospital for Special Surgery Foot & Ankle Department in New York City, where Valerie underwent her surgeries and received much of her physical therapy.
From there, the family kept going.
Serve for Strength has organized pickleball tournaments and clinics, food drives, and other community events, with money raised supporting hospitals, medical research, and organizations helping people through health challenges.
And it really is a family effort.
Valerie’s siblings help organize and plan events, while Daniella works alongside them. What started with conversations during Valerie’s recovery has become something the Simon family builds together.
For Daniella, that may be one of the best parts.
“I’m beaming with pride watching my children work together to organize events, to plan events, and to think about the best way to help the most people,” she says.
How Pickleball Helped Valerie Come Back
Pickleball’s role in Serve for Strength is especially personal because Valerie knows firsthand what a court and the people on it can provide.
Much of her early treatment and physical therapy happened in New York. When she returned home to Pasco County, Florida, she didn’t have access to the same level of rehabilitation.
That’s when Daniella brought her onto a pickleball court.
At first, Valerie couldn’t move well in both directions. Other players saw her working through it and encouraged her to keep going. Slowly, what began as rehab started feeling like competition again.
“The ability to compete again is breathtaking,” Valerie says. “It is who I am. At my core, I love to compete.”
That competitive side certainly hasn’t disappeared. Valerie went from using pickleball as physical therapy to becoming a professional player.
But Serve for Strength events aren’t built only for players chasing medals. The organization hosts competitive tournaments, but it also creates opportunities for people who may be newer to the sport. Coaching is often available around matches, and players can be paired with others near their level.
At an April event at Saddlebrook Resort in Wesley Chapel, Florida, about 170 players took part, ranging from teenagers to players in their 80s. Some were entering their first competitive event after previously attending clinics with the Simon family. The tournament raised approximately $3,500 to help fund future Serve for Strength programs.
For Valerie, there’s a familiar full-circle element to seeing people find their footing on those courts.
Not that long ago, she was the player trying to do the same thing.
Making Room for Other Stories of Strength
As Serve for Strength has grown, Valerie’s recovery has become just one of the stories the organization shares.
Through its Stories of Strength project, people who have dealt with injuries, illness, and other major challenges can tell their own stories. Athletes, veterans, and survivors are among those featured.
It’s another piece of the support system Valerie wanted when she was stuck at home wondering what life without tennis was going to look like.
“I’ve always had to fight for everything in my life, and that has made me a stronger person,” she says.
Her own plans certainly look different now.
Tennis is no longer the sport she is building her future around. Pickleball, which wasn’t part of the plan at all, gave her a way back to competition. And Serve for Strength gave Valerie and her family a way to use what they learned during the hardest part of her recovery to help someone else.
Daniella has watched that shift happen from the beginning.
“She was converting this tough time and sadness into purpose,” she says. “She was turning it into a positive pathway.”
There are now plenty of people joining Valerie on that path. Some come to Serve for Strength to raise money for medical research. Some come to play a tournament. Others may be working their way back from something themselves.
And sometimes, as Valerie learned, getting back on a court can be a pretty good place to start.
