Pickleball, Parenthood, and Performance: How Jamie and Prycen Haas Balance It All with Firefly Recovery
Balancing professional sports, travel, and family life is no easy feat. For pro pickleball athletes Jamie and Prycen Haas, maintaining peak performance while raising three young children in Hawaii involves meticulous planning and effective recovery methods. In this exclusive Q&A, discover how Jamie and Prycen integrate Firefly Recovery into their busy lives, manage intense training schedules, and why they consider Firefly their secret weapon for both competitive success and daily wellness.
1. What does a week of Pickleball training & competition look like for you? Does it include travel, specific preparation, specific nutrition, etc?
-Being a family of 5 with 3 young children living in Hawaii I think pro athlete/mom life looks very different than most. Our kids ages are 6,4, and 2. In the mornings I take my 2 oldest to school and my youngest comes with me to training. I'll train on court with my husband Prycen for 2-3 hours in the morning before he heads off to his full time job as a Director of tennis at a private school.
-Off court training is just as important if not more than my on court. As soon as I'm done with my training, I usually head home to get a lift in our home gym and then I rush off to pick up my kids from school while strapping on the firefly's. Prycen will get in the gym as often as he can but still being a tennis coach, he finds himself doing a lot of his conditioning on the court with his players.
-What I love about firefly's is the convenience I get by being able to multitask with my mom and professional life. I can be at the park with my kids, or working on their homework and still be recovering from my workouts from the day. I see a huge difference, my feet don't hurt at the end of the day like they used to. Pickleball is such a lateral change of direction sport so I definitely feel it helps my ankles and knees.
-Being from Hawaii, travel time to tournaments in the plane is higher than most and one of our greatest obstacles we face. This is why firefly's have been the secret weapon for us as it allows our body not to get as beaten up during the travel day. It allows us to have our bodies be as fresh as possible to perform at the level we need them to, especially the next day from a long flight.
2. How did you get into the sport of Pickleball?
-I got into the sport of Pickleball from my college tennis coach. I come from a D1 tennis background and was a college coach after that. During covid my husband and I were looking for something to do and found pickleball. We were reluctant at first but it was an insanely addictive game. Pickleball has all the best parts of tennis mixed in with table tennis and that is pickleball. The quickness of the game and ball speed going very fast creates an endorphin rush you've never felt before. This is why it is the fastest growing sport in America!!
3. How did you learn about Firefly Recovery & how do you currently utilize Firefly to support your training/performance?
-I was using firefly recovery back in 2012 when I was a collegiate athlete. Recently at one of the professional APP tournaments I ran into ambassador Cherryl Bueno who recommended them. Firefly has been the biggest secret weapon we've come across in our entire career of being an athlete. My favorite thing about firefly is all the versatility it provides. The pre-warm up gets my lower body extra fired up and light. I just came off a calf tear and I feel it's an added precaution to any form of lower body extremities. This gives me confidence to move freely knowing I've warmed up well with my firefly's.
-The convenience that firefly gives me being a mom of 3 young kids is a godsend! Juggling their after school work helps me balance both lives as a mom and professional athlete. I could be going for a walk with my kids, watching them at the park, or helping them with their homework. I'm actively recovering and it saves me time!
-The biggest thing is the travel! We travel internationally to compete frequently and those flights are tough with the swelling and heaviness on the legs trying to compete the next day.
We have tried everything. From compression socks, to compression boots nothing has worked as well as firefly's when trying to reduce swelling and heaviness in the legs that flights bring on.
-We believe that everyone of all stages and levels of performance should be wearing firefly's. For preventative and for longevity in a healthy lifestyle. Our legs are everything and I want to see more people enjoying sports into their later years of life and not taken out of it because of an injury. We believe firefly's are the answer to that healthier lifestyle for all ages and levels of sport.
4. If you didn’t play pickleball, what other sports would you gravitate towards and why?
-We would probably both still be playing tennis and college coaching. We would still be using firefly's because those coaching days are tough!
5. Can you share some fun facts about yourself?
-I'm a mom of 3 kids. Played my first professional pickleball event 3 months after giving birth to my youngest via c-section.
-Favorite thing to do is drive my jeep truck and cruise around our beautiful island.
-Throw in car karaoke in there too on the drive.
-My husband named all 3 of our unique kids names. Shado, Legend, and Summit.
