As part of Camp Hope’s initiative to find ways to continue supporting veterans post-graduation, the nonprofit has collaborated with The Houston Hammers—official members of the National Pickleball League and the only professional pickleball team in Houston.
“A recovered lifestyle is very simple, but it's not easy. It means doing the next right thing and being a part of someplace, hopefully a community that openly loves you, that you can love back,” Fahey said. “It's being able to connect to not see love as a house fire or a threat, and pickleball has become incredibly important for that.”
Fahey, a Navy veteran and a Camp Hope graduate, said PTSD took over his life after he ignored the diagnosis and tried to move on with his life following his 2016 departure from the military where he served as a photojournalist for 20 years and spent 10 years overseas.
“One day, I walked away from my family, I walked away from my life—literally just walked away from it because I felt too ashamed and too broken to be a part of it,” Fahey said. “I was voluntarily homeless for a year [in] Conroe and Third Ward, and I was actively trying to die.”
Fahey found himself at the Montgomery County Jail for a misdemeanor, and Sergeant Kim Anderson guided him to Camp Hope. At Camp Hope, he found the support he needed to redirect his life and is now working toward a degree in psychology while helping other veterans.
Fahey said the aftercare part of Camp Hope’s program is as important as the initial recovery process for individuals with PTSD.
“When I graduated from Camp Hope in 2022, I was terrified. I wasn't terrified of life or of living. I was terrified of not having the routine and the support that I had found at Camp Hope,” Fahey said. “I hadn't built any new activities, I hadn't met any new friends and I didn't know where to belong.”
Owned by Amy Blumrosen and Hugh Zhang, the Houston Hammers’ mission is to create positive social impacts and cultural change through pickleball, Zhang said.
To fulfill their mission, the team held its second pickleball clinic at the Houston Hammers facility in Sugar Land to coach Camp Hope veterans on March 18.
Moving forward, Zhang said the Houston Hammers are collaborating with the Houston Astros for a pickleball night at the Daikin Park in April where there will be a Camp Hope booth with information on the organization.
Fahey said it takes $177 a day and about $26,000 total to put a veteran through the program which includes lodging, clothing, food, mental health and peer-to-peer mentorship.
In the meantime, Zhang said the Houston Hammers also plan to set up permanent pickleball courts at Camp Hope.
“We've got about 20 guys over there right now, and current studies are showing that roughly 44 combat veterans are killing themselves per day,” Fahey said. “Forty-four people are going to die today. There's 20 guys over there today that are not even going to think about it, thanks to this sport.”
