This is the first story in a series from the Health & Wealth desk on Healthy Nevada.
Pookie Decocq is the healthy living coordinator for the YMCA in Nevada, Missouri. She’s also the town’s official Pickleball Ambassador, which is a team sport played with two wooden paddles, a whiffleball and a low net, like ping pong or badminton.
Pookie’s dream is to hold a pickleball tournament here in this rural town in southwest Missouri. But the average Nevada resident isn’t exactly the picture of health. Like a lot of small rural towns in the state, Nevada has very high rates of obesity and heart disease. Its diabetes rates are some of the highest in the country at 11 percent.