The idea for The Elixir of Sport was born in 2022, when Diana Bartlett started playing pickleball along the shores of Little Traverse Bay, Michigan.  Bartlett was struck by the variety of people attracted to the sport: many were older, not especially skilled, prone to hobbling around the court – but all seemed genuinely mesmerized by swatting at a whiffle ball with an oversized ping-pong paddle.

“Why do they do it?” she wondered.  And then, more broadly, she thought, “Why does any older adult play any sport?”

Almost 100 one-to-one interviews later, she had the material for the book.

A retired sales and marketing executive, Bartlett has long been fascinated by purchasing behavior - now extended to the "purchase" of playing sports by a frequently overlooked demographic segment – older adults.  She and her husband (not surprisingly, an avid golfer!) moved to the Hill Country about four years ago. Diana herself plays several sports mediocrely - but with verve.