Chong Kim, known as CK, is a pickleball fanatic. But when tragedy struck his local pickleball community in Texas, his love for the game took on a whole new meaning and sent him on a journey with a stop in Chestnut Hill.

About two months ago, one of Kim's pickleball teammates died by suicide. At the memorial, about 200 fellow players showed up to support the community. Struck by this unexpected loss and the outpouring of love that followed, Kim decided to embark on a personal journey to play pickleball in all 50 states to honor his teammate, raise awareness about mental health and care for his own mental health.

Armed with pickleball gear from sponsor Gearbox and driving his Tesla Cybertruck, Kim has been traveling across the country for more than a month.

"It's been 33 days now and I'm tired," Kim told the Local in an interview. "Some people said, 'You're like the Forrest Gump of pickleball.' ... I feel like that at this point."

Kim started his journey with a flight to Anchorage, Alaska. He then drove from his home state of Texas to California, where he took another flight to Hawaii. Since then, he's been driving up through the Northwest and across to Maine.

For Pennsylvania, Kim's 38th state, he did not have a location selected to play pickleball. However, locals Steve and Donna Dessner heard from friends in Maine about Kim's journey and reached out to see if he wanted to come to Chestnut Hill. On Nov. 4, Kim arrived at the courts at the Water Tower Recreation Center and played matches with local pickleball players.

Despite how draining this constant travel can be, Kim feels motivated to keep going in honor of his teammate. He's also found that the pickleball community's kindhearted nature makes the journey easier.

"The pickleball community is very welcoming," Kim says. "I'm a little weird. I'm a Texas guy with an Asian accent. I'm probably the only one here like that, but what's really nice is it doesn't matter in pickleball. They just let you in and play."

Kim has found that this friendliness is unique to pickleball compared to other sports, largely because age, size, gender and other traits don't matter.

"I don't know many other sports where the grandkids and grandparents can play together," Kim says.

According to Kim, pickleball, the fastest-growing sport in the country, brings together people who might never have spent time together otherwise. Once you play once, he says, you'll be hooked.

While traveling throughout the country, Kim has found that his mission to raise awareness for mental health holds value in every community. He describes his stop in St. Louis, Missouri, where he spent time playing with a woman who he says he felt drawn to. They only exchanged brief greetings and their names, but later the woman reached out to him on Instagram. She told him she had tragically lost both her father and brother.

"We both needed each other at that time to just be playing," Kim says. "That made my entire week...it keeps me going."

In every picture Kim poses for, he holds his thumb and pointer finger together to form a mini heart, which is a popular custom in Korea. Even such a small gesture showcases Kim's love not just for pickleball, but more importantly for others.

To follow Kim along on the final leg of his journey, follow him on Instagram @ckinc1.