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ISSUE #34
August 16, 2022
Hello Wonderful!
Who knew a bright little whiffle ball with many holes and a paddle could have such an impact? Enter the favorite national pastime, Pickleball. Pickleball makes people happy. It has me.
Truth be told, I’ve been more than a bit grumpy lately. I work for myself, so I work a lot, I have a teenager, enough said, and my human rights have been stripped from me by the “supreme” court because of my gender.
Since I found Pickleball, there’s some lightness.
Turns out, slamming a small ball across the court with a paddle was something my phyche needed.
If you’ve played the all-the-rage game, you know the addiction of which I speak. The first time you play Pickleball, it hooks you.
Grumpiness subsiding.
What is Pickleball?
If you are the one person who hasn’t heard of Pickleball, let me explain.
Pickleball is a tennis-like sport played on a much smaller court with paddles and a whiffle-like ball. It places a more gentle strain on the body than tennis. It attracts young and old.
The design of the Pickleball court, with its no-volley zone near the net, minimizes running. The doubles component further minimizes running. It’s social and inexpensive, sometimes free. I joined a club, so I rarely have to wait for a court, and the owners usually put people together to make a foursome.
You can show up alone, with a friend, or with three friends, and you will be able to play a game.
I’ve also gone to parks to play, where you place your paddle in a line of other players’ paddles, waiting to pick up a game and play with strangers who aren’t strangers for long.
It’s been around since 1965, but gained in popularity because of the COVID pandemic.
Pickleball is snappier than tennis. Its distinction “pop-pop-pop” of the ball can be heard from parks and rec centers across the globe.
Many people I’ve met tell me it was during the dull, isolated six-feet-apart days when they picked up a paddle. More than one million Americans started playing during the pandemic, bringing the total number of Pickleball players to five million, including George Clooney and Leonardo DiCaprio.
It’s pandemic friendly. It’s played outside.
Although I’ve heard of inside courts, it is communal. You meet a ton of people. It’s easy to learn and easy on your knees.
It’s a great game to play with the whole family. Kids pick it up quickly. I’ve seen some ten-year-olds who play better than most adults.
Pickleball is easy to learn and hard to master.
Good playing is in the details. Pickleball requires a lot of finesse, thinking, and calculating shots, which is why I like it. You have to master the paddle and your control of it. Which can take some time.
Once you master paddle work, it’s easy to sneak shots between the middle of your two opponents on the other side of the net or hit the ball to the outer edges of the court. Hard shots to return.
It’s also important to get the most challenging shot, the third shot before you move closer to the net where a volley usually takes place. It’s the transition shot, the transition from the serving team to get to the net.
Volleying takes on frenetic energy between players, especially because of the short distance between your side and your opponents since the court is a quarter of the size of a tennis court. It’s personal, you look your opponents in the eyes which lends to friendly sportsmanship.
When you start taking Pickleball seriously, it is all you want to do. The addiction part counts for why the game attracts such hard-core fans.
Pickleball is a friendly sport.
For a homebody who would rather spend 9 hours on my online business than talk to a stranger, the sheer joy of the game made me get over my I-would-rather-clean-my-toilets-than-socialize existence.
Pickleball people are very friendly.
There’s an instant rapport between players because of our shared desire to just play the game. Pickleball makes people happy. We want on the courts, we want to win the game, and then we want to play another one. For those of us on the shy side, our love of pickleball trumps (sorry) any awkwardness introverts have when meeting people.
I’ve met more people in the last three months than in the previous ten years. My soul is better for it.
Good fun.
I come from a competitive family. Playing Pickleball reminds me of my childhood and the hours I spent playing in my backyard when life was simple compared to the smartphone world we live in now.
When I was 12, I was usually climbing a large tree. My child is constantly looking down at a device. I’m trying to get her to pick up a paddle.
Growing up, my family hosted large Fourth of July and Labor Day parties each year. We had acres to play in. And plenty of space for badminton. (Pickleball was started by a few dads trying to amuse their bored group of kids in Seattle in 1965. One family had a badminton court but insufficient functional equipment for all the kids. They had paddles and a Wiffle ball and lowered the net three feet. Thus Pickleball was born.)
In my family, we took every game we played seriously, from monopoly to water basketball. When friends were over, they found themselves on the sidelines watching if they didn’t take badminton as seriously as my siblings and me.
I’ve found the same competitive spirit in the people who play Pickleball. They like to win. And win or lose, they always want to play another round.
When we get older, we sometimes forget that we can still play games. We think age prohibits us from trying new things. Novelty, learning, and improving skills feed us and keep us young.
And a lot less grumpy.
I’m thinking of joining my first Pickleball tournament! I’ll let you know how it turns out if I get up the nerve to sign up.
See you next Tuesday. Have a great week!
Jessica - xoxox
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You didn't answer the one question I had, so I had to Google it.
https://longcoveclub.com/news/the-history-of-pickleball#:~:text=Joel%20Pritchard's%20wife%2C%20Joan%2C%20started,was%20(as%20you%20might've
The fact that's it's named after a dog, makes me like it.