Are you familiar with pickleball? If you’re under the age of 60, I’d be willing to bet probably not. Me neither until this past week when my newly obsessed neighbor convinced me to give it a try. This game is a well-kept secret hoarded closely by older generations and I’m here to let the cat out of the bag. Trust me, this is an activity worth pursuing, even if you don’t quality for AARP. Read on to find out why pickleball is my new favorite net game… dare I say sport(?).
My first thoughts upon hearing about this past time mostly centered around food. Pickles...Balls… really? I mean, I LOVE to eat, but pickles aren’t particularly high on my list of culinary delights. Somehow combining these slimy sour cucumbers with physical activity didn’t exactly seem like a game I’d go for.
Good thing I’m a sucker for new recreation activities.
Essentially, pickleball is like life sized ping pong played with a wiffle ball. I’m sure you’re aware of other lawn games that are really indoor activities that have been supersized. Lawn jenga, yardzee and giant connect four are great examples.
Now ping pong is an activity I can get behind. I had a table growing up, and although I was never actually good at it, I had enough casual practice to enjoy playing. You see, I don’t really have the best hand-eye coordination. However... a ping pong racket has a very short handle which pretty much makes it an extension of your hand. It doesn’t require a whole lot of mental-spatial calculating to be able to hit the ball. A ping pong paddle also is fairly large when compared to the size of the ball. This is again great news because there’s generally a higher probability that you’ll hit it in a spot that will produce a decent return, even if you misjudged the location or speed of the ball. In addition, the racket is a flat solid surface, which both cuts down on rando rickashays in weird directions and it also means that when the ball bounces off, it doesn’t gain a ton of extra momentum unlike tennis and badminton rackets.
And let’s not forget that the ping pong ball that is made of light plastic. Light ball=loads of air resistance, which translates into less momentum/slower speeds that the ball moves through the air. Now, really skilled ping pong players can certainly wail on the ball and get it moving pretty fast, but for us mere mortal players, great volleys and a good time are within reach.
Another thing ping pong has going for it is the lack of intense physical exertion needed to keep the ball in play. The table is small and running is generally limited to when a missed the ball bounces down the stairs and lands under a couch. By playing ping pong you can certainly develop flexibility, coordination and cat-like reflexes, but you’re unlikely to get out of breath. Health benefits without sweat running into your eyes, yup that’s a win in my column.
So back to pickleball. Since it’s pretty much two player giant ping pong with a few weird and wacky rules to keep things interesting, all of the above advantages apply.
It’s played on a smaller court than tennis, so with the reduced territory there is a lot less scooting, scrambling and general “suicide sprint drill” like movements. This means that the average person with an overall normal level of physical endurance can keep up with the play.
Also, the paddle looks eerily similar to a ping pong paddle. Yup, it has a short handle, is flat and in a similar size proportion to the ball which makes it “fairly” easy to hit the ball.
The real key to pickleball’s success it the ball itself. Made of hard (fairly thin) plastic that looks like swiss cheese...aka a wiffle ball, the holes slow down the ball’s velocity, and thus the speed of play. Even when you hit the ball pretty hard, it doesn’t even come close to the effect you can get with a tennis ball & racquet.
I truly enjoyed my first pickleball game, and I think it’s an activity that is accessible to most people, regardless of how in shape or how naturally athletic you are.
If you decide to give it a try, I’ll warn you that knowing whose turn it is and on what side of the court you need to be, takes a little practice to figure out. The good news is, just like in candlepin bowling (a fabulous New England version), each team gets two turns in a row before the serving goes back to the opponent's side of the court. Basically, the way it works is you score points only when your team is serving (just like tennis/volleyball). However, when the first person on your team serves and you don’t win a point, instead of sending the ball to the opposing side, your teammate then gets a chance to serve and (hopefully) score. Only after you both try serving and are unsuccessful at scoring does the other pair have a chance.
To find out more about the history of pickleball, the rules and everything else official, visit the USA Pickleball website, which you’ll find here.
The equipment you need is minimal and I rate this game a five out of fun. Give it a go and let me know what you think.
