Pickleball Seems to be All the Rage Right Now

Am I officially old or are younger people playing, too?

Pickleball (noun): a game resembling tennis in which players use paddles to hit a perforated plastic ball over a net. An indoor or outdoor game that is played on a level court with short-handled paddles and a perforated plastic ball volleyed over a low net by two players or pairs of players

Pickleballs seems to be the fastest growing sport, at least it is here in the United States. Older people from all over are setting out to the court to play as their hobby and newfound form of exercise.

Although lately, the trend has been dropping in age. People from 21 to 55 are now the majority that picks up this sport.

My husband started playing around 6 months ago and most Fridays, if we are home, he hits the court with a few co-workers. He’s invited me to play for the past few months but I’ve given every excuse in the book to stay home.

My excuses had run out last night.

“It’ll be fun”, he said.

While I am sitting back and thinking, I am not good at any organized sport. I mean, I haven’t really played one since I was in pee-wee softball. Was I good back then? Hell if I know, I was under 10 years old!

I keep reminding myself to step out of my comfort zone. If my parents could play, I could, right?

Pickleball is a mash-up of ping-pong, tennis, and badminton. I decided to go with him last night after a lightbulb went off in my mind.

Ping-pong is an excellent form of hand-eye coordination that is suggested to prevent Alzheimer’s disease. If you have read my previous story about working with the elderly with Alzheimer’s, you can see that I was around it for a long time and I will do anything to help prevent myself from getting the disease now.

I seem to be forgetting a lot lately so anything that helps, right?

Since pickleball is just like ping-pong but on a bigger scale, I agreed.

I am also a tiny bit addicted to my Apple watch and I love setting a workout to see how many calories I burn. Don’t judge me!

Because my husband has been playing for a while, he already has all the gear. We packed up his gym bag with the pickleball paddles, balls, hats, and water bottles.

Little did I know that I should have been wearing my fancy pickleball skirt and when we showed up, I was the only one in leggings.

Mental note — get some running shorts because I am not buying a tennis skirt. I really don’t think they have pickleball skirts. Never mind, Google says they do.

As I am sitting here typing this, my shoulder is telling me that we should have gone through a better warm-up. Is a warm-up supposed to be hitting the ball to your partner to get the feel of it?

That is what my partner seemed to think but being the yogi that I am, I should have known better and done some simple stretches beforehand.

Next time I’ll stretch so I hopefully don’t strain or throw my shoulder out of place from whacking the ball.

After we “warm up”, we start a game with two of my husband’s friends. Everyone is really sweet and nice to the newbie, which I appreciate.

It’s hot AF and I am already sweating my butt off. For some reason, I thought we were going to be inside. Maybe I should have looked this up before we left but I sure love to wing it.

I guess I am going to the dermatologist soon and I love to get things burned off. Sigh!

Mental note: bring sunscreen and a hat.

Everyone is throwing rules at me right and left. Don’t go into the “kitchen”, stay back at the line when serving or when the other team is serving, don’t step out of this line, and hey… have fun!

How am I supposed to have fun when I can’t even remember the rules?

My serve was up and you have to serve it diagonal from the back corner of the court. Ok, no biggie. I can do this. Everyone’s eyes are on me. My least favorite thing.

Bounce the ball and as it comes up, hit it to the opponent’s corner. It has to bounce once each way. I whacked the Wiffle ball and I made it over. Score!

Two hours later and after a bunch of mishaps, I think we won one game. Hey, at least we won a game. I am generally not that competitive so the scores don’t really phase me.

I look down at my watch and I burned 500 calories. Pretty damn good, if you ask me.

So, this sport is good for your brain, your body, and your cardiovascular system. And, it was pretty fun and I could see myself getting a little more competitive if I get any better at it.

Will I do it again? Definitely. I can see now why many people are getting hooked on this sport. It’s a fun way of exercise and time goes by quickly. You aren’t even thinking that you are exercising.

And, I need to start being more social. Most days my social skills are only used when I talk to my friends before and after yoga. Sadly, that is only 20–30 minutes out of my day.

I’m off to secretly Google where to find a lesson so I have an edge up for our next game.

And, I won’t forget the sunscreen, my hat, and a warm-up. After my secret Googling, I am going to hit up yoga to stretch out my “pickleball shoulder”, if that is a thing.

What about you? Have you heard of pickleball? Have you played?

I read this story the other day by Elder Taoist and was in awe. Talk about getting out of your comfort zone! He flew in a prop plane and landed on the top of a glacier in Alaska!

Reading this story by Marianne Simon made me realize that I should continue to step out of my comfort zone and go camping. It’s been many years and her descriptions made me nostalgic.

If you liked my story, become a member and subscribe to Medium to read all you want each month, including my articles. If you use my subscription link, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Thanks for reading!

Much love, Michele