Insights on the Game
I came across Pickleball earlier this year when my good friend Barbara Wintroub, a USAPA Pro, Pickleball trainer and author, introduced me to the game in Palm Desert after the BNP Paribas Open tournament. Ranked as a 5.0 player by the USAPA, Barbara has been at the top of her age group for the last six years. In 2013 at the National Senior Games in Cleveland, she won two gold and one silver medal in singles, women's doubles and mixed doubles. She also won three gold medals at the 2013 Huntsman World Senior Games in St. George, Utah.
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Barbara gave me a lesson at Cahuilla Park in Palm Desert. Cahuilla Park had two tennis courts until one of them was converted to four Pickleball courts (see aerial view). The appeal for public parks facility managers: four times as many players on the same square footage compared to tennis. That means 16 players having fun on one tennis court.
Although the noise level is higher than expected on a tennis court, Pickleball provides something to the players tennis seems to be missing lately: fun. And it was very apparent at Cahuilla Park that day. Senior tennis players were enjoying the hitting, scoring points, camaraderie built in a smaller space, which eliminated the need for lots of running. The smaller court size is particularly beneficial to players who have trouble covering an entire half of a tennis court because of bad knees and other injuries.
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While I was there watching the group play, a female player reached out to me and encouraged me through the fence, "Come in and play, we have extra paddles." This seemed to be the motto of that lively group in the desert. Very friendly. When was the last time you heard that on a tennis court? While the sport of tennis has historically had an air of exclusiveness, Pickleball does not. It's more all-inclusive.
I also met Christopher Thomas, the parks & recreation commissioner for the city of Palm Desert . Christopher happens to also be Ratings Chair for USAPA. After seven years of playing Pickleball, Christopher is hooked.
"This is the funniest sport I have played in 30 years," Thomas says.
After playing some games of Pickleball that day I had to admit this is fun indeed. My prediction: This sport is here to stay and will expand much more in the near future.
Another good resource for everything Pickleball is the Pickleball Channel.
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