photograph courtesy dreamstime
If pickleball were a dog, it would be the most adorable, playful, comfortable mutt on four legs. Pickleball is, of course, a sport — perhaps the fastest-growing in popularity on the planet — but you can still call it a mutt. The game has roots in tennis: striking a ball across a net, no more than one bounce allowed. But a pickleball court is virtually half the size of a tennis court, a player required to cover space more akin to racquetball or squash. And a pickleball paddle is made of wood. It feels like you’re swinging a supersized ping-pong paddle, but at a plastic ball considerably larger than those in table tennis . . . and with holes to better cut through air.
If you’ve played other racquet sports, pickleball will be a nice fit. If you’ve never so much as handled a racquet (or paddle) of any sort, you’ll still find a pickleball court comfortable, if not cozy. Pickleball’s popularity is soaring — not one, but two professional tours — because it welcomes players of all ages, shapes, and sizes.
photograph by izabella sandova / bella photography
Pickleball instructor Taylor Taylor
“There’s no age restriction, young or old,” emphasizes Taylor Taylor, a pickleball instructor currently playing on the Association of Pickleball Players (APP) senior tour. “[You can be] big or small, and not all that athletic. The sport is inclusive, and it can be learned in two hours.” Taylor grew up with tennis (she played collegiately at the University of Virginia), but faced somewhat of a crisis after a second knee surgery in 2016 threatened her tennis-playing lifestyle. “I was freaking out,” says Taylor, 52. “The surgeon advised me not to play tennis anymore. And that was a blow. Tennis was my competitive outlet, paid for my education, opened so many doors. I was in my office at The Racquet Club a week later, and Randy Stafford came by and wanted to introduce me to pickleball. I laughed; I’d never heard of it. [Side note: Today, Stafford manufactures pickleball paddles in Collierville.] We went down [to a tennis court], adjusted the net, and played some pickleball. I was hooked from that minute.”
Before we go any further: The sport could use a better name. First played in 1965 in the backyard of Washington congressman Joel Pritchard, the game received its tag from Pritchard’s wife, Joan. It reminded her of a “pickle boat” in crew, one made up of oarsmen left over from other boats. Not only does the name not properly describe a fun sport, it required this entire paragraph to explain.
“It’s easy to learn to play pickleball, but it’s hard to master. There were opportunities for people like me, who were athletes but suffered injuries. And there were opportunities for people who weren’t very athletic. It’s pretty simple.” — Taylor Taylor
Without going deeply into the rules or scoring system, the objective of pickleball is similar to that of tennis or ping-pong: strike the ball in a way that it clears the net and lands in your opponent’s court, ideally in a place where your opponent cannot return the ball. But you serve underhand in pickleball and the court (20 feet wide, 44 feet long) is essentially half the size of a tennis court (27 feet wide for singles, 78 feet long). Less space to cover, and with a plastic ball that can’t approximate the velocity of a well-struck tennis ball.
Taylor started what she describes as a virtual pickleball organization — the Mid-South Pickleball Club — that paid the Racquet Club for use of its indoor courts on certain days of the week. In a short period of time, the club had 200 members. “It’s easy to learn to play pickleball, but it’s hard to master,” notes Taylor. “There were opportunities for people like me, who were athletes but suffered injuries. And there were opportunities for people who weren’t very athletic. It’s pretty simple.”
I played pickleball before it was cool. Long before tennis legends John McEnroe, Maria Sharapova, Andre Agassi, and Steffi Graf competed in a made-for-TV event. My wife and I were members at Healthplex, the fitness center operated by Baptist Memorial Hospital in the 1990s. What I loved most: I could deliver a full tennis swing — wham! — and keep that holy plastic spheroid in the court. Got home one night and insisted over dinner that I’d discovered a way to play ping-pong . . . while standing on the table. Pickleball is quickly addictive. Almost 30 years later, I still play tennis. But I own pickleball paddles.
The general perception may be that pickleball is a transitional sport, again, for people who have loved tennis but are getting older or functioning with compromised joints. The fact is, the average age of a pickleball player has plummeted as the sport’s popularity has grown. According to Pickleheads (check out their website), the largest age group of pickleball players is 18 to 34 (28.8 percent of all players). “The majority of people in the Mid-South Pickleball Club were not members of The Racquet Club,” says Taylor. “They just wanted more pickleball than they were getting at their church or rec center. And it was mostly word of mouth. There was so much community, a real give-back. [Experienced players] would hit with newbies, then they’d bring two of their friends. It was a form of mentoring.”
“First and foremost, smile, relax, and have fun,” adds Mike Bilger, a pickleball instructor for seven years, currently at the Memphis Jewish Community Center. “The first few lessons usually cover the shot mechanics and the dink stroke.” The “dink” is a soft shot that lands just over the net, in the opponent’s non-volley zone (or “kitchen” in pickle-talk).
photograph courtesy vic.v / dreamstime
As for the transition from tennis, don’t grab a pickleball paddle thinking you are pre-programmed for one of those pro tours. “The people who are really good in pickleball don’t hit the ball very hard,” stresses Taylor. “Pace in pickleball is counterintuitive. I like to slow the ball down — dink it into the non-volley zone — until you get impatient and make a mistake. I want you to have to hit up on the ball, so I can hit down on the ball. That’s very different from tennis.” Remember, the ball is plastic, and the paddle is solid wood. As Taylor puts it, “the equipment dictates the strategy.”
“The biggest frustration in making the transition from other racquet sports is the footwork and positioning,” notes Bilger. “Tennis players have the muscle memory of turning their side to the net to hit a forehand or backhand. In pickleball, you tend to be more square to the net when hitting a shot. And in tennis, there’s more side-to-side motion, especially for baseline players [in doubles]. With pickleball, there’s more forward motion.”
Nervous about playing for the first time? Back to that culture of community. The rules are simple enough, and the technique so adaptable that a person can play a game her very first day on a court. “My favorite students,” says Taylor, “are those who don’t have racquet-sport backgrounds, those who haven’t picked up a paddle. We don’t have to undo the things they did well [on a tennis court]. You can’t step-and-punch a volley on a pickleball court. You don’t turn sideways in pickleball; it’s an open-stance game. You don’t have much of a backswing. Tennis people will get beaten if they continue to play tennis on a smaller court.”
There are abundant venues in Shelby County where you can play pickleball (some indoor courts, some outdoors). Bluff City Pickleball is hosting a grand opening at its new indoor facility (a former Malco cinema at 2809 Bartlett Blvd.) on March 23rd. Visit usapickleball.org, enter your zip code, and find the courts nearest you.
PHOTOGRAPH BY Jocrebbin | Dreamstime.com
