60 Before 60 Project: #50 - Try Playing Pickleball

I know – I am truly late to the party on this activity. 

According to the SFIA, Pickleball is the fastest growing sport in the United States and has grown by 158.6% over the past three years. Even the Golden Bachelor profiled pickleball on one of their episodes. And as Diana Landau shared in an article that she kindly let us publish, there are many great reasons why we all should take up the sport. 

Given all this hype, I had added pickleball on my 60 Before 60 list right from the start but I just didn’t seem able to get to it. But as the trees started to lose their leaves and the temperature started to drop, I thought if I wanted to give this a try on an outdoor court there was no time like the present. 

A good friend of ours shared a couple of his pickleball racquets and balls for us to give it a try.  

First, I was quite surprised by the racquet.  

I have played tennis on many occasions and for some reason thought that the pickleball racquet would be a similar size. But it was more like a very large ping pong paddle. It also reminded me a bit of the wooden paddles we used to use when we played paddleball on the beach. 

The balls were also quite unique. They were made of hard plastic with holes in them. Very different than any other racquet sport I had played 

Before I played, I ran a quick YouTube video on the rules of the game (clip below) just so I wasn’t too out of touch with how to play. It seemed easy enough so off to the courts we went. 

As we got started, I noticed that the pickleball court size is quite easy to maneuver around. There is enough space to run but not so much that you wouldn’t be able to get to the ball without some effort. I think because I’ve played tennis quite a bit and have a ping pong table, the game came quite easily to me. I am sure there are probably lots of techniques to learn how to make the ball spin or other fancy plays, but we were just batting it around and having a good time. 

We tried playing a couple of games and it seemed quite easy to keep score and made the game a little more competitive and interesting. I also found this sport was less straining on my body and required less pivots and turns as tennis which is probably why it’s so popular with an older population.  

I really enjoyed playing pickleball and can see why it’s so popular.

It’s easy to learn, relatively easy to play and based on the players I noticed interacting around me a very social sport as well. It’s got the added benefit of giving you the chance to get some exercise doing something you may actually enjoy. 

Pickleball is definitely something I plan to add to my list of things to continue doing. Who knows, I may even actually join a league! 

My 60 Before 60 Project Life Lesson: When exercise is fun, you’re more likely to keep doing it

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