Confessions of a pickleballing convert
If you scoff at the concept of pickleball, if you think this country-seizing phenomenon is an excuse for older people to feel like they’re still athletic, well, you may be partially correct.
We’re not talking about competing in an Ironman Triathlon here. We’re talking about basically standing on a ground-level, ping pong table and using a smooth-faced paddle to whack a plastic, fluorescent orb that looks as if a Wiffle ball and a softball had a baby.
The playing surface is small enough – 44-feet wide, 20-feet long and divided in half by a three-feet-high net – that bending over and re-tying your sneakers may appear to be the most aerobic activity you’ll get while on the pickleball court.
I’m here to tell you differently. Or mostly differently.
Admittedly, pickleball isn’t climbing Mount Everest. But it’s fun. And challenging. And can give you a good workout, especially if you, like me, spend half the game chasing after errant shots that have escaped two courts down.
Pickleball has become my favorite physical activity now that I’m no longer fast enough – or can reach down far enough – to backhand a softball.
I never thought I’d be here. Yet here I am, goofy paddle in sweaty hand.
Welcome to the confessions of a cynic turned pickler
First, let’s address the age thing. You likely will be ribbed by friends when you admit to being a pickleball player. You’ll hear jokes about leaving the court to catch the early-bird special at Denny’s. It’s inevitable – and potentially justified.
From a recreational standpoint, pickleball seems like an experienced person’s game. My wife and I are 55 and we’re usually in the younger half of those on our courts. Not by much, though. The primary demographic at the courts where we play is probably 35 to 65.
According to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, nearly 20 million Americans played pickleball in 2024, their average age was 34.8 and the largest age group of players is 25 to 34, not AARP members.
Clearly, pickleball attracts all ages and levels, from seniors picking it up for the first time to the youthful stars on the Pro Pickleball Association tour. In April, retired tennis superstar Andre Agassi, now 55, made his pro debut and reached the mixed doubles quarterfinals of the US Open Pickleball Championships.
A viral video earlier this year showed Heisman Trophy winners and former NFL quarterbacks Cam Newton, 36, and Tim Tebow, 37, as pickleball doubles partners – laughing, yelling and chest-bumping after making shots.
The sport – indeed, it is a sport – is losing its stigma as recreation for the older generation.
Besides, age is only a number, right? (Although, since I recently downloaded a birdwatching app as well, I’m afraid my “age number” teeters around 100.)
I was introduced to pickleball by my 80-year-old father-in-law, a former jock whom I have yet to beat on the court. He plays a ton, sort of the Fast Eddie Felson of his retirement community (if you’re still reading this, you may be old enough to get that reference).
That’s one of the beauties of pickleball. It’s not a game of speed or power – there are actually rules that limit the ability to overhead smash, to my dismay. Instead, pickleball is more about hand-eye coordination and precision. Returning/shot-making is the essence of the game, and that’s what makes it entertaining.
In tennis, a good server can ruin a friendly match by crushing ace after ace. No such worry in pickleball. All serves are underhanded and the paddle can’t make contact with the ball above the waist during the serve. That basically ensures a return, and a subsequent volley. Unless you are like me and are too daft to grasp one of the essential rules of the game.
The rules of pickleball
The biggest criticism I hear from non-picklers – or those who have tried and rejected it – is there are too many rules.
Really, there aren’t. There are only a few; some are kind of silly, however. Or at least hard to remember when in the throes of competition. That’s my way of whining about my inability to adhere to one of the game’s basic rules.
The first two hits after each serve must come after the ball bounces on the court, not just the one following the serve. This eliminates the initial instinct to smash a volley off the first return, giving more potential life to an exchange.
This also inevitably results in my opponent’s favor. Because when that ball is in the air after the first hit, my eyes get as big as a cartoon character and I turn into a dad-bodded Roger Federer.
Oftentimes, I forget to let the first return bounce. Call it an innate reaction from days of playing racquetball. Or call it not being very bright.
The latter was the conclusion of one of my random, pick-up partners, a 60-something man who took me aside and offered sage and stern advice: “Just let the frigging ball bounce on the first return. It’s not that hard.”
I’d like to say lesson learned, but new picklers don’t always learn old tricks.
Mostly, the rules are fairly similar to tennis and fairly simple to comprehend.
The basics: Make sure your serve lands within the correct boundaries on the opposite side of the court from where you are standing at the baseline. You can only score when you have the serve. You can’t hit the ball without it bouncing first if you are in the “kitchen,” (the seven-foot areas adjacent to the net) and you can’t enter the kitchen directly after hitting the ball without it bouncing.
OK, so maybe it’s a little complicated. But you’ll eventually figure out the rules and the scoring. And the scoring doesn’t matter during a good-natured contest that’s more about getting fresh air and some exercise than winning, right?
Well, that’s what my wife thinks. I’m out for pickle juice.
I recently made the statement that none of my adult children has beaten me in a best-of-three pickleball match. When that declaration was questioned by my daughter, I deftly laid out each competition and the results that occurred, as if I were a prosecutor at trial. She eventually acquiesced. Another ‘W’ for the old man.
I would have high-fived her, but I was afraid I’d throw out my ailing shoulder.
And that leaves me with one more salient point about playing pickleball: Stretch first.
Not a stretch to stay healthy
Sure, it may be embarrassing to do arm swings, knee hugs and shoulder rolls before hitting a plastic ball. You want to know what’s more embarrassing? Lunging for said plastic ball and pulling a hamstring or a tearing a shoulder ligament.
A good physical therapist or athletic trainer stresses proper warm-ups before any medium-intensity activity, and that includes pickleball.
If not, you run the danger of having to explain to your friends and co-workers how you sustained your injury. That’s when the full-throttle mocking emerges.
So, it makes sense to give these following stretches – and others – a try. Call it preventing a downpour of post-playing humiliation with a few pre-game, embarrassment sprinkles.
- Knee hugs/walks: This benefits range of motion in the lower back and hip-flexor muscles. Take a step and pull your opposite knee toward your chest. Do 10 to 20 for each leg.
- Walking hamstring/toe swipes: This improves flexibility in hamstrings and hips. Place one heel on the ground with toes facing upward. Bend and encircle your arms around the outstretched foot. Do 10 to 20 for each side.
- Arm swings with trunk rotation: This helps the upper body and arms to work in concert during a game. With legs hip-length apart and stationary, bend arms in front of body and rotate hips and arms from left to right. Do three times, 30 seconds each.
- Arm circles and shoulder rolls: These relax upper-torso muscles. For arm circles, raise your arms like a ‘T’ and move them in a circular motion. For shoulder rolls, keep your arms at your side, shrug your shoulders and roll them back. Do each for 20 seconds in both directions.
My overall advice on all of this is to be open-minded and give pickleball a chance. If you are age 40 or older, though, prepare for a little, good-natured chop-busting once you dive in.
After all, if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen – especially if it’s right after the serve, the pickleball is in the air and you have an intense partner who will chastise you for making the same mistake for the 10th time.
Dan Connolly is a senior writer for the Select Medical Outpatient Division family of brands.