OT: Pickleball Fever: anyone here catch it?

[RobbieTunes]

Totally different approach. Less serious, more fun, for the most part. I mean, really, it's a wiffle ball. It's a paddle. You can wear about any shoes. You can show up with a partner, show up single, and play either in rotations or challenges. People laugh and have fun. Missed shots are funny. Footwork is not necessary. It's not tennis.

The decline of tennis participation v. the increase in pickleball will cause issues, as everyone has their own agenda. I was on the board of a private pool/volleyball/tennis club. 225 members, maybe 15 adjults and kids played tennis, including me. Our July 4 tournament would be lucky to have 16 in a double-elimination bracket, but easily half our maintenance was the tennis courts. I'd often come by the courts to find non-member locals teaching lessons to our members on the courts. Nice gig. They weren't allowed to do so on the local country club or public courts.

When the courts needed expensive upgrades, we did it, got zero volunteer help from the tennis players, other than to ask "when will you be done?" This included the non-member locals who taught there, zilch.

Last time I checked, the cracking had returned, and the courts needed re-doing. The board was very likely unanimous in deciding to devote that space to parking.

By contrast, maybe 60 on the swim team, which means 100 parents or so, as well. Do the math. They fundraised, participated, helped on everything, and were perfectly willing to do what it took to fund pool improvements and even a lap pool where the tennis courts used to be.

I speak with city officials all the time. I get "1/3 to 1/2" of the tennis courts are needed, and "we get requests for more pickle ball courts all the time." Local parochial schools, many of which have long been closed, are renting their basketball courts for pickleball, 7 days a week. The demographics are older, yep, and will one day die off. By then, tennis won't be in any better shape, the Williams sisters or not... Cycling will probably increase, as e-bikes are driving that, but the banning of gasoline cars can hasten that.

If you're too "serious" an athlete for pickleball, it's probably a good thing to avoid. It's not your sport, and it's embarrassing when that 80-year old puts one at your feet that you can't handle.

[Ozz]

Originally Posted by Waldo62

Pickleball is for people for can't or don't want to move more than two steps to get to the ball. (45 years of tennis and counting.)

Take 2: Pickleball is for people who don't take themselves too seriously, want to be active, and who like to have fun with others.

I am sure tennis is similar....

[benb]

We see lots of older folks playing it here but only in the last 3-4 years? It has really really taken off. The town appears to have dedicated 2 courts to it and said they can only play there. You will ALWAYS see 4 pickleball games going on there each weekend day when you drive by during the summer.

It sounds like it started a really long time ago in other regions of the country?

Here it seems like tennis is/was a Boomer sport, everyone in my parent's generation seemed to play tennis even if they weren't particularly into sports.
So they are the ones now playing Pickleball. I basically never hear of anyone my age or younger being into tennis and then having an interest in moving onto Pickleball. We do have kids tennis here but it's not a real popular sport for kids. We sent my son for lessons when we were in the "try out" phase of trying different sports. It was the first sport he really clearly said "No Thanks". There are a couple ethnic groups that buck this trend though, Indian Americans in town (and in my office) play a lot of tennis. But we also have a massive cricket league nearby where you can go by on the weekend and there will be several hundred people playing cricket, so maybe Tennis isn't even as popular with them.

Tennis when I was in HS was something like 5 guys showed up for with no tryouts and maybe some of them got a varsity letter without ever playing before HS. Similar to golf.

I'm kind of skeptical if Gen X/Millenials/Gen Y have little interest in Tennis at a young age if the Pickleball craze will continue as the Baby Boomers age out of Pickleball.

My MIL was a super competitive tennis player who ended up with the knee surgeries from tennis injuries. She's still very fit but it's all gym stuff & weight training, she won't touch Pickleball for fear of more knee injuries.

Too many of us take everything too competitively. Not everything needs to be competitive.. roadies are pretty bad about being too type A and competitive. If it's not an actual race it shouldn't need to be. And some activities can really seem like they can be ruined by forcing competition in.

[Ken Robb]

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[Bici-Sonora]

My wife was the women's nat'l champ in her age group/division about 4 years ago and she still plays a ton. We watch a lot of tournaments too. The top players now are much younger and quicker--it looks like a different sport than it did a few years back--really fast with lots of collegiate and ex-tennis pros coming over.

She plays a lot--like 4x a week for 4 hours per session. This works out nicely for me having bike ride time so I'm fine with her being totally addicted. It is great socially and she has made a ton of friends.

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by Waldo62

Pickleball is for people for can't or don't want to move more than two steps to get to the ball. (45 years of tennis and counting.)

Pickleball. Sub-compact gearing. eBikes. Just for Men. Sooner or later, Father Time extracts concessions from all of us.

[jlwdm]

Originally Posted by XXtwindad

Pickleball. Sub-compact gearing. eBikes. Just for Men. Sooner or later, Father Time extracts concessions from all of us.

Just for men?

10 days ago I showed a house listing to a buyer who required room to add a pickleball court.

Jeff

[RWL2222]

Originally Posted by jlwdm

Just for men?

Jeff

Laughing

[SteelCharlie]

Another game devised for geriatrics or children that takes the general pop big time. Why is it that the US is so embracing of dumbed down games?
Oh, wait .............. I know


And I almost peed myself when I heard on national news that CORNHOLE was on the growing game list ! ! ! ! A friend of mine at the gun club and I LMAO and came up with a bunch of prospective team names - the first, of course, was The Bendovers.
Feel free to play along

[reuben]

Originally Posted by SteelCharlie

Another game devised for geriatrics or children that takes the general pop big time. Why is it that the US is so embracing of dumbed down games?
Oh, wait .............. I know


And I almost peed myself when I heard on national news that CORNHOLE was on the growing game list ! ! ! ! A friend of mine at the gun club and I LMAO and came up with a bunch of prospective team names - the first, of course, was The Bendovers.
Feel free to play along

Because shooting at the gun club is so much more healthy than getting even a minimum of exercise when you're 60, 70, 80 years old.

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by SteelCharlie

Another game devised for geriatrics or children that takes the general pop big time. Why is it that the US is so embracing of dumbed down games?
Oh, wait .............. I know


And I almost peed myself when I heard on national news that CORNHOLE was on the growing game list ! ! ! ! A friend of mine at the gun club and I LMAO and came up with a bunch of prospective team names - the first, of course, was The Bendovers.
Feel free to play along

What an interesting choice for your debut post on the Forum. 🍻

[tomato coupe]

Originally Posted by SteelCharlie

... I almost peed myself when I heard on national news that CORNHOLE was on the growing game list ! ! ! !

I encountered both pickleball and corn hole on television this past week, but I'm holding out for professional thumb wrestling.

[Ozz]

Originally Posted by tomato coupe

I encountered both pickleball and corn hole on television this past week, but I'm holding out for professional thumb wrestling.

I saw cornhole on TV a couple months ago.....while I thought it was ridiculous, I was also thinking "damn, those guys are pretty good!"

Not any worse than darts, lawn bowling, bocce, shuffleboard, pool, etc.....

[illumin8em]

Yeah, pickleball is great! Always disliked paddle sports. Last year a friend invited me to play some pickleball when I came back in town for the summer, I thought he was joking. I was hooked after one game. I'm 25 years younger than the people playing on the other courts and they are animals out there! Locally almost all tennis courts have been repainted for pickleball, and this is rural Appalachia. Go figure.

[cowsgowu]

I play once a week or so in NYC. It's a lot easier to find/setup a court than tennis. It can also be quite fast paced, especially singles play.