I didn’t know pickleball has been around since 1965; I just found out it existed.
One of my friends invited me to go play pickleball at the old junior high. I was nervous and scared. I didn’t know what to expect. I thought it was going to be a casual wear event, so I went in a pretty black shirt and some leopard print designer pants with some sneakers. They were all dressed in leggings and large t-shirts.
When I got there, my friend provided me with a paddle and a plastic ball for us to play. I hadn’t even observed how it was played before this older couple asked to join us and play. I thought it was going to be my friend and I as a team, but the man came to stand beside me and began explaining the rules of the game and how the point system worked. The first one to 11 wins.
When we started, I was really rusty, so they told me to always “be on your feet”. The man and I lost that round 11-2. I was interested in getting better, so I asked my friend to continue to play with me, so we did. That whole two hours from 5 -7 p.m. I lost all the games 11-0. I thought it was complicated until I finally flipped the switch in my brain, and it became the easiest game ever.
Pickleball got its name after the “pickle boat” in rowing. The rowing team which came in last would get a jar of pickles as the losers. There are many theories of the origin of pickleball, but it was started with the “Boredom on Bainbridge”. Golfers Joel Pritchard and Bill Bell were on their way back home from golf on Bainbridge Island, Washington, when they found their families in boredom. They decided to go onto an old badminton court using ping-pong paddles, and a Wiffle ball to play. It’s said they lowered the badminton net 24 inches from it’s original spot because the Wiffle ball bounced well from the ground. They later introduced the game to Barney McCallum, and all three formalized the rules of the game.
I went to play pickleball again after two weeks, with the knowledge I had learned from my first time, and it became the most fun and easiest game ever. I went by myself waiting for my friend to be able to play with me, but she was playing all afternoon with her mom and a couple of other people. There were three girls around 20 who invited me to play with them. I was scared I was going to be as bad as last time, so I gave them a subtle warning. When we began to play, they showed me new ways to do things. Then the girl I was paired with beat the other girls 11 to 4. I was so happy I actually improved even though it was only my second day.
One of the girls from the other team pulled me aside and said jokingly, “I thought you were hustling us because you’re actually good.” I started laughing because it was my second time playing.
Pickleball is a really easy and interesting game. I recommend it to people who have free afternoons. You don’t have to be athletic; you just need to like competition and fun.
