Pickleball becomes popular
Sport's aficionados find outlets for their passion
Mike Wolfe of Vancouver was introduced to pickleball two years ago. Now he plays three days a week at Firstenburg Community Center, and also participates at Marshall Community Center and L.A. Fitness. “It’s a good game for everyone,” he says.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
The quirky name of the game evokes something from a distant era, or perhaps a game best meant for picnics.
But it takes only a few moments observing one of the regular pickleball games at Firstenburg Community Center to understand that this game requires some quick reflexes, and engenders serious passion.
Gripping paddles that are slightly bigger than those used for ping-pong, players knock a whiffle ball across a 3-foot-high net that spans a badminton-sized court. The rules encourage ball placement over power.
The game challenges the hand-eye coordination of players without requiring especially quick footwork. Because it is usually played as doubles, teamwork does come into play. Those elements captured the interest of Hunter Duvall a quarter-century ago. More recently, the game piqued the interest of veteran racquetball player Mike Wolfe, and of the Engel family.
“I like it because you get to play with all kinds of people, and you get to play all year round,” said Martha Johnson, who is a regular at the Firstenburg pickleball games.
Pickleball was invented by chance in the summer of 1965. Joel Pritchard, who went on to serve in congress and as Washington’s lieutenant governor, came up with the game as a substitute for badminton.
The game was named after the family’s cocker spaniel, Pickles, who shagged stray shots. The game initially grew by word of mouth. It was 19 years before an official rule book was published and a national governing body formed.
Last November in Buckeye, Ariz., the United States Pickleball Association held its first all-ages national tournament. The Huntsman World Senior Games for athletes 50 and older added pickleball in 2003. It was there in 2008 that Mike Wolfe first saw the game.
“I could see it was a game I would like, and that it wasn’t very easy,” Wolfe said.
What he didn’t appreciate right away was the addictive nature of pickleball. Now Wolfe is hooked, playing just about any chance he gets. In addition to Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays at Firstenburg Community Center, he routinely plays at Marshall Community Center and has organized a group at L.A. Fitness.
A lifelong racquet sport aficionado, Wolfe said he enjoys the communal aspect of the game — and that it’s a game for all ages.
“It’s not as hard on your body” as tennis or racquetball, Wolfe said. “Anybody can play. It’s a good game for everyone.”
Duvall has been playing it since he first attended a Vancouver Parks clinic a quarter-century ago. He now is an ambassador for the game for the USA Pickleball Association. Duvall said he’s seen interest grow in the last few years as the sport gained popularity in Arizona retirement communities.
The Tuesday evening games are usually the most competitive of the three weekly pickleball sessions at Firstenburg, but it is a fun-first activity. Players rotate from court to court, with winners holding a court but splitting up after each game and taking on a new partner. Games are played to 11 points, with only serving teams scoring.
“It’s a social game,” Wolfe said, noting that there are no referees or line judges. On line calls, he said, the etiquette is to give the opponent the benefit of the doubt.
The square wood paddle and the plastic whiffle-style ball make it difficult to put much spin on the shots, players say. Pickleball is a game of touch that requires quick hand-eye reflexes.
The rules also limit the impact of brute power. Players must serve underhand. The ball must bounce at least once on each side of the net before players can volley it out of the air. There is a no-volley zone seven feet from the net — known as the kitchen — to prevent players from smashing the ball at opponents and to encourage longer rallies.
Many in the group that plays each Tuesday at Firstenburg first saw the game while walking the track above the gym.
That is how the Engel family caught the pickleball bug a year ago. Rick and Lori Engel now regularly attend the Tuesday games with their children, Josh, 19, and Emily, 17.
“This is a little time for the family to do something together,” said Josh, a Clark College student who admits friends sometimes laugh when he tells them he is headed to play pickleball with his family.
Josh Engel joked that there is occasion for banter among the family.
“It can get kind of competitive when you are playing your sister and she’s beating you,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s all about having fun.”
Josh said he enjoys the skill required, and the way the quickness of the game tests hand-eye coordination.
On a recent Tuesday, the age range playing pickleball at Firstenburg was 12 to 73.
Seventh-grader April Fisher, who regularly joins her father for the Tuesday and Sunday sessions, expects to be a life-long pickleball player.
“At first it was very, very hard because I had never really played a racquet sport,” she said. “And it requires good hand-eye coordination.”
But the easy-going atmosphere of the Firstenburg group made it fun, she said. Her favorite part of the game is slamming the ball into an opponent’s court for a point, or deftly dinking the ball across the net for a surprise point.
“It’s a way to get moving,” she said.
Lori Engel agreed. But while her family stays for the whole session, she takes a break to use the club’s workout equipment.
“My husband can play every single day,” she said. “But I don’t want to get pickleballed out.”
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