Do you play pickleball? It’s been getting a lot of press lately and courts are popping up everywhere! It’s the fastest growing sport in the US. Even here in East Otis we now have an indoor pickleball court and are developing a league. I went to the discovery session last week to see what it’s all about. I mean, we already have tennis, ping pong, volleyball. What makes this game different? Why are so many people playing this game?
If you look at the many videos on YouTube, it seems confusing, and some of them are hilarious, but there sure are a lot of people playing it and looking like they’re having fun…
I found all the answers at our introductory meeting! The meeting was very well done, with good explanations of the rules of the game. There are tons of rules, and that is definitely confusing, but as we played, I found it became easier and easier to remember them.
Here are my takeaways:
- Keeping track of the score was difficult and kept our minds busy while making new pathways in our brains! There is no referee who keeps the score in this game. Each player not only has to keep both teams scores, but each time a player serves, they must call out those scores. That makes this a fun tool to help us prevent dementia diseases.
- There is no smashing down the ball like you see in tennis, so we weren’t straining any body parts to return the ball hard. Easy is a better strategy in this game.
- There is not as much running around the court either. You move around, but with 2 players on each team, there is a smaller area that each player covers.
- Lastly, we were all beginners, so we laughed a lot, talked a while before everything got started and some went out for a snack afterwards, so we are socializing with others which is also highly recommended to protect our brains.
All of us were over 50 and many over 60 which makes this game a great way to stay in shape, socialize and have fun.
Last summer, I watched some players at a few outdoor courts around the area to see what it’s about and found that most of the people playing on those courts were also over 50.
The reason I starting becoming interested was the reports I read of an entire new sports medicine practice that deals specifically with pickleball injuries. I wanted to make sure this would be a safe game to recommend for my readers and clients.
From what I saw the other night, an indoor court can be slightly dangerous when you have someone who is an aggressive player. Our indoor court is in a school gymnasium which means there are bleachers rolled up into one wall. The other wall is wood. One person crashed into the bleachers attempting to hit a ball. Later another person did so on another team. A couple ran into the wall on the other side as well. As long as you don’t follow their lead, this should be a fun game that over 50’s can play.
An outdoor court would not have the issue of walls and bleachers, if you want to start there.
I’ll keep you posted on how our league goes and maybe even send some pics of us playing once we get started!
Best of Health,
Kathi
