Do you play Pickleball

Pauline1954

Pauline1954

Member
I discovered this sport and started a beginners class on March 29. My regular exercises prepared me for this type of sport. Now we need warmer weather so this darn arthritis stops making me feel bad and cramp my moves. 😄 lots of older folks seem to do very well. I played with am 86 yr old last week. He was good.
 

It is becoming popular.
There was an article in our local town paper...where a young guy started with 4 people.
Now.. it's a league with 60 people.👍
 
I've played pickleball and quite enjoyed it, but only while learning how to play. After that, the gloves came off of the people who taught us and it ceased being fun.
I grew up in a highly competitive family but married into a much less cutthroat family. I saw the light. Playing games for the enjoyment of a little exercise is so much better and less stressful (for me) than playing for the score.

Most pickle ball players are all about the win, so they deliberately hit the ball so it lands well out of your reach, the better to rack up their points. Forget intentionally volleying back and forth so all players can have a great time.

"Gee, that was sure fun. (Not.) Play again? Lemme think if I have something better to do with my time. Like maybe lining up a root canal..."

DH and I only play pickleball against each other, and only when there's a court at a campground we're visiting, and we don't keep score. Our aim is to keep the ball in play. When another couple approaches wanting to play against us, we tell them our objective. If they want to join us, that's fine. Otherwise we relinquish the court to them after a few minutes and go on our way.
 
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"DH and I only play pickleball against each other, and only when there's a court at a campground we're visiting, and we don't keep score. Our aim is to keep the ball in play. When another couple approaches wanting to play against us, we tell them our objective. If they want to join us, that's fine. Otherwise we relinquish the court to them after a few minutes and go on our way."
That is the only way I play every kind of game. Play for the fun and not the score. I do not like gloaters if the win or downers if they loose. I win every game I play because I play for the fun.
 
StarSong said:
You sound like my kind of guy. I'd play pickleball with you anytime!
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Amen. We have "social" groups and "advanced" groups. The social groups are just about playing and having fun and working up a sweat. For example, we a have rule that says if you have to go more than two steps to get to a ball, you can just let it go - no judgement. Nobody needs to get hurt.The bloodthirsty types can play in the advanced groups.
 
I'd never heard of it until my BFF mentioned a couple of years ago that she was scheduled to play with some of the residents in her condo complex. I think she plays a couple of times a week.
 
Dr. Jekyll said:
Amen. We have "social" groups and "advanced" groups. The social groups are just about playing and having fun and working up a sweat. For example, we a have rule that says if you have to go more than two steps to get to a ball, you can just let it go - no judgement. Nobody needs to get hurt.The bloodthirsty types can play in the advanced groups.
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Brilliant!
 

Pickleball Elbow (Pickleball's version of "tennis elbow) – Symptoms, Causes & How to Treat It​



https://thepickler.com/blogs/pickleball-blog/pickleball-elbow#:~:text=If you loosen your pickleball,shots on the pickleball court.


I was a tournament tennis player. And I was a tournament platform tennis player. "Pickleball" is a derivative of Platform Tennis.

I think it used to be called "deck tennis" in California??

Anyway, since I have taught a little bit of both tennis and platform tennis, just wanted to give folks a little heads up re tennis elbow and other potential injuries.

It is a very nice sport. And it is very recreational. And it is not huge stress or anything.

But just note, that if you do use the wrong form, you can strain some muscle groups, tendons (tennis elbow), have wrist problems and other injury related issues.


So, just note, that it is a physical activity. And you really should stretch a bit before you play. Generally do some stretching exercises for the arms.

Then, after that, a good general and gentle warm up is to just swing the paddle without any contact. Just move through the different strokes, without striking the ball. So that would be forehand, backhand, volley and serve.

And do them very slowly and very gently. Do some repetitions with that. Then do some at normal speed.

If you do all that, you will have a much better chance of not dealing with injuries.


The other thing is tennis elbow, and, in particular tennis elbow due to an incorrect backhand stroke. That is very common.


Let me see if I can find some instructional video or something about that.

Oh, ok...an article just came right up:

Pickleball Elbow – Symptoms, Causes & How to Treat It​



https://thepickler.com/blogs/pickleball-blog/pickleball-elbow#:~:text=If you loosen your pickleball,shots on the pickleball court.
 
here's a Platform Tennis point. Platform tennis uses the walls around the court, much like squash.

Way back in 1975 or so, I was ranked 7th nationally in 16 and under doubles. It's a small sport. Maybe like being the NJ state tennis champ, but nothing beyond that really...who knows, maybe in the whole country there were, what? 2000 total tournament players in my division? Not exactly being 7th ranked among millions. And of the 2000, probably only a few hundred of us took it all that seriously. I think some of the guys were just there as an excuse to meet the girls (I still remember Emily "T"....)

Was tons of fun. It's played in winter. Has that ski "shack" culture. Play out in the cold and come in for some hot cocoa. Just tons of fun.

It's a highly defensive sport. Points can go on forever. And I was always good at defensive play. In one tennis match in high school, I completely frustrated one opponent. He threw his racket down and yelled out, "don't you ever miss?" Have to say, that style of play is not really all that socially accepted...like a war of attrition, wearing down the other guy. You are really supposed to attack the play and who is better at that wins. But, whatever...that is how I played. Even some pros use that strategy. Baseline players.

 
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