Have You Discovered Pickleball?
Just before we moved to Missouri three years ago, we discovered a new sport called Pickleball. Last week, Parade Magazine did a whole feature on this game that has swept the country. A cross between tennis, ping-pong, and badminton, Pickleball is a sport that even unathletic “older” people like me can play!
Even while we were packing to move to Missouri, we played several times with both of our extended families in Kansas (and we discovered new muscles we didn’t know we had!)
We played with my sister and her husband.
Ken’s sister and one of his brothers.
Ken’s sister and her husband are in a league out in California now and have gotten REALLY good since this photo was taken.After we moved, we played with our kids and grandkids. And I’m proud to say that these old fogies actually beat the young athletic coaches (our daughter and her husband) the first time they played. We won’t be asking for a rematch anytime soon though. They are still young and athletic and we’re three years older now! 
We played with our daughter Tobi and her husband and actually BEAT these young whippersnappers! 
Even the grandsons could play. (I can’t believe how much they’ve grown since this photo was taken three years ago.)It really is a great game for young and old! There are leagues in most towns, and many cities are turning tennis courts into pickleball courts to accommodate the demand. It’s a good trade since four pickleball courts will fit on a tennis court! Here are the basic rules in case you’re curious:
This 14-second video of Ken and his siblings playing when we were all just learning will give you the flavor of the game. (The game can be a little more cut-throat when these same people play now because everyone has improved greatly. In fact, Ken’s sister and her husband are in a league in California and have gotten really good!)
We hadn’t played for a long time, but we ran into some friends last week while we were biking and learned that they’d just discovered pickleball. So later that week, we met them early in the morning at an outdoor court and we had a blast playing again. We were pretty evenly matched, even though Ken and I ultimately lost 2 out of 3 games. We can’t wait to play again and get a chance to redeem ourselves!
Pickleball is a relatively new game, invented in my lifetime. But I have a feeling it will have some staying power. Have you played pickleball or watched it being played? Tell me about it in the comments below.
AND BEFORE YOU GO…I wanted to let you know that Yesterday’s Embers, the third and final book in the Clayburn Novels series is FREE today for ebook! You can order all three books by clicking on the image below:
