“I’ve never been a sports person. But I just spent three years...

“I’ve never been a sports person. But I just spent three years locked in my apartment. I’ve cycled through all the arts and crafts already: painting, ceramics, you name it. So I wanted to try a sport. And let me tell you, it’s a whole new level of pressure. Because there are other people involved. They told me that pickleball was a sport anyone could play. I took them at their word, and it’s been torture ever since. I started with a class at the YMCA; they advertised for people with ‘mixed abilities.’ But when they say ‘mixed,’ that means mixed with advanced people. During my first game I flew. I mean I actually flew. Balance is a big issue at my age. If you don’t balance, you fly. And I flew. The teacher said: ‘If it’s out of your range, just let it go. Let it go.’ Everyone was sympathetic. I think they were impressed I didn’t go straight home. But after the first game, you know, people have expectations. I couldn’t serve, I couldn’t return. Nobody said anything. But when there’s a bunch of stuff you’re supposed to do that you can’t do, and every time you play, your side is zero, people start to notice. They try to act like they don’t care. But this is New York; there’s limited time on the courts. They care. So after my third game I was like: ‘see you later.’ I signed up for clinics at the rec center. Then I found a nice spot in Jersey where nobody was playing. Lots of wall. Lots of space. Perfect for me. I even got in a few serves. And that was fighting the wind, because it was right on the water. Of course as soon as I got back to the clinic, I couldn’t do it. But I’m going to keep trying. All I care about is having good form and enjoying the game. Winning isn’t important. I’m not a competitive person. But I’m the kind of ‘not competitive’ that’s not competitive because I know I’m going to lose, so you know what? Yeah, I’d like to win one. It would be nice to win a game. I just have to get through all this other stuff to get there.”