Pickleball

 

I want to thank the gracious and patient neighbors who taught us how to play Plckleball AND invited us back!

I learned so many rules of this game and the first rule is that you probably won’t remember any of the rules. This is what I remember from the last two days of playing doubles in Plckelball.

The big takeaways for me were that it is played on a much smaller court (badminton sized). You may think this makes it much easier with less running and jumping, but you are wrong. It is probably easier than mountain climbing or skydiving, but its right up there with tennis, Olympic ping pong and sprinting. The serve must be underhand to the opposite side beyond the “kitchen.” You should never stand in the kitchen or even look at or think about the kitchen. That is the area of lava and if you step in it at the wrong time, you will spontaneously combust.

So serve diagonally and it must bounce, when it is returned it must bounce and then all bets are off. It can get pretty intense with lobs and spikes and the sun in your eyes and untied shoelaces and I can’t see the ball and all hell breaks out!

Our kind neighbors gave me some very solid advice:

·         Hitting the ball solely with my hand, foot, head or face does not earn a point

·         The ball can only bounce once even if I am able to run 100 feet to return it after bouncing 17 times

·         The sun will always be in your eyes, so wear a hat.

·         If you miss the ball, turn your paddle over to hit it on the side without the hole in it. Unfortunately, my paddle had holes on both sides.

·         If your partner says/asks, “You got it!?” and steps aside, your answer should not be no.

Pickleball is not for wimps!