Let's Get Physical, with Pickleball!

This is my new sport so thought I would share it with you! Especially for women in our sixties, when you combine the games you know into a fun, friendly and familiar activity, Pickleball is the answer! Played on small court, it has the action and movement we need plus the social aspects for us to enjoy. Check out the many venues on Meet Up and www.pickleballaus.org for more info.

The rules of pickleball

• The rules of pickleball are predominantly the same as tennis or badminton

• Scoring is most similar to badminton — so you can only score a point while serving

• The ball has to be hit three times before it can by volleyed (hit before it bounces)

• You cannot volley the ball while standing in the area closest to the net (called the kitchen)

• Serving must be underarm

But what is pickleball?

Described as a cross between tennis, badminton and table tennis, the sport was created in 1965 by a group of friends in Bainbridge Island, Washington.

Eager to play badminton one afternoon, but unable to find a shuttlecock, they improvised by grabbing some table tennis paddles and a wiffle ball (a plastic perforated baseball), and lowering the net on the badminton court.

Pickleball is played with a perforated plastic yellow ball known as a wiffle ball.

The key to the sport's growing success can be found in that afternoon.

While the inventors — Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell and Barney McCallum — initially thought it would predominantly keep the kids entertained, it proved ideal for young and not-so-young players alike.

Since then it has taken off in the US, with part of its success coming from its all-ages appeal, with its small court and slow-moving ball making it particularly popular in retirement villages.

There is also a growing elite level of the game.

Pickleball Down Under

The sport came to Australia via Gabi Plumm, president of the Pickleball Association of Australia.

She learnt the sport while visiting her son Morgan Evans in the US three-and-a-half years ago.

Evans won the 2016 US Open Pickleball Championships.

"[He] said 'I think you should do this because it will be easier for you to play than tennis' which is very true," Ms Plumm said.

"My first comment was 'we should be playing this in Australia'."

Since returning to her home in Cairns, the game has steadily grown as Ms Plumm has spread the word of pickleball.

"It's not gone crazy but it's growing quite dramatically," she said.

"We now have several locations around the country where the game is being played. 

"There are two very large groups in Western Australia. There's a tennis coach who teaches pickleball in Melbourne.

"[There's] another lot that are just starting up in Warrnambool. In Sydney we have seven groups so they've got hundreds of players down there.

"In Brisbane there are I think five different groups playing at least five times a week, likewise on the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, and then we've got several retirement homes that have got purpose-built pickleball courts for their people."

Ms Plumm said the simplicity of the game probably explained part of its appeal.

"It's such an easy game to learn," she said.

"It is possibly one of the easiest games in the world to learn. 

"Within 10 minutes you're on a court playing with people who have been playing for some time." 

Read more here.