Found a new game! Pickleball, it is a racket sport but much slower than squash played on a much smaller court than tennis and without the annoying side bouncy things of padel.
It is played on a badminton court but with a low net about tennis height and it uses a smooth faced bat and a perforated plastic ball, called a wiffle ball, which travels way slower that a tennis ball.
As I am getting on a bit I had to give up squash and tennis a few years ago as the knees couldn’t take the twisting and I simply could not get across the court in time. So, I had grudgingly accepted that golf was to be the height of my sporting activity until it was time to take up the swan song of sports … bowling.
Last week while chatting with some friends they mentioned that they had taken up this new sport of Pickleball and we should give it a go. So, curious, and armed with shorts and trainers (which hadn’t seen the light of day for a few years) we went along to the British Club to see what all the fuss was about.
It helped that the guy running it, young Steve, has been a long time friend of mine and who could be relied upon to taunt me mercilessly.
With a fair degree of trepidation, and a pair of legs warning me to not try anything silly, I took up the position and hit my first underhand serve.
Well, it went quite well, my body hung on enough to see me lurch around the small court slapping the ball back over the net. I even, at times, remembered some tennis shots and tried to put a bit of backspin on the delivery. I did not disgrace myself and with the help of a much more experienced partner managed to win a couple of games. So pleased with my endeavours that I immediately paid up for membership to the section.
Pickleball was invented back in 1965 as a children’s backyard game in the United States by a man called Joel Pritchard who was trying to setup a badminton court for his kids but couldn’t find the correct equipment, all they could find were padel bats and a wiffle ball, so they made up some rules, and as they say the rest is history. It took a bit of time to get round the world but it’s here now and judging by the interest at my club, it’s here to stay.
By this time next year, we will have setup the Bahrain Pickleball League and got some sponsorship from a shopping mall.
All the padel courts that sprung up over the last few years will have been converted to Pickleball and there will be a petition to have it included in the Olympics.
Meanwhile, I am not giving up golf as that is the long walk, but I hope to be able to enjoy Pickleball for a few years before that bowling green beckons.
Jackie@jbeedie.com
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