Slowly getting the hang of pickleball

Having a decent tennis swing is no help while learning this new sport

For years I resisted suggestions by friends to give pickleball a try. My tennis and squash experiences over earlier decades in Peterborough made me seem a likely candidate for a new racquet sport, but, for lack of a better explanation, I was a bit of a tennis snob.

However, the march of time, the slowing of my movements, and a couple of injuries have made me more open to pickleball’s fast-growing appeal — really it seems like a stampede of interest these days, particularly among friends of my age. So this past summer in Lunenburg, encouraged by Cara, who had begun playing with some of her friends, my resistance slackened and I gave it a try.

I can’t say it was love at first try, but, having had the opportunity over the winter in Peterborough to play a weekly game at Hybrid Sports on Chemong Road, I can say that I am slowly getting the hang of it. But am I enjoying it? I would have to say yes and I would place the positive gains on the camaraderie and fun of doubles play as much as the actual game itself. There are certain elements of the sport that continue to bother me and challenge my reactions.

Let me describe some aspects of doubles pickleball, for it is currently one of the best games available for senior players, however you define senior. At the same time I am also aware that the sports appeal is very strong for younger players; in fact, the average age these days, according to a pickleball website, is around 34 years. In fact, it’s difficult these days to get court time.

First off, the basics of scoring. A game is won when one team accumulates 11 points; points can only be earned while serving. A team must win by two (say 13 to 11) if the teams are tied at 11. As you might guess, the final scoring point is called ‘the pickle point.’

Scoring is an ongoing challenge in game after game. As the four players become absorbed in the rallies, certainty about the current score becomes a struggle. It is easy to lose count.

To avoid confusion, it is protocol to call out the score before each serve, though it is easy to forget to do this while in play. If in midgame your partner calls out 5-2-2, what that means is that your team is winning 5 to 2 and that your partner is serving — you are 1 (as in first server) and he/she is 2. Or vice versa.

The identification of the server is crucial. I have now played plenty of games and in most of them confusion about the actual score occasionally arises. Who served last? Was a point earned or was that a change of serve between servers or between teams? Lively discussion can ensue and the players together will usually be able to reconstruct the situation; as well, they will remind themselves that they should call out the score before each serve.

Line calls are a similar challenge as the lines are thin and the action can be swift. In concentrating on hitting the ball, it is easy to miss where the ball landed; that is if it hit the line.

At Hybrid Sports we play on a court lined for badminton as well as pickleball. Because there is no impartial referee, a close call can lead to a heated discussion from both sides of the net. The basic rule is that the line call must be made by the team defending the side in question.

And speaking of nets, the pickleball net is lower than in tennis and much less resistant to balls in flight. What we call “net balls” in tennis seem to occur much more frequently in pickleball, often skipping haplessly over the net which offers little resistance to its flight. One’s heart sinks often as a ball approaching the net falls just over — but out of the reach of the nearest defender’s paddle.

Another bizarre rule is that the return of a serve must be allowed to bounce before it is played. Our group has been playing together for more than 12 weeks and most of us continue to violate this rule inadvertently, simply because the return can catch us off guard, leading a player to whack it if it comes near. It seems to me that the arbitrariness of this rule runs counter to the flow of the game and puts a damper on a player’s readiness to hit the ball as it comes to him.

The biggest challenge for me is how to hit the ball effectively. I have an ingrained tennis swing — that is, a long, firm-armed movement. As a rule, one needs to make sharp and firm contact with the ball before it sinks under your swing. That tennis swing arc is a liability in pickleball.

The pickleball itself is a plastic whiffle ball; having numerous surface holes, it does not bounce like a tennis ball. I can’t count the number of times — always frustrating — when my elongated swing has come up empty as the pickleball bounces low and slips beneath my paddle. That darn ball can sink so fast!

The most efficient way to hit is a punch shot from either the forehand or backhand side. In fact, the lower and sharper one can punch the ball the better. And when you are in close to the net, delivering dink shots is an important skill; here one vies for position with short, well-placed shots, hoping to catch one’s opponent off-guard or back too far. The area close to the net is called “the kitchen” and no player is allowed to enter that area.

One dinks with one’s feet outside the kitchen. A loss of point follows inadvertent entry; even a toe on the kitchen line is a violation.

But I must add that dinking as a strategy is rather foreign to the games I have been playing. Dinking rallies in close to the kitchen have been almost non-existent for us while hard-hit balls (or sadly misshit balls) dominate our rallies. Older players tend to stay back in the mid-court area, though getting up closer to the net (and the kitchen) is strategically preferable, especially in fielding short shots or delivering a drop shot.

In fact, pickleball is a clever combination of tennis, squash and table tennis. The paddle is like a large ping-pong paddle. One uses it best by punching balls with quick thrusts and by keeping one’s eye closely on the ball.

But as rallies happen quickly and can breathtakingly involve many rapid hits, that eye-on-the-ball approach often gives way to instinctive athletic response. Such rallies are high points in any game. “Wow,” we all will say, “How did we do that? Or, “Who hit that amazing backhand?”

So pickleball is the game of our moment in time. It is fast gaining players at most age levels and courts are springing up in many places. The quick movements that the game requires and the strategies involved are a challenge for players of all ages. Little wonder it has become so popular and is now receiving considerable television coverage, especially in the Southern U.S.

The recent much-hyped match between old tennis stars like Andre Agassi and John McEnroe drew large television audiences and will no doubt be followed by more such enticements. You may want to give it a try, but, as the saying now goes, “Keep out of the kitchen.”