Blog: The Fourth Most Interesting Pickle in the World—Pickleball

A couple of months ago I saw a on the front page of Albany Patch. It invited me to enjoy free pickles and green Gatorade while learning the traditional American sport of Pickleball. I remembered reading about this in the adult sports section of Albany Activity Guide (I think), but had scoffed at the idea of playing 'something like tennis' when I already know how to play tennis. The offering that looked a lot more interesting to me was the . The Mystery League involved joining a team or assembling your own and showing up at Ocean View Park on the prescribed night to learn a new sport each week.

I kept thinking about the posting on the way home and I decided to go to the . Why not? I had just fixed my bike and was looking for an excuse to ride it. A handful of participants were already there, including a couple who seemed like they knew what they were doing. The coordinator, Heather, gave us a couple of quick pointers: serve underhand, keep the ball in the court and crush the lobs. The first 10 minutes were painful for my pride as a competent tennis player. I either hit the net or hit the ball out over and over. The ball is designed to interact with the air in a way no self respecting ball should: it is perforated! The ball floats and dips like a wiffle ball in the wind. The paddles are essentially 16" long smash-ball paddles, so you have almost no reach. For being popular with senior citizens, there is a lot of running and cutting.

So, I've been going to play almost every week since then. The game is a fun combination of tennis and table tennis with a little badminton thrown in. The game is usually played doubles, and the court is less than half the size of a full size tennis court. I got hooked twelve minutes in because of the similarity to my favorite parts of tennis; fast doubles rallies at the net, lots of footwork, room for a ton of finesse and the camaraderie of playing in close proximity to your opponents.  I even made my own paddle. I certainly never even considered making my own tennis racket, but the humble equipment used for this sport is making it one of my new favorites. There never ended up being any pickles and Gatorade but I don't really like pickles that much anyway.  

Tuesdays 6 p.m. at the Ocean View Park Tennis Courts 900 Buchanan St. Albany, CA, $5 ($3 for Seniors), and $2 Paddle Rental