Mainlining pickleball

It’s been said there are two kinds of people. Those who love pickleball and those who haven’t tried it yet. Even skeptics, like my friend, Dan Meltzer, who argues that pickleball is “just a game” as opposed to a “sport" like tennis, agrees that once you start playing pickleball it’s hard to stop. So, I recently decided to investigate what makes pickleball so addictive that it’s become the crack cocaine of the elderly.

On a recent Sunday morning, I met up with Tom Smart and his partner, Joy O’Brien, at the newly renovated Cherry Hill Park pickleball courts to learn the basics of the game. 

I’ve known Tom since childhood. As a dentist with an established practice in Coeur d’Alene, you can imagine that Tom is a straitlaced sort of guy, but he admits that since he started playing pickleball seven years ago he’s become a pickleball junkie who customizes his paddles and plays in local and regional tournaments. This spring, while on vacation in Florida, he was even using an app to find available courts to get his pickleball fix.

I brought along my work partner, Doreen Krause, who moved here from Wisconsin last year. Doreen took an introductory pickleball course through Coeur d’Alene Parks and Rec this past spring, so I was the only one of the four of us completely new to pickleball and therefore thought “stay out of the kitchen!” was just good dieting advice.

One of the reasons pickleball is so addictive is that it’s super easy to learn and start playing right away. It's a fairly straightforward game played with paddles and a wiffle ball on a smaller version of a tennis court.  

Other than a weird scoring system that uses three numbers and a few quirky rules (like starting play with the person located on the Northwest corner of the court because it was invented in the Northwest, on Bainbridge Island) anyone can learn the basics in just a few minutes and enjoy the rush of whacking the ball back and forth in competitive play.  

According to Tom, “That’s why it’s had such an explosion in popularity.” Also, the “gender and age it mixes is huge” because people of different abilities can all play together.

Detractors point to pickleball injuries and, indeed, a recent study found a 90-fold increase in fractures related to pickleball from 2002 to 2022, with most occurring in players between ages 60 and 69. So it’s important to stretch and maintain flexibility to avoid these injuries. Tom also advises wearing eye protection. Nevertheless, the high from pickleball seems to outweigh the risk of injury for most people.

Another factor that makes pickleball so addictive is that it’s very social and there’s a paddle-up system that accepts anyone who wants to show up and play. Joy started playing pickleball two years ago, and for her “it was a lot of fun to just show up in a community of people like this and they were just so welcoming.”  

Tom added, “If you’re in a community that plays pickleball, you mix in with the group, and it’s much more social because you’re talking between each point.” Indeed, as the four of us rallied and played three games (two of which my team won, I might add) we were laughing and talking the whole time. 

THE GOOD: We have plenty of pickleball courts in our area including Cherry Hill Park (which recently installed 12 permanent pickleball courts) and Memorial Field (which has four permanent and four temporary nets) as well as other parks in Post Falls and Hayden. In winter, you can play indoors at the Boys and Girls Club on weekends for a donation as well as PEAK Fitness in Hayden (where they also have clinics for pickleballers of all abilities). 

THE BAD: In addition to the risk of injuries, pickleball is quite loud. Tom pointed out that “a lot of communities were built around tennis courts and now they’re converting them. Well the problem is that tennis is fairly quiet but pickleball is not.”

THE NITTY GRITTY: To get started you can take pickleball lessons through one of our parks and recreation departments, like Doreen did, or just grab some friends who already play and have them teach you since it’s so easy to learn. After trying it just one time you’ll probably be addicted.

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Dr. Emry is a family physician and partner at Ironwood Family Practice in Coeur d’Alene. Exercise Explorer MD will appear every other week in The Press and Dr. Emry can be contacted via email exercisexplorermd@gmail.com. © 2024. This work is licensed under a CC BY-ND 4.0 license.