I first heard about soccer while listening to my favorite podcast, What We Said as guests chat about how competitive they are when playing with their husbands. As soon as they mentioned how easy pickleball was, I knew it would be my new hobby. I will take every opportunity to do this activity away from home which is very active and requires a learning curve. But first things first: I have to find a partner to play with (and learn to play, for that matter). That’s when the project convinced my husband to study Pickleball with him. Luckily, it didn’t take much for me to get it on board.
My parents had a small ball, so we borrowed their paddles to learn. For our first game, we decided to try it for 30 minutes. Before we knew it, we looked at our watches and an entire hour had passed. Within the first five minutes of playing football back and forth, I knew we were both going to love this job.
Now we play about three times a week, usually on weeknights after work or on Saturday mornings to replace gym sessions, I can understand why some say it is the fastest growing sport right now. Our daily lives have changed a lot in the past few years thanks to COVID, and I think the popularity of pickleball is one of the best things you can get out of it. Don’t get me wrong, pickleball has been a pretty popular activity. But especially with the rise of TikTok, word of mouth is about how fun and easy it is to learn. If you’d like to try pickleball for yourself, read on for some helpful information on how to play and everything you need to get started.
What is pickleball?
It’s really a cross between ping pong and tennis. In the smaller version of tennis court, you and a partner (or two teams of two) use paddles to hit a rubber ball back and forth over a low net. Aside from a few specific rules (like how to serve and when to let the ball run before hitting it), that’s all you need to know to get started. You can learn more about how to play Here.
To find a ballpark near you, start with a good old Google search. We found a local park near us that costs $3 to enter and usually has open courts. I also searched for “pickleball parks near (insert your city)” and found them in a Google search.
What’s so great about it?
What I love most about pickleball is that it can be as hard or as easy as you want it to be. Because now, my husband and I really like to play for fun. We try to hit the ball back and forth as many times as possible without hitting it in the end and often do not keep score. It’s just fun to get out there and be active, but I’m sure some fun competitions are in our future as we get better at the game. We are still learning!
Anyone can play this game–it doesn’t matter what your physical strength is, you don’t have to be too strong or too fast. It’s really about practice and friendly competition. For us, pickleball is a fun activity as a couple that gets us out of the house and helps us stay active. I also love how much better I feel after playing at the end of a long work day, instead of sitting and watching TV.
What would you like to play pickleball?
You will need a partner to play with, as well as a set of balls, which includes two paddles and usually a few balls. If you want to play with four people in total (two layers), then you will need four paddles. To make learning as easy as possible, I recommend investing in a good pickleball ball because it’s easy to direct the ball with good paddles.
Are you ready to start playing? Grab all the pickleball essentials you’ll need below.
