Learning something new is always fun!
A mention of the new sport PICKLEBALL in my friend’s group and the most frequent retort is Pickle??? What again? As Indians our first and only association with the word ‘Pickle’ is Achaar, the tangy, sweet, salty ‘kick-giving’ accompaniment to our meals for 4000 odd years now.
Though one could argue PICKLEBALL has all those characteristics, for those of you who haven’t heard PICKLEBALL is actually a sport and an increasing popular one at that!
Pickleball was founded In the summer of 1965(yeah that old), by Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell and Barney McCallum on Bainbridge Island, Washington. The name “pickleball”—a reference to the thrown-together leftover non-starters in the “pickle boat” of crew races.
The idea for this sport originated when they returned to their home on Bainbridge Island, to find their families sitting around bored with nothing to do. The property had an old badminton court but not a full set of rackets. So, they started playing with ping-pong paddles and a perforated plastic ball. They found that the ball bounced well on the hard surface and badminton net was lowered to 36 inches. Inspired by badminton they created rules for this sport keeping the core purpose intact that it should be a game that the whole family could play together!
In its current form, the sport of pickleball is a mash-up of tennis, badminton and ping pong is now the fastest growing sport in United States with 5 million players. Sportsmen like Lebron James Basketball legend & Tom Brady, the Super Bowl Champion have picked up stakes in professional pickleball team.
In September 2022, when I first heard about Pickleball, my curiosity got me to try it out immediately. I love sports and it’s natural for me to immediately say YES to learning any new sport. Through a friend I discovered that Mumbai already has Pickleball courts! I signed up for a trial session along with my son who is a badminton player too. While watching, we thought it looked simple. Little did we know that this simple looking sport is highly technical too and can get extremely competitive.
Curious to know more about the sport and it's presence in India I met Sunil (who first bought this game to India) and Chetan at PTKS. The club PTKS is a must visit for everyone with a vibe for sports. The passion for all kinds of sports is visible and it was not hard to see that it is the home of Pickleball in India.The Team of Dr. Arvind Prabhoo (Chairman AIPA), Sunil Valavalkar (President IFP) & Chetan Sanil (Tournament Director) and other members of the association is passionate to drive this sport to another level. They told me about the prestigious BainBridge Cup coming up in November end. I jumped at the opportunity to play in a tournament and signed up for few training sessions at PTKS.
With a total of eight training sessions, I went into Bainbridge cup with an intention of having fun, seeing the vibe of the community and most importantly observe how quickly we Indians have adapted to this sport. An infectious level of enthusiasm at the tournament caught on and what excited me the most was while there were many youngsters playing the elite games, the amazing skills at display in the 50+ category was fire!
Now that is something that is very close to my subject of research for quite some time, Neuroplasticity! The general belief is that most people learn skills before teens or in their childhood. But sport is a perfect example of how you can learn new things at any age. Many of the seniors I met were either playing a different sport before like tennis or badminton and then switched to pickleball or in some cases they started their first game with pickleball. Interesting right?
We do choose our favourite sport to play based on our adaptability and the social connect. But the more we expand our horizons the possibility of discovering an even better one exists. That’s what I felt about pickleball. The first feeling of it being easy, to the second opinion that it is fun, because it is challenging, that got me hooked on. Our brain is made for taking new challenges and we thrive on things that challenge us and bring us new experiences. A sport, especially a new sport activates neurons for new learning. Learn a new sport like pickle ball and both your body and mind will thank you. It is anti-ageing too:)
Warning: Pickleball can be addictive, a good addiction at that! I haven’t figured out yet why it addictive, it has been only 2 months that I have started playing but probably it’s the "pock pock pock" sound that comes when the pickleball hits the paddles or the unpredictability of the shots or it could even be the challenge to go for Dink straight after an amazing Drive. I only realized my addiction when, I took the paddle and hit the ball on the wall at home for few shots during a work call and the person on the other side enquired about the sound and I had to say… Ahem, Its Pickleball, you should play it and then spoke to him for good 30 mins about the game!
India has always been a racquet sports playing nation. The last 10 years have seen a huge surge in badminton, especially with a rise in stars and training centers. Playing on a competitive level and indoor training facilities, however cost a lot and that is where I see pickleball providing an easy access to children and adults who wish to start playing competitive sports like badminton & tennis. Pickleball court can be quite literally set up anywhere, all it needs is a flat concrete surface (ideally with rubber coating) and a net, you are ready for the game. Most competitive pickleball games are played outdoors, so setting up indoor infrastructure is not a challenge. Like badminton, pickleball is also a physical game of chess, and as a badminton and chess playing nation, I think India is absolutely ready for the Pickleball revolution!
I am in absolute alignment with the association’s vision to have 1 million pickleball players in India in the next 5 years. An instinct tells me it could be bigger than that!
So, join the movement, Be a Pickler! Here, you can Dink & Drive!