Janet Myrick

We pickleball players hear this all the time, especially from other racquet sport players. We just look at each other and smile. Then we ask, have you tried playing? Well “no” they say. I get more exercise playing my sport. “Maybe when I get old, I will try it.”

Pickleball is great exercise for seniors and all ages. They are now teaching pickleball in grammar school as it is fun, easier to learn and needs less space than maybe tennis.

Pickleball isn’t just hit the ball hard. There is a lot of strategy involved, with lobs, dinks, passing shots, third shot soft shots and most important, lots of fast volleys. Scoring is complicated and some of the rules are different from tennis but very similar.

You want more exercise? Try playing pickleball singles. In fact, if you want to see how much exercise you can get, go to pickleballchannel.com and click on the singles gold match. You will see why you don’t see that many players playing singles or want to.

We do have free introductory lessons at the IronOaks courts; just sign up with the front desk in the Tennis Center. So come on out to the courts and try it. Right now we have a problem with space and so many members wanting to play but eventually, hopefully, we can have clinics for all levels for this very fun, addicting sport. Just about everyone who tries it, loves it.