The same can be said of pickleball if it is played at a higher level or you play singles. I’ve played both and can get every bit the workout I’d get from tennis. The difference is that pickleball can also be played at a slower level. Tennis doesn’t lend itself to that approach.
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It was nice enough weather today to switch from indoor rec center PB plan with a friend and accept suggestion for outdoor play with two others. It was good exercise (for body and brain), but after getting home I was able to defer my shower til later. That is something I rarely do after a run (continuous movement, more sweating), even in cool temps.
Yes, my husband and I play just for fun! We have always played tennis but not regularly, so very hard to play tennis after a season off, without getting frustrated. Pickleball allows us to get to more shots so we can enjoy the game.
Pickleball is a bit of a cross between ping pong and tennis, using a ball that is much like a whiffle ball. The scoring system is unique. For those curious, here’s a helpful 10 minute video with info about scoring, lingo etc… with some demo play
I LOVE pickleball!
I have been playing 5 mornings per week for 5 years. We have a nice group of players with a variety of skill levels. Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose, but I always have fun.
3 years ago I fell and broke 2 bones. My shoe slightly stuck on the court and I rolled my ankle. I was wearing proper court shoes. 4 months later I started hitting a ball again - very slowly and carefully.
I bought prescription eye goggles which is the best $200 I ever spent.
If I didn’t play pickleball, I’d probably sit at home for those 2 hours and do nothing. The physical activity is great and so is the socializing.
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The courts at my club are being used for filming a Ben Stiller movie. It’s about a washed up tennis player who takes up pickleball. Called “The Dink”. Coming out on Netflix. No, I am not in it even as an extra.
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Safety tip… the lines on the courts seem to get slippery when it’s just slightly wet out, so I do NOT suggest playing when it’s wet out.
Do other people have indoor “real” pickleball court facilities available? We are lucky to have a really nice indoor facility, that it’s terribly priced (mid day it’s 12 bucks plus tax for 2 hours).
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$12 per person, or per court? Either way, I don’t think that seems unreasonable.
I play indoors at my fitness center (Lifetime Fitness.) Our group reserves court time 4 days/week. If you have a basic membership, cost to play is your share of $20/hour divided by number of players per court (we usually have 6/court and rotate players during our session.) If you have the next level membership, you play for “free”. Once I took up PB, I changed my membership which only cost me an additional $10 per month, so well worth the upgrade. I do use the facility for classes, weight/cardio machines, and the outside pool in the summer, so my membership fee is not entirely subsidizing my PB. But I think some of the women only come for Pickleball. They are probably paying in the neighborhood of $150/month - but may also have the Silver Sneakers benefit.
I have never played outside, but those in our group that have said they don’t like it as much due to the weather factors, including wind, sun in your eyes, etc. I certainly like that I do not have to apply sunscreen to play indoors! And here in PA we can play year-round, which we could not do outside.
I feel so fortunate to have access to this facility and to have been invited to join our women’s group!!
I belonged to Lifetime for many years, until COVID. Then we got gym equipment for home and canceled our membership. I really liked going there (even though in the 14 years I belonged, I only did 1 “free” class). Do they have dedicated PB courts?
ETA - it’s $12 pp for 2 hours.
I have a group of about 12 players, and most of us actually prefer to play outside. We play when it’s pretty chilly or pretty warm, and we ply when it’s up to 10MPH winds.
At our Lifetime location there are 3 dedicated indoor PB courts. Lifetime runs Open Play sessions most days, with designated levels of play (beginner, intermediate, advanced) and some senior open play sessions as well. Also DUPR rating sessions. Courts are otherwise available to privately reserve from 5 am to 10 pm. We generally play 9:30 - 11 am on 2 courts, and sometimes in the afternoon. We had a national pro onsite this summer, and she ran clinics on the courts that forced us into some different time slots, but we still were able to reserve on our usual days. I have done some open play as well, but find I like the vibe of my women’s group better.
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Not around here. The residents around public parks and rec centers won, and Denver has shut down most of the pickleball play outside because of the noise and the lights at night. Tennis is back in vogue. Pickleball is played inside at rec centers (and at the Y I go to).
The other popular places venues are old grocery stores and warehouses that have been converted into pickleball centers. They can fit dozens of courts into those old grocery stores and there is a lot of parking. They have leagues of all shapes and sizes - men, women, kids, mixed doubles…
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My town has a lot of great pickleball options. Some are converted public park tennis courts (6 PB courts about 2 miles from me, 12 PB courts with lights about 4 miles … lots of event there organized by the local club - $25/year). The rec center and the Y have frequent indoor play in their gyms… I have not been yet, but it’s popular choice for the over 65 crowd who play free with Silver Sneakers and Active renew… would be $5.50 for me. I’ve played with the local club at church gym - we each are asked to donate $3 for the facility.
The nicest indoor place is private, 6 courts. I’ve done a few group lessons there. The first one was pricey/$40. The next two were $18, in theory up to 8 people but we had fewer. There are other options for play that range from $7.50 to $15 (or cheaper if you pay the $60 monthly membership).
Many of the people I play with try to optimize the outdoor opportunities all year long (with some indoor play too). Those more rugged than me are still doing evening outdoor play under the lights, temp in 40s. Yesterday was a little cool at 58 degrees since very cloudy. I have other plans today and will miss the grand weather opportunity (for running and/or pickleball) …. 61 and sunny. Since it’s a weekend, methinks the courts and trails will be crowded.
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Before the city of Denver banned pickleball at the outdoor tennis courts, the rec center closest to me (so I walked by when walking the dog) had a shovel and people were welcomed to play all year as long as they were willing to shovel. And they did.
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We are headed to Grand Cayman for vacation starting tomorrow. I was all excited about playing PB there and even connected with someone staying at the same place. WELL… turns out winds are going to be 15MPH most every day we are there. I am bringing paddles, and so are my son and DIL, but it’s not looking promising.
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City is reopening the courts to PB, but only for soft balls to keep the noise down.
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I’ve just started reading about the PB soft, quieter balls. Hope it works out well for the players and the neighbors.
I enjoyed playing outdoor PB on Thursday. It was high 40s with nice sunshine, not much breeze (phew for comfort as well as keeping the balls in control). We had a 5th player cycling in, PB classmate of one of the players. She had to leave early to pick up kids at school, but it was fun to have a younger face in the mix.
Pickleball beginner players - Do you use any apps to arrange play dates with your new PB pals? Mostly I go to the town club events or arrange to meet others at the courts via text messaging. We do have Playtime use in the area, but seems more advanced players. Today I joined TeamReach based on encouragement from a new PB classmate - it seems to have some good potential
Our group uses TeamReach, and it works well for our needs - but we are a large group, I think we have 35 women on the app (but not all are active.) We reserve courts each week at our gym for the following week; our leader posts the times every Friday and available slots (the number of slots varies based on how many courts we were able to reserve each day.) When the slots are filled, you can put your name on the waiting list. Then if someone cancels, it automatically moves the first person on the waitlist to a “yes”. I like that you can see who is signed up to play each day. I do find the chat function to be clunky in how the comments are organized - not sure if it’s a user issue or a bug in the app. But ours don’t thread well when we have a long chat going (planning our holiday party!!) Some comments are grouped and some come in separate, and it can get confusing. But other than that, it has been a great organizing tool.