Oh, that’s too bad. I’ve literally played with dozens of fun, courteous players (mostly beginner or advanced beginner, a few intermediate). Happily no bullies so far, though I certainly read about them on a ‘Senior Pickleball’ Facebook page. My PB buds and I have so far avoided indoor group play at the rec center and the Y because we’ve heard rumors that they are a more serious PB crowd.
One of the things I love at the local PB organization’s drill/play events is that the volunteer coaches (superb players) are willing to step in for no-shows. They simply tone down the game to match the other 3 players on the court. LOL - once a young volunteer coach had to play two of us…. we made him work for his win (including some falls on the slippery bball court for him), and we all laughed a lot.
Sorry to hear about the PB bully. I am just going to continue playing PB with the little group that I like for now. I’m not ready for PB to be too serious and just like getting together with family and friends and having fun.
My mom (86) plays pickleball at her tennis club. She had played tennis at the club for maybe 50 years and as they have gotten older a lot of them have transitioned to pickleball. Her group plays several days a week. They are mostly widows and have been wonderful for each other. They celebrate birthdays monthly, etc… But, even in this group, they can exhibit mean girl behavior. Last week my mom complained to me that she had invited a friend who just lost her husband and the friend constantly thanks my mom for inviting her. But some of the other ladies are complaining that she isn’t good enough for their group. Yikes!
H was a competitive tennis player in HS and college. He’s played with the same guys since the college days. They are all mid-late 60s now. They still play doubles most weeks.
H was the first to take up pickleball because of knee/hip/back issues about 10 years ago. They all made fun of him at the time, but are all into it now.
He plays in leagues that have beginner/intermediate/advanced courts, playing advanced. The problem is that the opposing pair will hit to the weaker player, so it’s a boring game if that’s not him. He’s certainly not the best player there, but sometimes feels he’s just standing there on some games.
Players like your mom and your friends would be welcomed in my various casual assortments of advanced beginner pickleball friends. (They would need to do text messaging and/or be willing to use TeamReach app. None of our play is regularly scheduled due to weather factors for outdoor play and for driving.)
That’s too bad. I sometimes play with imbalanced teams, but I still hit to both sides, partly just for that reason. We play for FUN, and don’t care so much about who wins. I care more about when I make stupid mistakes/miss a ball I should have gotten. When I play several games in 2 hours, I honestly sometimes can’t remember if I won or lost the game before…
I got some advice from an advanced player regarding hitting to the weaker player. “You might win the game, but you won’t get better.” You should be playing to hit the best shot, regardless of who it goes to.
Also, it’s mean. It’s mean to the better player who is just standing there wasting their time and it’s mean to the weaker player who feels bad and picked on.
After time away from the courts, I’m having a dandy week of pickleball. I do a mixture of venues with a variety of PB pals. It costs more than summer, when I mostly play outdoors for free. But I do find it lovely to have a new fun way to fill time this winter.
More Details: Sunday I played indoors for an hour before church ($10/player). Yesterday I got up at 6am to take advantage of the 7am early bird special ($10 for an hour of indoor court time, split 4 ways). Today I was sleeping late when a text msg arrived around 8:30am to say I’d gotten off the wait list for the 9am event with local club (1 hour of coaching/drills, one hour of open play). Got dressed and scooted over and was only a few minutes late. The combo basketball / pickleball courts are not as nice, but I did get my money’s worth (just a $3 donation to the church). The planned afternoon outdoor game was cancelled due to snow on the court. (I was surprised since it was 47 degrees and sunny. Switched do a run instead, and my entire 3.5 mile lake trail was bone dry. Courts are more shaded.) Tomorrow is more of a splurge, group Bronze (beginner / advanced beginner) lessons at the nice indoor place…. 1 hour / $18.
H and I are trying to play at least once a week. I booked a court for 1 hour on Sunday. It will just be H and I this week so we should get a decent workout playing each other for an hour.
Single play does involve a lot more running. I’ve only done doubles, except for a bit of practice play. (One time a PB pal and I played against a single expert player… lol, we lost to him 3x).
I enjoyed the one hour of bronze (beginner/intermediate) drills this morn. I lucked into a freebie coached play session for another hour because the coach wanted to have an 8th player.
I have a subtle bruise on my cheek. I’ve been jokingly explaining to friends that no… not from husband, tis from some dental work. But to my PB friends, I have to explain that NO, tis not from a pickleball. Ha,we don’t hit the ball that hard (yet).
H and I had a great time last night with just the 2 of us playing. We practiced a bunch of shots we are each working on then played several games against each other which was a great 1 hour workout. Next weekend we already have the court booked to play D1 and SIL.
I had to try a new local-ish indoor pickleball place today. We normally play outside, even when it’s in the 20s sometimes. BUT, we can’t play when there’s snow on the courts, and we don’t play when it’s wet either. Our more local court was too full, because it’s a holiday.
Good news is the new place is only 7 bucks for 3 hours. (Other is 12 for 2). BUT there didn’t seem to be a lot of people waiting/sharing courts. I am not sure how it would have gone if I showed up myself/with less than 4 to play. The normal indoor courts I go to groups people by their skill level, and up to 6 are assigned to a court.
I wear prescription googles. I was hit in them last week. We were playing again 10 seconds later. Without goggles, the game would of ended with a trip to the ER. I was hit HARD.
Best $200 I ever spent.
Amazon has lots of $20 options for non-prescription users or contact wearers.
Did you get the goggles made clear or sunglasses? I’ve been using my transition sunglasses (originally purchased for running) for indoor and outdoor play. They are not as pretty as my normal glasses as sunglasses, but they are pretty sturdy.
Back in the day when our kids played soccer & basketball, we bought them “rec specs” (prescription goggles) from Costco. Their Rx kept changing so we kept having to buy them new ones. They had an elastic strap to keep them on their faces. They stopped offering them about the time my kids could no longer play due to chronic health issues. They were clear and protective. My kids had bad vision and wouldn’t have been able to play without SOMETHING to help correct their vision and these had added benefit of SOME level of protection.
I played at a casual event yesterday where everybody was lots better than me (and one of my advance beginner PB pals who thankfully also attended). Yes indeed, it was humbling. But it was fun too, especially when paired with encouraging partners. Most opponents I think opted to tone down their serves to me, while others gave me the opportunity to receiving their normal wildly spinning balls. I played 4 or 5 games, and my side was only shut out once… phew.
My game is not very consistent. But I do have a decent serve (though not tricky in any way), in bounds probably more than 90% of the time. Can’t pretend I wasn’t pleased a few times when seasoned players were unable to return my serve
I’m glad you had fun, and good for you for being brave and playing with better players. MOST PB people tend to be fine playing with beginners for at least a game or two. I try to tone it down when it’s obvious I’m much better than someone else I’m playing with. Consistency will come with time/practice. I sometimes get “pickled” even now, and I’ve been playing a couple of years.
