Take one whiffle ball and a hard paddle bat and you’ve got the elements of one of Ladysmith’s growing sports. It’s called Pickleball and residents say the addictive sport is on the upswing.
“Anybody can play,” says enthusiast Larry Reid. “It’s good exercise. It’s better than jogging in the gym and it’s fun. The people are fun to play with.”
Pickleball is a pleasant combination of badminton, tennis and table tennis. Armed with their paddle and whiffle ball, players take to the court, which has the same dimensions of a double’s badminton court. To be considered pickleball, the net must be about two inches longer than a tennis net.
The sport attracts dozens of residents to the Frank Jameson Community Centre every week, where players can get their Pickle-fix on four different days of the week for a drop-in fee.
“It’s caught on quite well,” said John Bucchieri, who plays pickleball three times a week. “It’s not as strenuous as other racquet ball sports.”
Because of the smaller size of the court and slower ball speed, pickleball is said to be a children and senior’s sport. But for the players at Frank Jameson centre, it doesn’t matter if you’re 9 or 91, as long as you love the game.
“I don’t think anyone here gets hung up on the score, there are no big prizes, and there’s no great expense [to play],” Reid said.
Ladysmith got its first taste of pickleball about a year ago thanks to the efforts of Jill Easterbrook, who got things organized.
What started as a group of five to six players has expanded to a pool of 40 to 50 pickleballers.
“There’s been a phenomenal growth of the sport,” Bucchieri said.
Pickleball originated in 1965 in the state of Washington and was invented by a couple of notable Americans, including congressman Joel Pritchard. It’s trademark name came from Pritchard’s family dog, Pickle, who would often attempt to steal the ball during a game, Bucchieri explained.
Since then it has been a popular sport in many communal RV destinations in US states like Arizona. And that is precisely where Bucchieri learned about the sport six years ago.
“I came back to Ladysmith and no one knew what it was,” he recalled.
Alex Gendron, a Nanaimo resident, said the sport has become so popular in his area that he comes to Ladysmith at least three times a week to get in some court time.
“Here [in Ladysmith], we have about 25 or 30 people that are re-occurring players… and every day there’s a different group,” he said.
Gendron will represent the north Island Zone when he plays pickleball at the 2011 Seniors Games in Trail this August. He said he would like to see more promotion of the sport to younger players.
“It would be nice to bring it to recreation centres and schools and bring it to the young people so they can carry it on,” he said.
More pickleball enthusiasts are wanted, so if you haven’t already smacked your first pickleball you can give it a try at the Frank Jameson Community Centre Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10 a.m to 12 p.m. or Wednesdays and Thursdays from 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. The drop-in rate is $2.25.
