Can You Play Pickleball in the Rain?

With the COVID-19 pandemic, we've all had to get creative in finding places to play pickleball. I've seen many videos of people shoveling snow to clear the outdoor courts and playing pickleball on outdoor ice rinks. Yet, when I recently interviewed Cindy McCall from Dayton, NV on the Pickleball Fire podcast, she's the first person I heard about that plays pickleball in the rain.

Cindy travels the West Coast in her RV and spends quite a bit of time in Oregon where it rains a lot. So, the rule when playing in the rain is not to run. This means, you need to take your time getting to the kitchen line. For most players this can be done with two to three large steps. Again, remember not to run!

On an interesting side note, I interviewed professional player Sarah Ansboury a few weeks ago. We were talking about how to improve your movement on the court. And do you know what advice she gave? She said to walk through an entire game. The reason for this is because it helps you to work on your forward movement. Walking helps you keep control of your movement and allows you to accelerate if necessary. Again, walk faster to accelerate but don't run. I tried doing this last weekend in one of my first matches after not playing doubles for a year (and very little singles). It was a great feeling as I didn't feel rushed and I was on balance to hit my shots.

 So, what's the game like when you don't run? It means two things. You hit more balls in the transition zone. While at first this may not be comfortable because you are farther away from the net, you will get the hang of it. You will also hit lots of dinks from the kitchen line so just think of this as a time to practice the soft game.