One of the Best Things About Pickleball
One of the things I like about the sport of pickleball is that players are very welcoming to new participants. I remember the first time I walked by a gym where they were playing the sport. I paused to watch and someone immediately came over and asked if I wanted to play. So, I hit the ball a few times with the paddle to see what it was like and could have played a game but I had somewhere else to be.
Flash forward a couple of years, and now I'm the one inviting others to play as they come to the courts for the first time. In the past couple of weeks, I've played with a woman who had no sports background prior to pickleball and had just picked up a paddle the previous day. We had fun on the court and I was very surprised she had not played other sports as she had very good hand-eye coordination and could keep the ball in play. The next day I played with two men in their 20s who were trying the sport for the very first time. They were exceptionally quick and fun to play with because they could get to almost everything. Then, over the weekend, I played with a gentleman who had a tennis background and while it was his first week enjoying pickleball, he was definitely learning a lot about the differences between the two sports.
While I still believe pickleball is very welcoming to new participants, I see certain groups of experienced players not wanting to play with each other. And the interesting thing about this is that it is often the less skilled players who don't want to play with the better ones. In fact, this morning eight of us were playing and one person was waiting. We finished a very competitive game and then invited the waiting player to join us. She declined saying she would wait as the people she normally played with had not yet arrived. But, she is a strong player and very fun to play with so I'm not sure why she declined. I think the point is she showed up. She wants to play. So why not join us?
