Saturday, March 28, 2009

New sport, Pickleball, winning enthusiasts

Clara Garcia News-Bulletin Staff Writer; cgarcia@news-bulletin.com

Belen If you have not yet heard of pickleball, it is about time that you do.

This paddle game has interested many people for more than 30 years now and is played very much like tennis or badminton. In fact, some people refer to pickleball as mini-tennis.

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Even the pickleball court is designed to look similar to a badminton or tennis court. But what makes the sport different from badminton or tennis is that, instead of using a racket, you use a wooden paddle — a bit larger than that of a ping-pong paddle — to toss the ball back and forth with.

While the sport is more than 30 years old, it's found a small but enthusiastic fallowing among a group of women who play pickleball at the Belen Recreation Center. With paddles in hand, the seven or so women look forward to playing the game every Monday and Friday morning.

"It's a great way to get exercise and to have fun," said Helga Woerner, the team's instructor. "Everyone enjoys themselves, and we hope that more people will join.

"Once you get used to it and you come to play, you get hooked on it --you get addicted to it. You just want to play all the time."

Woerner introduced pickleball to Belen in December after moving here from Florida nearly two years ago. She says she became interested in the sport while living in a retirement community, and her passion for the sport became so intense that she made the decision to become certified as an instructor.

"We lived in The Villages in Florida, about 60 miles north of Orlando, and there, it took over like wildfire," Woerner said. "They even built us courts outside, and we played every day. From there, I brought it here because nobody played it here."

Woerner said pickleball is a sport that is not only great for physical exercise, but also for mental exercise as well. Pickleball is a game where players have to pay total attention to what they're doing and to the point system.

Since introducing pickleball to Belen seniors, the number of team members has increased somewhat to the point that Woerner has had to utilize a second net. Because the sport is new to Belen and to the recreation center, Woerner said they've put down tape on the gym floor to mark out the court.

"But the (recreation) center said they're getting estimates to see how much it would cost to put down actual striping on the floor for two courts for us," Woerner said.

The game of pickleball was invented in 1965 in the backyard of U.S. Rep. Joel Prichard (R-Wash.). That summer, Prichard and his two friends, William Berry and Barney McCallum and their families, improvised a game on the badminton court at Pritchard's Seattle-area home using sawed-off badminton rackets and a lightweight perforated plastic ball to replace their damaged equipment.

During the leisurely games, Pritchard's cocker spaniel, Pickles, enjoyed running off with the loose balls, which inspired the name for the new sport. Several years later, the three men formed Pickleball Inc.

While pickleball may look a lot like tennis or badminton, it's not. It's its own sport, with its own rules and regulations. A pickleball court is the same size as a conventional badminton doubles court, with a 3-foot-high net. The ball is a whiffle-type ball and the paddle is an oversized ping-pong paddle

Woerner said both singles and doubles teams can play pickleball, and that while the game is popular among senior citizens, it's a game that can be played and enjoyed in any age group.

A game is played to 11 points and must be won by two points. After a serve, the receiving team must let the ball bounce before returning it. The serving team must let the return of the serve bounce before playing.

Faults include hitting the ball out of bounds, not clearing the net and stepping into the "non-volley zone" on each side of the net, much like tennis.

"It's just a lot of fun," Woerner said. "We're actually practicing and will hopefully compete in next year's Senior Olympics games. We won't make it this year, but we need to train and get used to it and get there mentally."

Even though Woerner is trying to form a Senior Olympics team, she hopes that people of all ages will get involved and come out to play. She says she's in the process of trying to schedule a Saturday morning time so that people who work can participate on the weekends.

Mary Jane Schuler of Rio Communities is one of those who have been playing since December at the Belen Recreation Center. As a member of the Belen Senior Center and an avid line dancer and golfer, she thought that picking up a new hobby would be an adventure.

"I never played tennis, and during my younger days, I worked all the time and never really got into sports," Schuler said. "I do a lot of exercise — a lot of different types — so that's why this appealed to me."

Schuler said after learning the rules of pickleball and how to control the ball, she was hooked on the game.

"It's addictive," she said. "It's just another form of exercise. I'm here almost every time. People should come out and try it. It takes practice, and you have to be committed."

Schuler said like any sport, pickleball is competitive, but everyone who participates has a good time.

She said she's made several friends while learning the sport.

"I'd like this to take off all over — not only here, but to play it in high school and even on the city courts," Woerner said of the sport in Valencia County. "It's just a great sport, and I hope more people get involved and join."

A pickleball tournament has been scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, April 11, at the Belen Recreation Center. For more information, call the center at 864-2830.

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