If playing pickleball is considered playing sports, then I can actually draw on my own personal experience for this part 2 post. I didn’t play sports when I was young – Title IX was passed the year after I graduated
from high school. As young adults, my husband and I played a lot of volleyball with friends. But that was it until I took up golf about 20 years ago playing with girlfriends on weekends for a few years and then sporadically after that.
I played my first pickleball game in April when visiting friends in Florida. They had gotten into it a few months earlier and said I had to try it. They are addicted and play almost every day. Now I’m getting addicted and meeting people who play whether at the YMCA we recently joined or in the townhouse community we live in. And my husband even tried it this past weekend and liked it. That opens the potential for us to find other couples who play. A good thing!
Unlike the “bottom of the 9th” pressure that I described in the post, “What can we learn from sports?”, back in 2018 after seeing a couple of Red Sox games, pickleball is about having fun and trying to get better each time. It has become a popular sport for all ages in recent years.
From my pickleball playing friends, I’ve been told we’re there to have fun. I’ve been told you never have to say that you are sorry when you miss the ball or have a bad serve. The regulars I play with at the YMCA who are quite good are incredibly reinforcing and affirming when I do something well and give me tips and advice as we play. Two of the best ones played elsewhere recently with people who were so competitive it shook their confidence. That’s unfortunate. So far everyone I’ve met playing pickleball has been nice and just there to have fun.
For people my age, it’s also about not falling. That’s my mantra – don’t fall. Everyone I play with and have learned from says don’t back up, that’s when you fall. I also tell myself, don’t get so competitive that I hustle in ways I shouldn’t and end up falling. Not sure what happened, but I did fall on Sunday when I was playing. I backed up a bit to hit a low ball and lost my balance, stumbling backwards and landing on my bum against the fence surrounding the court. People were at my side immediately checking if I was ok. I was. I got right back up and kept playing. When I got home few hours later though I realized I had bruises on both forearms and a sore thigh. Could be worse.
Here’s the tech connection in this post. While I was still down from the fall and catching my breath, I got a notification on my Apple Watch (Series 7) from the SOS app saying, “it looks like you fell”. I had to respond whether I was ok or not and if emergency help should be called. I responded that I was ok, and no help needed. I was glad that app worked!!! Who knows next time? My fellow players were impressed with the app. Since we are probably all in our 60’s if not older, everyone thought the app was a good thing. I hope it’s the last time I need to use that particular app!
At my age, sports should be fun and not injury prone. A little healthy competition is fine. Probably why so many people golf at this age. Hope to pick that up again next summer after many years of letting my golf clubs collect dust in our garage. So, what am I learning from pickleball besides how to play and do a little better each game? Playing sports is fun, social, a good workout, collaborative, and safe. Nothing wrong with all of that! As I watch and encourage my granddaughters and grandson playing a range of team sports, I’ll emphasize the fun, collaborative, and safe aspects along with the healthy competition that will drive them to continually improve.
Back on the Red Sox reference, two more takeaways I should have included in that earlier blog post – there are many people behind the scenes making it work that deserve credit, and sports fans love to be entertained. We went to a Red Sox game this week that had a rain delay in the third inning – the teamwork of the crew that covers the infield with tarp is amazing and the extended “dance cam” of random fans to distract them during the delay was hysterical. The 3-1 Red Sox win a few hours later was icing on the cake!
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