An activity in which you get a bit of exercise, improve hand / eye coordination, and have a great many laughs.

At first i thought such an activity was a little beneath me. I can be a bit arrogant about things. But as with many enjoyable things in life, if you just give yourself over to it, remarkable things begin to happen.

You believe that since you played some sport 30 years ago, this will be piece of cake.

You believe that because the court is only 20’ ft wide, and you only need to cover your 10’ section, that it will be a piece of cake.

You believe that your memory is great until you try and remember the score.

There’s more, you have to bend over a lot , to pick up the ball. Torture.

It is mostly played as a team sport … you and a partner … enough said.

Boys are still aggressive, even though it really hurts their arm’s, elbow’s, shoulder’s or knees, (enough about me).

What is truly surprising is the aggressive play of the women, they love to hit you with the ball !

All good jokes aside, the game is simple, stupid fun. Everyone misses the ball now and then; the net is short and everyone is always hitting right into it. There is a fair amount of trash talking, age is no barrier. The weapons, or the paddles, are fairly high tech but only cost a pittance compared to golf, or boats and definitely cheaper than horses and old man corvettes. Some stereotypes are true.

There are public courts everywhere and more being built. Cheap, Cheap hobby, no country club, no docks, no stalls. You get to wear the old shorts you paint in, t shirts, any pair of sneakers will do ! Such freedom from pompous attire.

You will usually last around 2 hours, you’re outside, you are moving and loosening that body of yours. You get pretty good, pretty fast, then you have to learn how to dink better. No, not Drink, but dink. That’s hard, but it is a challenge, and challenge is good for you.

I like to play 4x per week, thats all my body really allows, SK can go 6 days a week and then play golf after. I like to nap.

To learn, go play. If your hand / eye coordination isn’t that great, it will be a longer learning curve. Youtube “Pickleball”. You’ll be happy you did.