Anybody out there playing pickle?
What's your take on this game?
OK, so I'm a hypocrite about it. I'm on record here calling it ridiculous, and in some ways it is. And yet, you know what: you get a little older, your shoulder starts to fall apart, and then there are courts right down the street. You can't play tennis anymore because of the shoulder. So, what are you going to do? Well, in my case, you go out and buy a silly paddle and you start playing pickleball.
And ... I sort of have to admit that I am enjoying myself quite a bit.
I guess I am three weeks into playing (mostly singles but some doubles), coming from a pretty extensive tennis background.
Some initial observations:
1. However silly the game seems, it is basically a fine game in which skill, strategy and technique are rewarded and so it is as gratifying to play as any other competition, in that regard.
2. Singles is really very good exercise.
3. Doubles is plenty fun, but not great exercise at all except for the general point that you are on your feet moving around, but it sure is not cardio.
4. The barrier to entry really is pretty damn low and anyone who played even a little baseball or softball with any competency will immediately be fine. If you have played other racquet or paddle sports you'll be even better off. And even if you have some mobility issue that makes it so you are unlikely to go play basketball or whatever, you'd be fine in doubles.
5. Pickleball appears almost to be a game where someone thought that they wanted to create a tennis-like experience in which tennis players with superior technique, power, speed, etc. had a chance to lose to players weaker in all respects. For example, I've been playing with a friend of mine who is a former college tennis player, college coach and tennis club pro. When we played tennis at my peak, I'd be absolutely pumped to lose a set 6-3. I was resigned to regular bagels. We're about even in pickleball, entirely because all of his technique advantages are almost neutered by the rules, court dimensions and equipment, and I have a couple transferable athletic skills that seem to be helping me a bit.
5. OTOH, otherwise tennis players have an enormous advantage. In doubles, I've already been able to play just fine with the alleged 'best' player in the area, and it wasn't that my partner was carrying me. All four players were about the same (I thought) and even though I guess I was the weakest player in terms of some standard pickleball strategy, it doesn't matter much compared to the way playing years and years of tennis overwhelms whatever that imagined advantage might be in pickle-only experience. For example, the most important shot in pickleball is the volley which you have to do from 7 feet back. Tennis technique is gold here and yet there are some pretty accomplished picklers that still seem to be working it out.
6. On the other, other hand, there are some weird shots that simply have no tennis analogy and that tennis players -- like myself apparently -- get beaten by. For example, there are regular cross court 'dinks' that in tennis would be pretty terrible shots because: a. the ball would bounce too much b. the receiving player would have a racquet a foot longer to reach with c. the receiving player would probably attack quicker because in tennis you don't hesitate over a 'kitchen' before jumping forward and d. lacking a no volley zone, in tennis you can cut angles a bit more aggressively. But in pickleball, you get these really weird sequences where the shot strategy is just not mini-tennis.
7. I think probably the best background for coming to the game would be a tennis player with significant squash or racquetball and table tennis experience (because the stroke in pickleball is pretty compact, short and front loaded vs tennis). But again, the barrier to entry seems pretty low. If you can hit a wiffleball, you'll be ok. Currently, I've been playing singles vs. a committed table tennis player with six years of pickleball also. He's very hard to beat, but not impossible -- we're splitting games but I think I am working harder.
8. I have to admit that I am amazed at how little strain this is putting on my shoulder and elbow, both of which for tennis I'd have to ice like they were Bill Walton's legs in the 1980s.
9. I was a kid in the tennis golden age of the 1980s. I don't think tennis courts even in that era ever saw half the traffic local pickleball places are getting.
10. It is pretty funny that the game has caught on with old people because the hardest part of the game is my back strain from bending over to pick up the damn ball. Yes, I've seen the suction cups.
11. I'm not convinced the paddles really warrant the gear fetishism that is out there. Taking a look at what is happening with the marketing of paddles and it is just... wow. I mean the rules are designed to make the paddle not much better than a piece of plywood, on purpose!
12. Really hard core picklers are pretty touchy about the tennis comparison and how 'unique' and 'complicated' the game is in its own right. I don't know. It really is sort of just pickleball-is-to-tennis as wiffleball-is-to-baseball. And sort of to that point, I've played lots of tennis, table tennis, racquetball and now pickleball. I think tennis just has more going on than these other games, athletically, strategically and technically. But that may be to pickleball's gain not loss.
Some strategy issues I'm encountering:
1. In singles, I'm finding that the whole frame of mind for the sport is that the server is really at a disadvantage. It is return and volley not serve and volley.
2. Also in singles, serving hard up the middle is almost always the right decision because it is your only hope to mitigate the returner starting to work an angle. In doubles, serving out wide seems good though.
3. Especially in doubles, passing shots and lobs are really difficult because your margins are so small.
4. In both singles and doubles the game rewards being pretty conservative -- play to give your opponent little to work with more than going for winners early.
5. I am clearly making some strategic mistakes because the 'book' on some of the angles is just not intuitive to me yet.
I'll be interested in seeing what other people are doing with pickleball (and down the road, checking to see if my perspective changes).
What's your take on this game?
OK, so I'm a hypocrite about it. I'm on record here calling it ridiculous, and in some ways it is. And yet, you know what: you get a little older, your shoulder starts to fall apart, and then there are courts right down the street. You can't play tennis anymore because of the shoulder. So, what are you going to do? Well, in my case, you go out and buy a silly paddle and you start playing pickleball.
And ... I sort of have to admit that I am enjoying myself quite a bit.
I guess I am three weeks into playing (mostly singles but some doubles), coming from a pretty extensive tennis background.
Some initial observations:
1. However silly the game seems, it is basically a fine game in which skill, strategy and technique are rewarded and so it is as gratifying to play as any other competition, in that regard.
2. Singles is really very good exercise.
3. Doubles is plenty fun, but not great exercise at all except for the general point that you are on your feet moving around, but it sure is not cardio.
4. The barrier to entry really is pretty damn low and anyone who played even a little baseball or softball with any competency will immediately be fine. If you have played other racquet or paddle sports you'll be even better off. And even if you have some mobility issue that makes it so you are unlikely to go play basketball or whatever, you'd be fine in doubles.
5. Pickleball appears almost to be a game where someone thought that they wanted to create a tennis-like experience in which tennis players with superior technique, power, speed, etc. had a chance to lose to players weaker in all respects. For example, I've been playing with a friend of mine who is a former college tennis player, college coach and tennis club pro. When we played tennis at my peak, I'd be absolutely pumped to lose a set 6-3. I was resigned to regular bagels. We're about even in pickleball, entirely because all of his technique advantages are almost neutered by the rules, court dimensions and equipment, and I have a couple transferable athletic skills that seem to be helping me a bit.
5. OTOH, otherwise tennis players have an enormous advantage. In doubles, I've already been able to play just fine with the alleged 'best' player in the area, and it wasn't that my partner was carrying me. All four players were about the same (I thought) and even though I guess I was the weakest player in terms of some standard pickleball strategy, it doesn't matter much compared to the way playing years and years of tennis overwhelms whatever that imagined advantage might be in pickle-only experience. For example, the most important shot in pickleball is the volley which you have to do from 7 feet back. Tennis technique is gold here and yet there are some pretty accomplished picklers that still seem to be working it out.
6. On the other, other hand, there are some weird shots that simply have no tennis analogy and that tennis players -- like myself apparently -- get beaten by. For example, there are regular cross court 'dinks' that in tennis would be pretty terrible shots because: a. the ball would bounce too much b. the receiving player would have a racquet a foot longer to reach with c. the receiving player would probably attack quicker because in tennis you don't hesitate over a 'kitchen' before jumping forward and d. lacking a no volley zone, in tennis you can cut angles a bit more aggressively. But in pickleball, you get these really weird sequences where the shot strategy is just not mini-tennis.
7. I think probably the best background for coming to the game would be a tennis player with significant squash or racquetball and table tennis experience (because the stroke in pickleball is pretty compact, short and front loaded vs tennis). But again, the barrier to entry seems pretty low. If you can hit a wiffleball, you'll be ok. Currently, I've been playing singles vs. a committed table tennis player with six years of pickleball also. He's very hard to beat, but not impossible -- we're splitting games but I think I am working harder.
8. I have to admit that I am amazed at how little strain this is putting on my shoulder and elbow, both of which for tennis I'd have to ice like they were Bill Walton's legs in the 1980s.
9. I was a kid in the tennis golden age of the 1980s. I don't think tennis courts even in that era ever saw half the traffic local pickleball places are getting.
10. It is pretty funny that the game has caught on with old people because the hardest part of the game is my back strain from bending over to pick up the damn ball. Yes, I've seen the suction cups.
11. I'm not convinced the paddles really warrant the gear fetishism that is out there. Taking a look at what is happening with the marketing of paddles and it is just... wow. I mean the rules are designed to make the paddle not much better than a piece of plywood, on purpose!
12. Really hard core picklers are pretty touchy about the tennis comparison and how 'unique' and 'complicated' the game is in its own right. I don't know. It really is sort of just pickleball-is-to-tennis as wiffleball-is-to-baseball. And sort of to that point, I've played lots of tennis, table tennis, racquetball and now pickleball. I think tennis just has more going on than these other games, athletically, strategically and technically. But that may be to pickleball's gain not loss.
Some strategy issues I'm encountering:
1. In singles, I'm finding that the whole frame of mind for the sport is that the server is really at a disadvantage. It is return and volley not serve and volley.
2. Also in singles, serving hard up the middle is almost always the right decision because it is your only hope to mitigate the returner starting to work an angle. In doubles, serving out wide seems good though.
3. Especially in doubles, passing shots and lobs are really difficult because your margins are so small.
4. In both singles and doubles the game rewards being pretty conservative -- play to give your opponent little to work with more than going for winners early.
5. I am clearly making some strategic mistakes because the 'book' on some of the angles is just not intuitive to me yet.
I'll be interested in seeing what other people are doing with pickleball (and down the road, checking to see if my perspective changes).
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good luck!