Pickleball has a ridiculous name and lots of rules. But it’s addictive

One of the fastest-growing sports in the country, and by far the fastest-growing sport in the US, has the most ridiculous of names. You’d really have to wonder who came up with it and why.

Pickleball.

It does, indeed, involve a ball. It does not, to my knowledge, involve a pickle.

It’s not just the name that elicits an exasperated response. It’s also the sound of this sport being played, due to the noise of the plastic ball ricocheting off the plastic bats. Even John McEnroe has got in on the act, calling the sport “stupid” for this very reason.

Mind you, as was pointed out to McEnroe immediately afterwards, he has played pickleball himself, to which the former Wimbledon champion, not particularly renowned for his reticence and shyness, replied that “they paid me more money for that than I got paid for tennis”.

Which pretty much put paid to the conversation.

But let’s start by stating the obvious. Pickleball is not padel. Padel, for the most part, is a first cousin of squash and is played in an enclosed court where the sides are an integral part of the game.

Pickleball, for the most part, is a first cousin of tennis and is generally played on an indoor court where the net is an integral part of the game.

I can’t speak for padel but pickleball is taking over the country. I should know. I’m playing a beginners version in a sports hall down the road on Thursday evenings. It started off with five of us but there have been nights when we moved into double figures.

[ Tennis vs pickleball: Which is better for your health?Opens in new window ]

Pickleball is a serious sport, as in there are rules. Lots of rules. I don’t know most of them, to be honest. George, our ever patient coach, says not to get bogged down in the ins and outs of this and that. Wisely, he tells us that he’ll keep us informed as we go along. But I am pleased to announce that I have eventually come to terms with the scoring system and that only took three sessions. Or was that four?

And then there’s the terminology. Let’s take “kitchen”, for example. That’s the piece of real estate nearest the net on both sides. You can’t volley in the kitchen. It is a criminal offence. As to why it is known as the “kitchen”, I would refer you back to the name of the game.

Pickleball has been on my radar for a long time now. An American friend who comes over every year was an early convert and spoke with great passion about the game as long as 10 or 15 years ago. She even managed to source pickleball groups here in Dublin along the way. She is now taken up with coaching and administering the game full-time at a local sports club in Ohio.

I haven’t played my friend in pickleball and have no plans to do so. Pickleball is a mainly doubles sport, but unlike tennis, where in a doubles encounter it’s entirely possible to avoid the ball completely during a game, there is nowhere to “hide” in pickleball. It’s a smaller court, tighter and net-based and all four players are exposed. Very exposed. Played right, pickleball is a serious workout. So I’ve been told anyway, and I have no doubt that my buddy would wipe the court with me.

What I also know for sure is that pickleball is addictive. It’s fast and fun and frustrating, the key ingredients of all successful sports. It’s also relatively safe, from an injury point of view.

Relatively.

In tennis, the force of the ball on the racket, again and again, can migrate into the arm and particularly affect the joints. Injuries are commonplace in tennis clubs. So many sore elbows. So many sore shoulders.

[ Pickleball: ‘It’s a great game, you get exercise and it’s fun’Opens in new window ]

Pickleball doesn’t have this effect. The racket and the ball are lighter. Much lighter. But that’s not to say injuries don’t happen. According to our coach, they most often occur when a player is facing forwards, while stepping backwards, all in an attempt to reach an overhead ball. “Leave it,” George advised. He’d seen too many slips and falls over the years resulting in broken ankles and twisted knees.

“You’ve lost the point”, he concluded matter-of-factly, “just accept it”.

I’m happy to forgo stepping backwards. I’m still at the stage of forgetting to step forwards. I tend to stay put at the back of the court, with great gaps all around for my opponents to exploit. But I’m getting there. Slowly. Very slowly.

Roll on Thursday evenings.