Pickleball, says Erin McHugh, who gave a talk on the popular paddle sport at BookHampton not long ago, “takes a minute to learn and a lifetime to master.”
It was not, she said during an email exchange last week, a game for bangers, but a game that, contrariwise, favors strategy and finesse.
“Because pickleball has brought many ex-tennis players into the fold, you’ll find folks who think driving a hard ball and smashing it around the court is the name of the game: It’s not. There’s always a place for a big putaway shot, sure, but if you play in a tournament, you’ll see every single player there has a short, strategic game. Placement over power will always prevail.”
As a kid she had played tennis, said the writer, whose book “Pickleball Is Life” can be found on BookHampton’s checkout counter, after which there was a long hiatus. “When I moved back to my hometown [South Dartmouth, Mass.] after 40 years living in New York City, I was invited to play in a pickleball game. Like most people at that time, I hadn’t heard of it. I played and was hooked.”
To such a degree that when she was forced to the sidelines after breaking her left hand, which necessitated a cast for 10 weeks, she taught herself to play righty — “a fascinating brain experience. As soon as the cast came off, I was back to playing left-handed, but I like to think the switch made me a little more thoughtful when it comes to each stroke.”
The good news was that breaking her hand enabled her, she said, “to sit down and write about my new obsession.”
“Pickleball is accessible to most everyone. I teach financially challenged fifth-through-eighth-grade girls in New Bedford, and they love it — they’ve picked it up fast. I also play with someone who is 92, and with people of all ages in between. Remember, the three dads in the State of Washington who invented the game did so for their children. . . . It’s inclusive, extremely social, and friendly, and there are lots and lots of laughs. What could be better? It’s no wonder I say pickleball is life.”
And, as in civilized society, there are rules: Servers, for instance, are required to call out the score before serving — underhanded, with both feet behind the baseline — which is to say, they’re to announce their team’s score, the opposing team’s score, and whether they are their team’s first or second server. Some of those new to the game might find the three-number sequence a little tricky at the beginning, but “it will get easier,” McHugh assured. Her book has the details, beginning on page 35.
Teams are to move toward the net once the ball bounces twice, on the serve and on the return, I was told by Juan Carlos Blando, East Hampton Indoor Tennis’s chief pickleball pro, during a lesson this week, but the seven-foot deep “kitchen” on either side of the net into which one cannot step unless the ball bounces within it helps to keep zealous volleyers at bay. Finesse, not power, as McHugh says, is the name of the game.
McHugh said she was aware of the noise complaints that have been lodged here and elsewhere — New York City’s Parks Department peremptorily banned the game at a city playground in the West Village, though in Provincetown, Mass., she said, those living near town courts and pickleball enthusiasts convened at a town meeting and agreed to limit the hours and locations of play.
“This is all new,” she said, “though suffice to say there are ways to keep everyone happy.”