PICKLEBALL

[HoneyBunny & Mouse]

We noticed that some of the activities include pickleball. What is pickleball and how is it played? ???

[tkret]

We noticed that some of the activities include pickleball. What is pickleball and how is it played? ???


Pickleball is GREAT! I had the pleasure of learning to play the game in Arizona prior to the sale of my house. I CANNOT wait until I get to TV and start playing it again. It's a fast game and excellent for Seniors to keep their hand/eye coordination in tip-top shape. Go to the following website and read all about it. The website has videos of the game, too.

http://www.usapa.org/

Which reminds me.... I'll be in TV next Friday thru Tuesday (12 thru 16). Jojo has graciously agreed to play tennis with me on Saturday but I would surely love to do pickleball on any of the other days (afternoon/evening). Anyone available to torture this Villages Wannabee during my visit? Thank you.

[Cassie325]

I thought I read somewhere that there were classes being held for new players....anyone know anything about that?

[ojm]

Classes are held at many of the rec centers multiple times during the week. I had my first lesson last week. Times are listed in the Recreation News flyer that comes out every week. I'm told that Pickle Ball was named for the dog that retrieved the wiffle ball used by the players who came up with this tennis variation. The name is silly, but the game is great. Call it paddle tennis and it makes a lot more sense.

[jeffy]

Pickleball is one of the most popular games in TV. If I were to describe it in one word it would be ADDICTIVE. I have played racket sports all my life , but pretty much only play pickleball here. Most rec centers have courts. And most courts are very busy from 7:30 am to 9:30 am.

If you want to learn about pickleball go to the usapa web site. There are many videos there showing it played along with a recent spot on Good Morning America.

If you want to learn to play, see the schedule in the thursday rec news. There are three levels of free lessons. The first is Beginner Lesson. Then there is Beginner Structured Play, and finally Beginner Organized Play. You must preregister for the first two. You are taught rules , scoring, strategy, etc. The villages has developed these programs to make your integration into the sport very seamless. After going thru these steps you should be able to step out on the courts by yourself and play with the "regulars".

There are leagues that will be signing up next week for beginner, int, and advanced. To try and explain how popular this sport is , the leagues start sign up at 8:30 am, but you can arrive at 7:00am and get a number :o to try and secure your spot at the 8:30 sign up.

There are many more pickleball courts than tennis courts in tv . And I would estimate that there are 30 to 50 pickleball players for every one tennis player.

For anyone moving into the villages or visiting, I teach beginner structured play at Truman rec center on Friday mornings from 9:00 to 10:30 the first and third fridays. We will be going back to our regular non summer schedule probably next month which is every friday 10:00 to 11:30. We had 24 new students last friday at my class . Come join us for fun and say hi.

jeffy

[ojm]

As I said to my instructor last week, had this game existed when I first started playing tennis, I never would have bothered with tennis. This is much more fun, with a little less stress on the body. It is easy to take a hard flop on the court if you get a little overwought in trying to get the ball. Which means I'm in trouble.

[The Great Fumar]

Its tennis with a whiffle ball and a smaller court................Rec dept. says its the number one sport in the villages.........

great fun fumar