Pickleball is life. Or is it? We want to hear your stories about the game
By Steven V. Dubin
What? Pickleball? This could be your next sport.
Isn’t that like shuffleboard? Or bingo?
Yes, I was a tennis snob for a long time. Until my knees, shoulders and hips begged me to reconsider.
Then I really needed a new way to whack a ball without putting so much stress on my joints.
I stepped over to the dark side.
Key rules. First, never hit an overhead into someone’s genitals.
Second, once you play pickleball, never stop talking about pickleball. Regardless of the body language or verbal cues of your audience. Yammer on!
Third, never leave a newbie behind. Everyone gets to play and is welcome. The 85-year old with two knee braces, the 20-something who just loves the idea of wearing a sweatband and vibrant colored sneakers, and the neighborhood kid with a plywood paddle.
Sure, you may not want to spend the whole afternoon with these people, but you welcome them in for a game or two and keep rotating through.
Put your paddles up on the rack and take your chances. A single game typically lasts 15 minutes or so. You don’t get too attached, frustrated or serious.
In one session, I typically play for 1-2 hours, I meet just enough people so that I have no chance of remembering their names.
I’ll admit it. At first I’d go home and ad their first names to a spreadsheet and add a quick description – “Guy with two different-colored eyes and screams when he hits the ball.” Or “Gal with an aqua blue, floppy sombrero and matching wrist bracelets.”
There are more than 900 people on my Plymouth Forges Field/TeamReach pickleball app. And that’s only one of the groups I belong to.
That’s a lot of names to remember. A lot of levels of athleticism. A lot of humanity.
It’s like that Forest Gump quote, “It’s like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get.”
In future articles perhaps we will explore other critical pickleball topics – nicknames (earned and self-assigned), doubles partners (friend or foe), etiquette (don’t do as I do), gear (does the paddle make the player?), in or out (line calls that define you) and more.
Your pickleball stories? Please share them. And remember, they don’t have to be interesting, humorous or relevant. That is the beauty of pickleball. I look forward to hearing from you! Please email me at SDubin@PRWorkZone.com.
Steven V. Dubin is the founder of PR Works, a lightly used public relations firm based in Plymouth which helps small to mid-sized nonprofit organizations and for-profit companies navigate the overwhelming options of advertising. Steve lives in Plymouth with his wife, Wendy. He is a contributing author to “Get Slightly Famous” and “Tricks of the Trade,” the complete guide to succeeding in the advice business. He recently authored “PR 101,” an E-book.
