A Good News Story

Something happened to me yesterday that I would like to share with you.

I run lessons and structured play for beginners on Thursdays at 3:00. I arrived at the courts yesterday not knowing whether we would have any new players or not. I had three new people who were interested in finding out about the game. Two residents brought their grand children along to see if it would be possible for them to join in. They said that their grand son had learned about the game in school. I thought for a second, observed that the kids were wearing appropriate footwear and said sure.

It turned out the young lad was in grade 7 in a middle school in the Chicago area and his sister was in elementary school. They were 10 and 12. The boy told me his teacher had taught pickleball in his physical education class in a school gymnasium using nets held with water ballasts.

One of the older players had just celebrated his 80th birthday, so I had a generation gap of seventy years between the oldest and the youngest player. To make a long story short, the lesson went extremely well. The kids helped the older people and the more experienced were amazed that kids were enjoying a game that they thought only old people played. This just proved to me that this is really a game to be enjoyed by all generations.

At the end, I ask the young lad to go back to his school next week and tell his teacher that he had actually played pickleball in Florida. I also told him to tell his teacher to keep up the good work. He got the biggest smile on his face. I told his sister to go home and teach her friends but she didn’t think they would find it as “cool” as she did.

I plan to invite residents of our community to bring their grand children who are visiting next year to take a lesson as long as the kids wear proper shoes and the grand parents or parents stay to watch. I feel that teaching children the correct rules of the game is better than have others teach them incorrectly. I want to stress court safety and court etiquette in particular. There is nothing worse than seeing children on the courts wearing flip flops and chasing a ball across a court of experinced players.

I congratulate teachers for introducing pickleball into their curriculum. I hope I supported that in some small way yesterday. These young players will continue the legacy of pickleball for many years to come.

Submitted by:
Wayne Roswell