Ever heard of pickleball? There’s nothing sour about this sport that combines elements of racquetball, tennis, ping pong and badminton. It’s played with wooden paddles used to bat back and forth a small plastic ball with holes in it. Think wiffle ball. There are four players, two on each side of a 20×44-ft. court with a net in the center hung at 34-36 inches.
The game is gaining more fans daily.
“Pickleball is one of our most popular activities at the Community Center,” Activities Director Cat Luna said. “We really appreciate our members who contribute to the growth of the sport and are willing to share their knowledge. The sport is currently the fastest growing sport in the U.S.”
Luna said it is a really good fit for the ES Community Center.
“We have families coming in and playing, and we are happy to host and provide everything necessary to play and learn pickleball,” she said. “This sport is fun, easy to learn, and can be tailored to experience and fitness levels very easily, as it is both a low impact and aerobic sport.”
Connie Deaton, a retired RN/EMT who was a volunteer with the Holiday Island Fire Department for 35 years, plays pickleball eight to ten hours a week. “It’s addicting,” Deaton, who has been playing for 10 years said. “If someone calls I will always go and play because I can always come back and do my chores. I like the competition and the camaraderie and exercise. I just like everything about it. It’s fast-moving thing, not a slow sport. You get exercise without feeling like you are working. You are competitive with yourself and always trying to do your best. It’s not for everybody, but it’s for me.
“The socialization is good. I play outside in the summer. I play at the Holiday Island court by the swimming pool. They play three times a week and would like more people, because just like at the Community Center, the more you play, the better you get. If you play the same place and people all the time, you know how they play. You learn to be adaptable with your game and your game gets much better.”
“Connie takes no prisoners,” says one pickleball player murmured.
Deaton admits she’s very competitive. “I just want to win and want to do my best. There’s lots of strategy, that’s another reason I like it. It challenges your brain as well as your body. If you do a really good shot, you get a rush. If you know they couldn’t have returned the ball, you feel good. If you come from behind and win the game, that’s a good deal. I’m an adrenaline junkie.”
She also plays in Cassville, Golden, and Branson, Mo. This is one sport where women can compete with men because it isn’t so much brawn as agility and strategy.
“If you do tournament play, you have mixed doubles, men only and women only,” Deaton said. “There are all kinds of options. If you really want to watch how to play, you can watch YouTube videos on pickleball all day long.”
She said if you’ve played racquetball, pickleball is easy to pick up. Tennis players have trouble with underhand serve, but a lot of them transition, particularly if they have age or injuries that make it difficult to do overhead serves.
Deaton said people in Eureka Springs are lucky the Community Center has paddles and balls for free use.
“Not many places do that,” she said. “And they set up the nets. Some places I play, we have to set up and take down the nets.”
Another local pickleball fan is Robert Caldwell, who often plays with his wife, Carmen. Both are retired from the lodging business.
“Now we have more free time to do this kind of stuff,” Caldwell said. “We went to the grand opening of the Community Center and saw their schedule. We had never played before that. We thought we would give it a try. We’ve started going once or twice a week, and it’s fun! I’m pretty active anyhow, I mountain bike, but pickleball is something Carmen and I can do together. I used to play tennis and it is in a way related to tennis. I used to play a lot, so, I had some old tennis skill going into this.”
Caldwell said you move your body in different ways, and sometimes have to lurch to return a ball that is barely reachable.
“I have pulled a few muscles here and there,” Caldwell, who has been playing for only a few months, said. “I think maybe the better you get, the safer it is to play. These people who are really good know strategy and can return the ball without seeming like a lot of effort. But us beginners are flailing all over the place.
Games are open to anyone who shows up on Mondays and Wednesday at 5 p.m. and Saturdays starting at 10:30 a.m. Participants can borrow paddles and balls from the Community Center, so there is no investment other than the Community Center Membership ($20/family), which comes with a free t-shirt.
Where do you play in Golden and Cassville.