Getting Pickled
I am writing this story on Sunday night, knowing that it will publish on Wednesday morning. That timing is relevant since when most people read this, Kim and I will be off getting pickled. Couples in retirement have many different ways of operating. In general I think it is fair to say that most couples try to balance individual activities with couples activities. It’s really not good to operate like working couples who are ships passing in the night. As we all age we are usually less and less able to go out and about as much as we did when we were younger, so finding couples activities are important. However, I have noticed that there are some couples that seem joined at the hip and will not do anything unless it is together. I am not convinced that is really a good thing either. I feel that having individual activities is still a good thing and helps us appreciate our times together. I’m sure there are as many equations for this balance as there are couples and there is probably no right or wrong, but only what is right for each of us.
We also know that physical activity is or should be a part of everyone’s ongoing life. While there is still room for individual parameters, its hard to deny that for the most part, doing more is better than doing less. There is only minimal risk of any of us going after triathlons, so any ideas that bring physical activity to our days should be taken seriously and explored. It is for that reason that when I somehow hit upon the idea that we should explore pickle ball, that both Kim and I felt we needed to explore it. Pickle ball has been around for fifty years and it went from a backyard kid’s game to a game for older adults that couldn’t handle the tennis courts anymore, to now being both the new shuffleboard for retirees and the substitute competitive racquet sport that seems to have replaced racquetball, which seems to have all but disappeared.
Kim played some tennis in her younger days, especially when she lived in Pensacola for a year. I have a long and involved history with racquet sports. I learned to play tennis in Maine and during my freshman year at Hebron Academy, I started playing on the JV Tennis team until the prep school doctor told me that my ankles and knees couldn’t take the hard court pounding given that I was carrying a twenty-year-old’s bulk on a fourteen-year-old’s structure. I continued to play through high school and into college, where I spent two summers as the manager of the faculty tennis club in Cascadilla Gorge. Those were clay courts, so I got pretty proficient at maintaining clay courts and watching how older players got the better of younger players with tricky tactics like spins and chips rather than power. I then spent a decade playing a lot of squash, which I was better at than anyone suspected (I could move short distances faster than it seemed possible and I consider the “visual block” to have been a real strength in my play.). I had a brief flirtation with racquetball as well, but probably haven’t played any real racquet sports for twenty years. My excuse has been concern for my knees, which work fine for me, but may not be up to too much hard pounding all over again.
I have been hearing about pickle ball for a few years now, but have never been more than vaguely interested in it. Then, for some reason that changed last week. What took the idea over the top was when I Googled “pickle ball near me” and found that at the nearby Castle Creek golf course there is a pickle ball club with eight courts. When I looked at the website there wasn’t much commercial information though it was clear it was a membership club and they had three teaching professionals available. I sent in my contact information as suggested. A nice guy about my age and named Rck called me back the same day and told me all about the Castle Creek Pickle Ball Club. It seems the club is about half social and half competitive. I don’t recall tennis, squash or racquetball ever having obvious ratings on players (they surely existed, but just weren’t actively used like gold handicaps are). But pickle ball apparently is very serious about whether you are a 3.5, a 4.0 or, Heaven Help Us, a 5.0. I was very clear with Rick that we were interested in this as a social event where we would play together as a couple. He said, “Sure, I understand…but…” He was of the opinion that everyone would be like him and default sooner or later to being 75% competitive and 25% social in their play. While I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of going down the competitive path, that still feels more like the old me and not the new me. The new me likes doing things with Kim as a couple and prefers social sports to competitive sports…or at least I think that’s how I feel.
I think the one thing I should admit to in retirement is that anything is possible and that its best to wait and see what it all feels like. So, we will be taking a lesson with Rick’s wife on Wednesday. She has another couple exactly our ages that have only one hour on the court under their belt. She feels we will have a better lesson by virtue of starting off in a social couples session. So, we are jumping into the middle part of the pool as opposed to either wading into the shallow end or jumping into the deep end. Kim has two artificial knees that work great for her. I have never even had so much as an arthroscopic investigation of my knees even though I did traumatize the ACL on two occasions (30 and 25 years ago) and skied for fifteen years with a left knee brace. Those knees are on both of our minds. We went over to the courts to familiarize ourselves and to watch a few minute of a small tournament that was underway. I think I understand the attraction of the sport for older adults…I didn’t see that much physical movement required to get to the balls (at least not in doubles play).
And then there is the best part of all of this…pickle ball must be the cheapest sport to play since basketball. This club allows anyone to play for $5/session. That’s it. A membership costs $100/6-months of unlimited play. It doesn’t get much cheaper than that. Paddles cost $60-$200 apiece depending on how fancy you want to get. If we find we like pickle ball, I imagine we will buy four racquets to keep should any guests want to go over for a game. We might become the pickle ball pied pipers for all our friends and family for all I know. I’m sure there are others who are interested in pickle ball like I was and will welcome the chance to explore it and either discover a new sport or take it off the table. Someone has already suggested that I’ll probably end up converting our games area to a pickle ball court. If I were ten years younger I would be more confident in that idea, but if we are joining this for the social engagement, reverting to private play seems antithetical. I can imagine us playing pickle ball until its time for us to get properly pickled. We’ll see on Wednesday if we’re feeling the pickle.