On 1st time playing pickleball, I just scratched the surface
BEND, ORE.
At long last, I gave America’s fastest-growing sport a try.
I struggled to keep track of whose turn it was to serve, make contact with the ball and hit it within bounds. But I left my first practice feeling fatigued and inspired to improve my game.
My brain couldn’t seem to decide if I was swinging a badminton racket or a ping-pong paddle.
As I ran up the court to return the ball with an underhand swing, I’d often underestimate how short my paddle was and swing full force at the air. Then, once I mastered making contact with the ball, I consistently swung too hard, popping the ball way too high and out of bounds.
Fortunately, my teammates were nothing but patient, in part because they were learning the game themselves. It was the blind leading the blind as my husband, parents and I played our first-ever pickleball game on the indoor courts of Pickleball Zone in Bend.
Thankfully, the nets between each court were nearly all-encompassing, keeping our wayward shots (mostly mine) from interfering with the games taking place next to us.
As the game played out, I was relieved to have chosen a onehour reservation rather than a two-hour reservation. Not only was the longer reservation almost double the price, but as with any new sport, it helped to ease into things. Early on in the game, I found myself checking the clock, calculating how much time we had left.
Before stepping onto the court, my family and I had brushed up on the rules of pickleball with a Youtube video on “Pickleball Basics,” posted by the Deschutes Public Library three years ago.
We learned about the 7-foot non-volley zone on either side of the net, also known as the kitchen. There are a lot of rules surrounding the kitchen. A player cannot hit a ball out of the air from this zone, nor can they step into it while volleying a ball.
Yet professional players play much of the game near the line that designates the kitchen.
Throughout our first foray with the sport, my teammates and I played mostly from the outer reaches of the court, meaning we’d have to hastily run back and forth, adjusting for shorter and longer serves.
On my first attempt, I scratched only the surface of the game. Some in-person instruction would be most welcome.