It’s easy to understand the rise of pickleball
After retiring a decade ago from IBM, Jean Cable looked around for an activity that introduced new rewards into her schedule. She found pickleball. And vice versa. The experience was transformational and immersive. In time, she became one of the premier pickleball players in Longmont.
“I started learning and playing,” recalled Cable, 64, who lives outside of Longmont.
That’s an understatement. Her affection for the game, her natural physical moves, has rocketed her to the national level in women’s doubles. Cable’s matches have taken her to places like Arizona and Palm Springs, California.
So, what’s the big attraction over a game that’s vacuuming admirers as fast as Taylor Swift’s plane slurps jet fuel?
“It’s a sport you can quickly have fun at,” she emphasized. “The senior population in Longmont is really growing.” And, unlike tennis, “there’s not as much area to cover.”
Growing up in a large family in Kansas City, Missouri, Cable was always playing sports, usually racquetball. “I was never one to sit on my duff.” On one visit back home to see her sister, Cable was introduced to pickleball at the local senior center. She was hooked.
“Whenever I would go visit, we would play.” Overall, the game “is easy to play for most people.”
Working in tandem with the city, the Longmont Pickleball Club now has numerous spots where members can play. The list includes Hover Acres and Clark Centennial Parks. However, play at Willow Farm Park was banned, she said, after the city got a complaint about the noise.
“They took the complaint to heart. It was very disappointing, because there were four nets in the lockbox and four courts there.”
When I showed up one afternoon at the Longmont Recreation Center to watch those in the 55-plus group play doubles, I was greeted warmly. Looking around, I felt right at home, even though I had never picked up a pickleball paddle.
“I had three brothers who were very athletic, so I got it from them,” said Gretchen Cartwright. At 91, she’s thought to be the oldest player in Longmont. A standout in golf, tennis and table tennis, Cartwright bounced back from a surgery for a crushed disc in her back that could have left her “paralyzed.”
Another player, Tom Wiser, relishes the light-hearted camaraderie and competition. “You don’t need a huge amount of mobility to play it,” he assured me. “It’s a fun way to exercise.”
The nibbles of sideline conversations among players waiting their turn to shine were punctuated by bursts of affirming laughter. Standing at the intersection of fear and failure, I found Ira Litke. At 77, he embodies a beauty, a luminescence, that blankets the room with energy. Litke excels at taking newcomers under his wing and breathing confidence into them. It wasn’t beyond the realm of imagination that he could earn a coveted title: Longmont’s official ‘pickleball whisperer.’
“It’s a good idea to begin your lesson by hitting the ball against the wall,” began Litke, whose resume includes the ski school director at Eldora Mountain Resort and a retired mortgage banker. (I made a mental note that he’s my go-to advisor on both fronts.) I accepted.
Airballs. Are. Not. Pretty.
Three times I swung at the green ball; three times I missed. I thought about
Babe Ruth, who was famous for hitting and striking out. Armed with the confidence-building tactics woven into Litke’s DNA, I overcame my urge to quit. On my fourth attempt, I connected. I guess that was all I needed to graduate to the net. While I took a couple more orphan swings, I hung tight and finally made contact.
“Tennis is more demanding,” asserted my new coach. He didn’t hold a clipboard. There wasn’t a whistle hanging from his neck. “It takes years to develop those long, looping strokes.” Bowing to geographical and cultural milieu, he knew this was my first rodeo.
From his seat behind the counter at the Rec Center, Reid Maniscalco has become acquainted with the pickleballers who come and go.
“Ultramarathons. That’s my jam,” he declared, referring to any footrace longer than the traditional 26 miles 385 yards. How about tennis? “It can be very intimidating. If an opponent is good, it can leave a bad taste.” But that all changed. Recently, Maniscalco tried pickleball.
“I had a blast. It was very beginner-friendly and easy to learn. I’ll definitely do it again.”
As we wrapped up, I wondered aloud what pickleball could be compared to. Litke, the man for all seasons, read my mind.
“Pickleball is just like ping-pong,” he proclaimed. “Except you’re standing on the table.”