Pickleball is a rising sport among many different age groups, including high school students. This new sport is a great way to stay active while making new friends and spending time outdoors.
Pickleball is a racquet sport similar to tennis; however, it is played on a smaller court with different rules. It is played on a court almost half the size of a tennis court, and an example of a difference in rules is that you can only score points when your side is serving. An additional difference is the type of racquet. While tennis uses a heavier racquet with strings, pickleball uses a lighter paddle.
There are many different benefits to playing pickleball. It can help burn calories, improve blood pressure, enhance heart health, and lower cholesterol. However, some benefits, like making new friends and building confidence, don’t directly affect your physical health. Pickleball can provide you with a community full of like-minded people.
Learning a new sport can be very daunting, which is one of the reasons some people avoid starting a new sport. Pickleball is a fairly easy sport to learn and is a fun way to get active. To play pickleball, you only need a paddle, which you can find for a fairly low price at stores like Target and Walmart. Usually, if you buy one of the sets of two paddles, it will come with a ball, but if it doesn’t, you can buy a separate pack of three balls.
As more people become interested in pickleball, there is a desperate need for more courts. Shillito Park is expanding its tennis courts to add more pickleball courts. This will allow for regulation courts, making pickleball even more accessible. There are also courts near Lafayette at Southland Park for tennis, but they can easily be used for pickleball as well.
The Times interviewed Lucia Frakes, a Lafayette sophomore, about her pickleball experiences. She started playing pickleball at the beginning of last summer and says, “I love all the skills that go into playing pickleball.” Lucia Frakes plans to create a pickleball club at Lafayette to create a positive sports environment where people can try a new sport and not feel pressured. If you are interested in this new club at Lafayette, please contact Mrs. Sherrow at [email protected].
With winter coming up, finding new and fun ways to stay active is crucial, so pickleball could be that new sport for you. Pickleball is perfect whether you want to stay in shape or meet new friends.
