Pickleball Bob -- My Inspirational 81 Year Old Husband's Story

I am posting this for my FUN and amazing husband, Bob. Mardy had never heard of his favorite outdoor game and asked 

WHAT IS PICKLEBALL?

Pickleball is a fun game that is played on a badminton-sized court with the net lowered to 34 inches at the center. Our public tennis courts have been remarked for both tennis and pickleball.  It is played with a perforated plastic baseball (similar to a whiffle ball) and wood or composite paddles. It is easy for beginners to learn, but can develop into a quick, fast-paced, competitive game for experienced players.  The game was invented about 40 years ago by a family whose dog named Pickle used to chase their ball.

Here is the official website for the national association, which will tell you everything you would ever want to know about this great game.

www.usapa.org/

At age 81, what is Pickleball for me?  To begin, I discovered and loved tennis in my 40's, and learned  downhill skiing at age 55 with the urging of my wife, Petie The OTR, who you know here at Lumigrate through her writings.  I gave that up at about age 75 when Petie was having foot and ankle injury problems. She and I attempted tennis, but found our age was working against us. Then, working out at the gym faded as I took up daily 10 mile bike rides for a few years, on my new comfort bike (where you sit up comfortably). 

Then a year and a half ago, a friend told me about this Pickleball group that met regularly on five specially marked off-tennis courts in downtown Colorado Springs, CO.  I borrowed someone's paddle for 2 games and I was hooked!  A $60 paddle and a dozen pickleballs for $20 was all I needed to start a very addictive, engaging and FUN sport.

Many of our group are retired professionals including one military general, a number of colonels, and the other half range from college kids to working people.  They all have a common interest in staying fit, while having fun.  Almost all games are with 4 people, and most games just switch the partners around.  Yes, we keep score, but nobody cares who won what game, once it is over.  In Colorado, there is an annual tournament in the Denver area where a few of our players compete for medals, and eventually end up in a national tournament.  These tournaments are mostly irrelevant to us.

About half of our group of 100 head south for a second home in AZ, where weather permits daily play.  The rest of us manage to play throughout the winter, outdoors 2-3 times/week for 2-4 hours/day as long as the temperature is above 45 degrees.  Last winter we only had two snowstorms which required shoveling snow, and this winter we had one shoveling episode.  The latter resulting in our shoveling group being featured in a front page photo in our local newspaper.

Amazingly, very few of our players incur injuries, thanks to the court size, restrictive rules, and whiffle ball..  The most common injury seems to be tennis elbow. Petie says it's technical name is 'lateral epicondylitis'.  I have that problem, and relieve it by a special Ace bandage from Walgreens, 600 mg/day of Vitamin B6, and ibuprofen.  I am told that if I hold my elbow close to my body, tennis elbow would go away, but old bad habits are tough to overcome.

Petie recently helped a Pickleball buddy, Bob with plantar fasciitis.  She made a foot splint, which positioned his ankle at 90 degrees, to be worn while sleeping.  She also helped him with exercises for the foot/ankle/knee (lower extremity) and tennis elbow, along with suggested he research and ask his medical provider about nutritional supplementation with things like B6 (600 mg/day) and Tumeric, which are both anti-inflammatory agents.  We hope by sharing a story about our FUN hobby, we've been able to work in some education about taking care of the body in the mind/body/spirit wellness OVERALL, for your benefit!

In conclusion, I plan to play Pickleball until I hit the 100 mark, at which time I plan to take up wheelchair racing.  -- Pickleball Bob      

Mardy's Note:  I just Love  this story!  How inspiring! Thank you!   Here's a photo I took of Petie and Bob with their porcupine quills on towel art from the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, where, as you see on Bob's collar, they are docents.