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/ [1]
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
UPDATE from June 2013: Look who made the paper, 6th paragraph, the 82 year old registering for pickleball in the State Games is none other than "Our" Bob! gazette.com/eight-new-events-added-to-rocky-mountain-state-games-in-colorado-springs-area-in-a-month/article/1502472 [2]
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.
Those who read Petie's pieces at Lumigrate.com (found regularly in the forum related to therapies/functional and occupational -- link: http://www.lumigrate.com/forums/integrative-medicine-parts-m... [3]) learn she grew up in California with "Bobby" Redford and has had an interesting life from beginning to today. She graduated from USC in technical illustrating and drafting and was the first female draftsman for The Wall Street Journal in South Brunswick, New Jersey. She returned to USC to become an occupational therapist and enjoyed the 'heyday' of therapy in prestigious programs in California, and was an entrepreneur for many years. She had a daughter then adopted a son, Thomas, who she writes about regularly; they have been each others' greatest teachers, as it turns out he had developmental disabilities. Remarrying in middle age, she and her husband Bob moved to Colorado and now enjoy 'active retirement'. Petie appreciates the opportunities to continue teaching through sharing at Lumigrate and hopes those who read find as much enjoyment in reading as she does in writing.
Links:
[1] http://www.usapa.org/
[2] http://gazette.com/eight-new-events-added-to-rocky-mountain-state-games-in-colorado-springs-area-in-a-month/article/1502472
[3] http://www.lumigrate.com/forums/integrative-medicine-parts-make-whole/therapy-occupational/functional
[4] http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/pickleball-bob-my-inspirational-81-year-old-husbands-story#comment-2296
[5] http://www.TheTakeChargePatient.com
[6] http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/pickleball-bob-my-inspirational-81-year-old-husbands-story#top
[7] http://www.lumigrate.com/user/login?destination=node/1920%23comment-form
[8] http://www.lumigrate.com/user/register?destination=node/1920%23comment-form
[9] http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/pickleball-bob-my-inspirational-81-year-old-husbands-story#comment-2879
[10] http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/gardening-starting-seeds-coffee-filters#comment-2878
[11] http://twitter.com/lumigrate
[12] http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/pickleball-bob-my-inspirational-81-year-old-husbands-story#comment-2940
Comments
Very cute! And, as always, 'grate' education too!
I'm an author, patient advocate and speaker. My new book, The Take-Charge Patient: How You Can Get The Best Medical Care, was released 5/2012 www.TheTakeChargePatient.com [5] I lecture, write and publish articles on the issues of patient safety, patient advocacy, the collaborative relationship between patients and medical professionals, effective communication strategies to interact with medical professionals and other health/medical related issues. I hope you benefit and enjoy my being part of things at Lumigrate as much as I do! Also, I am a member of: -HHS, Partnership for Patients -The Society of Participatory Medicine -The National Patient Advocate Foundation -National Healthcare Advocacy Consultants
Bringing things around to a more serious matter, believe it or not we have a pickle at Lumigrate! Yes, a pickle that was 'sick on the inside' and photographed by someone studying from a group on Facebook about what's causing 'this stuff we all have' anymore. Everyone has some sort of unwellness or another, and everyone means things other than humans. When I went to the zoo with Bob and Petie, he impressed upon me how frogs and toads were a major source of concern around the world related to habitat and environment. The pickles are sick too, and a lay researcher named Steve has connected some dots. I added onto a thread by another laywriter from the old days, Alice who is a.k.a. Amazing Alice , as her topic from 2009 about starting seeds on coffee filters was the only thing I had so far on Lumigrate about gardening. Steve had commented about what he thought the pickle had in it AND what is needed and ASAP for soils to keep them or make them healthy so these 'interlopers' cannot get the upper hand so much.
Here's the link. Please take the time to go, this is cutting edge but I wouldn't be so amped up about it if I didn't strongly suspect it is the real deal, the root cause, THE information that is core about what's causing unwellness and Steve didn't stop at the problem, he came up with a solution. And it's a simple protocol compared to what many protocols are about. It also is as affordable as can be, unfortunately it takes a little bit of money for an ozonator or to get water that's distilled or reverse osmosis, plus there are two products to purchase. One being an OTC veterinary medicine and another is a medicinal mushroom. Problems can seem bigger when the solutions are not provided. So we offer both. Here's the link to the topic about the pickle and from there you can decid if you want to go on to continue learning more we have here. Naturally, the Search bar can assist you but I often provide links as well. www.lumigrate.com/forum/gardening-starting-seeds-coffee-filters#comment-2878 [10]
Live and Learn. Learn and live better! ~ Mardy
Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate [11] and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!
I had the pleasure of seeing Petie and Bob this summer. An emergency came up with her son, who she's written about in topics on Lumigrate -- middle aged now with lifelong special needs which, in my opinion, fall under the umbrella of "environmental illness". Defined by the mainstream "system" and treated and supported by the system in terms of "developmental disability", he goes through the ups and downs of the dance with what his body and the systems surrounding it and assisting him create. So, I unfortunately didn't get any photographs of us together and wrapped up my visit earlier than planned and was 'on the road'.
Bob was in a leadership position with his pickleball organization, being the email coordinator or something along those lines, for what is now a very large Pickleball organization. Petie called me the other day to give me the update -- he'd had some medical issues -- significant ones -- and through the wonders of modern medicine and transportation, in the air and on the ground, plus Petie making a good 'call' on over-riding his wishes related to calling for EMTs, he was recovered in time to make the Honor Flight trip to Washington, DC ! And he had a great time, as did Petie with the event upon the return of the Honor Flight group.
I'd happened to talk with her on Veteran's Day, and he'd returned that day to playing Pickleball, too. He's been doing rehabilitation activities and exercises and had felt it was time. She was concerned, he did fine. I asked if she has to be nice to him now, joking around about how the only time to reach her is when she's about to cook dinner and then he'll be sitting there getting hungrier. They're definitely a couple who has learned to work with each other's strengths and weaknesses. I've been so blessed to get to know them. He's now 82, and she just turned 80. I forgot her birthday, which I'd made such a mental note about in July I thought I did not have to write it down. At least it makes her laugh that I, 25 years younger than she, almost, forgot.
On another topic from when Petie had the time and desire to write topics on Lumigrate, she told us about growing up with Robert Redford. He and Jane Fonda are shooting a movie that will be a Netflicks movie, apparently, and through the people they've stayed in touch with from her and his families, they were connected to go talk to him on the set one day. And it happened to be the week of her 75th birthday!
We talked about how he looked, of course! And she said that his hair was it's natural color -- Petie is now with lovely white hair. I told her what I knew about sulphur deficiency being the cause, and supplementation or diet boosting of sulfur being the 'cure', without going into all the information about what causes the sulphur deficiencies (which has to do with the environmental and chemicals which are being proven more and more every day to NOT be working to our advantage, whether human, other animals, plants, water, etc.
I had to 'make it up to her' about her birthday, so I'm going to work on a topic 'in her honor' about that. And email her the link. I hope she likes it! And I hope you, reading, have enjoyed and benefitted from this update about Bob and Petie.
Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate [11] and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!