Pickle Ball! ( in Desert Hot Springs, CA)

I love this sport! OK, I'm not really sure if it qualifies as a 'sport' but it sure is fun!

Pickle ball (check out the link) is basically a combination of badmiton and tennis, racquetball skills also come in quite handy. It is played with a 'wiffle ball', you remember them, they usually came with a plastic bat back when we were kids. The wiffle ball slows the game down, a lot. So, strategy and ball placement play a key role in the game. Since the court is small so there's not much running involved (meaning you can play for hours with little effort!).

I've never heard of this sport until getting out west and hanging out with the seniors! That means a lot of the players I'm playing against are close to double my age(most commented they had kids my age!), but man, are they competitive. As the youngest guy out there, they like to try to itimidate me too, like when I'm at the net hitting the ball right into my body to see if I could react! I think I earned their respect :)



Today, Rick and I headed down at 7:30am, there are usually quite a few people playing so you fit in a round robin type format which gives you different partners and opponents every go around. The system works out well, you end up playing with and against just about everyone. Rick only played till about 8:30, prior commitment. I hung around till about 9:45 and left with a winning record, 5 wins, 2 losses! By the time I left, I think there was about 35 people in the round robin!


I'm looking forward to hitting the courts at least a couple more time before we head out on Saturday for the Pamona FMCA rally!

-Rich-