Yep….I’m now a pickler. I know…I know. Don’t hate me. If you recall and it’s okay if you don’t, I’ve been sitting on the sidelines for a long, long time. I underwent major shoulder surgery last fall and have not hit a tennis ball since then. It’s been a long, painful recovery and I’m still suffering. As I often say to people you go try doing everything with your wrong hand and let me know how that works out for you.

But, I was recently given permission to swing the arms and so I thought maybe I could play this sport called pickleball. But…where to begin?

I don’t see any pickleball courts in the local parks or situated throughout the city. And how does one learn how to play? Where do I fit in? I was a decent tennis player at one time so this should be easy - right?

I did a bit of research and decided to join Fairgrounds which is best described as a pop-up pickleball facility. The originators came up with the idea of putting down pickleball courts on land that was vacant knowing that it would be re-developed eventually. Their first location was in the Yonge/Eglinton area and it was there for two years. It’s now a condo.

Anyways, the most recent location is situated indoors at Cloverdale Mall.

There are 9 courts that are open to the public and they offer lessons, casual bookings and other various event. I signed up for a private lesson and a few clinics and I must admit it was a humbling experience. I sucked.

I signed up for another clinic with a group called Paddles Up in the east end. It worked out great and the people organizing were friendly and knew their stuff. Five stars to Sarah. I have also been a member of another group called East Toronto Pickleball Association and have yet to play - plans to change that soon.

Like any activity you can take all the lessons you want or can afford but at some time you just got to get out there and play. The game has a rating system that is numeric. Its related to a set of skills so if your a 2 or a 2.5 your still somewhat new and if your a 3.5 your getting pretty good. The secret and no surprise is people want to play with people that are similar to maybe a bit better than them.

Starting with not only the name of the sport there are a few other strange things about it with some clearly different rules that you need to get used. Words like dink and kitchen seem to come up a lot.

Trust me that doesn’t take too long to figure out. Once your ready to venture out you need to think about where? It’s a bit of the wild west out there. The City of Toronto has some drop in sites at various places and there are a few clubs like Mayfair and a new facility called the Jar but beyond those there are not nearly as many options as in tennis. The YMCA’s do offer pickleball now and I’m planning to check those out. There is also an APP called Play Time scheduler which seems somewhat like a dating app. People book games at various places and invite others to join in. However it may be that they don’t have a permit for the courts. Not sure.

The where-to-play is a big issue with the high cost of land making it a challenge and I’m sure the Parks and Rec budgets are not overflowing with money to build courts. Tennis players don’t want to give up their courts or have additional lines painted on the courts and I get that. What probably is needed is a proper strategy to figure this out.

I also see an opportunity for tennis coaches to get certified and teach because lots of people want to learn how to play.

Another issue is the potential noise that comes from playing.

In a report on CNBC the pop-pop-pop sound that the sport produces with its rapid-fire paddle play has led to neighborhood quarrels, lawsuits and 911 calls. The cacophonous controversy has even prompted the closure of some courts. In the 70 decibel range, sound experts say it’s not a dangerous amount of noise but it’s about twice as loud as tennis.

Its fair to say that building pickleball courts near homes won’t be an easy sell. Within the tennis community there are some who look down at the sport and I don’t have a lot of times for those. Each game is different and there is a place for both. My early experience in pickleball shows that it is quite welcoming, easy to pick up for most people and allows some to continue to play when maybe they can’t play tennis anymore. Hard to argue with that.

Yes, I miss tennis and I do hope I can play again. Not giving up but also after 7 months I’m becoming a bit more realistic. So…hopefully I can swing a paddle and still get some exercise.

See you soon.