Whether you’ve heard of pickleball, played it or just been curious what it’s all about, it’s grown in popularity in recent years. Pickleball is a paddle sport with parts of tennis, badminton and table tennis. It’s easy to learn and a great way to get exercise and meet new people.
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| Windham resident Laura Page gets to the ball in time during a Windham Parks and Recreation pickleball lesson at the Pat Moody Courts in Windham on Saturday, Aug. 9. PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA |
“I’ve been playing for four months now,” said Gorham resident Lisa King. “It was really just to meet people, to get out of the house and do something a little different, that engages with the community and maybe meet people that I have something in common with.”
Norma Ewing, a Windham resident, said pickleball is something she really looks forward to. She said it’s a good workout. She chose to play because it was about doing something for her; Ewing was busy with work and loves sports; pickleball gives her a break to do something fun.
The objective of pickleball is to serve the ball, similar to a wiffle ball with a paddle similar to a table tennis paddle, return the serve, make sure the ball bounces twice and be ready, because depending on skill levels that ball can come at you really fast.
Windham pickleball coach and Gorham resident Dave Cousins started playing pickleball in the early 1990s. Prior to that he had coached tennis. He said he always had pickleball as a base in the back of his mind. Cousins first began coaching pickleball in South Portland, but with low attendance.
Something happened around 2018 when his classes jumped from three or four people to 10 people. His attendance numbers continued to increase month after month; he was able to add another pickleball session and then another.
“I decided to play pickleball because I go to a resort in Florida and my friends played pickleball the last two times I went” said Windham resident Laura Page. “I want(ed) to learn to play. It’s a low-impact sport and it’s good for me. Everybody you play with is pretty understanding and nice.”
During the pickleball lesson, Cousins is a very patient teacher and allowed his players to learn at their own pace, while having fun at the same time.
“It doesn't take a lot of classes to get pretty good at pickleball pretty fast,” said Cousins. “One of the reasons I got into pickleball was I found folks could pick the game up that much faster. My goal as a coach is to be coaching everywhere in Southern Maine and New Hampshire. I want to expand the territory out a little bit, but the bigger over-arching goal is to get as many people into a racquet sport as possible. All it takes is that first hour. In that first hour you start to discover ... there’s strategy to this game. It’s fast, it’s fun, it’s social. What’s the selling point – socialization and low-barrier to entry. Easy to pick up, and then it makes you want to play more.”
Windham resident Darlene Haskell said pickleball is great. She wasn’t going to play because she thought it’d be too intense, but it doesn’t have to be intense. Anybody can play, have fun and not get hurt.
Cousins said his group has improved a lot over the weeks of the session. The class gets a chance to play but then has someone who is looking out for them to tell them what they’re doing great and what they can improve upon.
There is a place for everybody to play, and Cousins said he wants to be the one who introduces pickleball, or another racquet sport, to as many people as possible.
Windham’s Parks and Recreation Department will also offer fall and winter pickleball sessions; for more details, call 207-892-1905. <
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