Looking to get into racquet sports? Try pickleball first

 Racquet and paddle sports are in a class all their own, and that’s not always a good thing.

Racquet sports are great for developing endurance. They help with the athleticism needed for athletes of all sports. They are relatively social and easy to organize when you don’t have enough players for pick-up basketball.

The tough things about racquet sports? Space, time, money, and competition.

Most racquet sports require a space dedicated to that sport specifically. In the 1980’s clubs everywhere had racquetball courts. While some clubs have held strong, I’ve seen those courts converted into locker rooms, weight rooms, storage closets and even classrooms.

Unlike sports like basketball or soccer, a general athleticism is often not enough to be competitive in many racquet sports. You'll need a specific racquet skill set for that. And while it can be similar from sport to sport, don’t assume that a paddle tennis player can pick up a squash racquet and be ready to compete.

OK. Now that you’ve got a skill set specific to your racquet sport, the equipment and training become very important. Good luck finding a quality tennis racquet for under $150, and that’s before you get it strung for $50 or so. Most competitive players carry at least three or four racquets in their bag, some carry a half-dozen or more. Lessons with a quality instructor can run anywhere from $50 to $500 an hour.   Tennis court rental fees at some indoor clubs are as high as $100 per court per hour, although many clubs will sell time for as little as $25 an hour. Location is key here.

And then there’s the issue of competition. While not everyone is looking to be super competitive, most small towns only have a handful of good players in each racquet sport. Finding a good opponent can be difficult, and the travel to that opponent can be pricey and time consuming. I just got home from coaching at a three-day tennis camp at which each camper paid over a grand for the weekend. 

Pickleball is different. Of all the racquet/paddle sports I’ve been involved in (which is just about all of them), pickleball has the quickest path from beginner to decent.

Most people with any level of hand-eye coordination can play a game of pickleball the very first time they pick up a paddle. Try that with squash or tennis and see how it goes. You’ll spend more time chasing a rolling ball than playing the game. You won’t need to worry about topspin, walls, formations, paddle weight or any sport-specific oddities that take forever to figure out in pickleball. Some players play with funky spin, but most just hit the ball.

 There’s even a safety rule in pickleball that keeps players from standing at the net and crushing the new guy. The area nearest the net is called the "No Volley Zone" or the "Kitchen." Players who step in the kitchen to hit a ball that has not already bounced in the kitchen automatically lose the point. This helps keep intimidation and ego to a minimum.

Pickleball can be played on a variety of surfaces. Those spaces reserved for tennis, squash and racquetball can all be quickly and easily converted into a pickeball court, and then changed right back to their original state just by folding up the net and putting it away. I’ve seen pickleball on concrete, carpet, asphalt, gymnasium floors, linoleum, and even on clay tennis courts.

Check eBay right now. Odds are you’ll find a starter set that includes paddles, a net, and balls for around a hundred bucks. Unless you’re talking about those cheap, backyard badminton sets that are garbage as soon as someone swings hard and gets a shuttlecock stuck in their racquet, your chances of getting started in another racquet sport for that price are slim and none.

The general skills required to play pickleball translate to every other racquet sport. So if you start with pickleball, you've already got a head start in tennis, squash, badminton, paddle tennis, or any other racquet/paddle sport.

Many YMCA’s, town rec centers, public parks, youth organizations and senior centers are now offering pickleball for free. Some are charging a reasonable fee, but “free competition” is something that’s all but been phased out in sports.

Here’s the best part. Because of the easy introduction into pickleball, the small court (about 1/3 of a tennis court), the low cost to get started, and the general social feel that surrounds pickleball, just about anyone can play. I was on a court last week with three different races, four different age groups, three different native languages and four different nationalities. We all had a blast.