By
Andrew Sodergren of the Naples Daily News
andy.sodergren@naplesnews.com
239-263-4731
When Gary Penfield lost the lower part of his left leg after a motorcycle accident 18 years ago, he thought his days playing competitive sports were over.
Enter pickleball.
A racquet sport blending elements of tennis, ping pong and badminton, pickleball was created in 1965 but has rapidly been gaining popularity in the last decade. Naples will be Pickleball Central with the first edition of the U.S. Open Pickleball Championships to be held April 26-May 1 at East Naples Community Park.
Penfield, a 71-year-old New England native who moved to Zephyrhills last year, started playing the sport with the peculiar name two years ago and quickly became a fan. A left below-knee amputee, Penfield rediscovered his competitive drive he cultivated playing college basketball and tennis growing up.
"I got on the court at the Beverly (Massachusetts) YMCA, hit a few balls and found out quickly that I could cover this court," Penfield said. "I had played a lot of tennis before I became an amputee and I really missed that competition. I still was active. I did snowmobiling, kayaking, hiking and walking but that competitive element wasn't there until I discovered pickleball."
1. Pickleball paddles: the game is played with solid paddles made of wood or composite materials.
2. The ball: is very similar to a wiffle ball.
3. The court: is similar in dimension to a doubles badminton court, measuring 20 by 44 feet (about a quarter the size of a tennis court). The court is striped like a tennis court, but the outer courts are divided in half by service lines (as opposed to the inner courts like in tennis).
4. The serve: the serving team or player uses an underhand stroke, connecting with the ball below the waist and sending the ball diagonally to the opponent's service zone.
5. The details: There's no doubles alley in pickleball, and the ball has less bounce than in tennis. There is also a 7-foot no-volley zone, referred to as 'the kitchen,' extending from the net. The ball can be hit in this area only after it has bounced.
"It's one of those things you really need to try, and I wish more amputees would give it a shot," Penfield said. "It's a marvelous game for mobility. A lot of people play this game at different levels. People with knee replacements, hip replacements can play. Not everybody has to approach it like I am. I want to be as good a player as I can be and compete in all the tournaments I possibly can. But everyone can play it. And it's a wonderful social game, people play the game socially and have a great time. It's just getting the person motivated to try it initially."
Many tennis players are finding pickleball right up their alley, especially when injuries begin to take a toll on their tennis abilities.
JoAnne Russell won the Wimbledon doubles championship with partner Helen Gourlay, upsetting the top seeded team of Martina Navratilova and Betty Stove in the final. In the first round, Russell and Gourlay upset the No. 2 seeded duo of Chris Evert and Rosie Casals. She played professionally for 13 years, so Russell knows a thing or two about top-level competition. Now a teaching pro at Grey Oaks Country Club, Russell began playing pickleball last January when a member of the club began inquiring about the sport. She decided to take a crash course in pickleball, working out at Fleischmann Park under the tutelage of Jim Stuckey and Jerry Pershing. She's now an accomplished player, and will compete in four events at the U.S. Open.
"A few years back, when I was living and teaching in California, I saw a pickleball court and I couldn't figure out what it was," Russell said. "I thought it might be some kind of tennis court for kids. About six years ago, I was playing a tennis exhibition at The Villages. A friend of mine who got me to play in the exhibition wanted me to play pickleball since that's a hotbed of pickleball with over 100 courts. I thought I'd go in there and be able to get a game, but the people weren't all that friendly and I didn't like it. Guess they had been playing forever and thought they were superior, and maybe they were. But I didn't get a good vibe from it."
Russell said the pickleball community in Naples is much more welcoming; players encourage newbies to give the sport a shot.
"The people are so nice at the tournaments I've played in, and they all know I'm a pretty good tennis player, and that's flattering," she said. "But it also makes me practice harder so I don't embarrass myself. It's a super-fast sport. I think I've been hit by more plastic wiffle balls in the last year than I'd ever been hit in tennis. And by the time you're done playing, you're exhausted. It's a really good workout."
Pickleball by the numbers
2.5 million players: Pickleball is one of the fastest growing sports in the country with 2.5 million people playing in 2015, according to a study by the Sports and Fitness Industry Association. That number surpasses more well-know sports like hockey and lacrosse. The number is expected to increase to 8 million by 2018.
700 East Naples players: Jim Ludwig, tournament director for the U.S. Open, has seen the growth up close in Naples. At East Naples Community Park, he said there were about 48 players two years ago. That number is now well over 700.
Not exactly 120 mph: "It's an equalizing game," Ludwig said. "The way you serve the ball doesn't give you an advantage. In tennis, you can run into a player who serves 120 or 130 miles per hour and you can't do anything against a player like that. In pickleball, you serve underhand, so right from the start everything is equal. You can't just stand at the net and thrash the ball because of the (no-volley) kitchen, and that's an equalizer. You can play with younger people and be competitive, you can play with your children and grandchildren. Husbands and wives can have fun playing together. My wife Carol was never that athletic or much into sports, except for golf. She was an avid golfer but now she rarely plays golf. She plays pickleball three or four times a week, she loves it so much."
Penfield said he couldn't wait for the tournament, hoping to elicit a common response he gets from many of his opponents.
"I want them to walk off the court saying 'I can't believe that one-legged guy beat me'" he joked. "That's always a pretty satisfying feeling."
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