Video: Talking Tennis tries pickleball
Giving it a go - The UK’s number 1 female player Thaddea with Rob far end, Alec and I this end.
This was SO MUCH fun.
After my interview with Thaddea at our local David Lloyd club, I felt inspired to learn even more about pickleball, so we roped in our old tennis coach Rob and friend Alec for a game. We’re all coaches so figured we wouldn’t find it too difficult to pick up…
The court we improvised a bit - using tape we put down the lines one end of a regular tennis court and found a mini junior net to use. Luckily Thaddea had come prepared with the paddles and ball.
It was brilliant fun to play, but it certainly took a while to get used to. As a tennis player I expect the ball to bounce up a certain height, but in pickleball it doesn’t - it just seems to die, like playing tennis with a flat ball - so going against my instincts and adjusting accordingly to contact the ball was challenging.
The scoring and terminology was also a little tricky to get my head around, and the starting positions weren’t easy to remember either - a few times I was stood in the wrong place and could hear Thaddea shouting at me!
But it’s like anything, the more I play, the more I’ll get used to it and the better I’ll get - I’m already booked in for my second practice session and I can’t wait!
Learn more about pickleball and find your nearest club at pickleballEngland.
See also:
Talking Tennis – with Thaddea Lock, ex tennis pro and the UK’s No.1 female pickleball player