Health Havin’ a Ball

Havin’ a Ball

More than just a game with a silly name, it’s pickleball

BY KARA POUND

Combining elements of tennis, badminton and ping-pong, pickleball is more than just a fad sport with an odd name—it’s literally exploding in popularity. According to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA), pickleball grew in 2021 to 4.8 million players in the United States. That makes it the fastest-growing sport in America. And for good reason. Not only are there significant health benefits to playing the game (we’ll get to that later), it’s also highly accessible, easy to learn and less physically demanding than tennis. Plus, it’s called pickleball—which is nearly impossible to say without smiling.

The game that’s played by hitting a hollow plastic wiffle ball with hard paddles over a net got its start in a Seattle backyard in 1965 when a couple of friends used an old badminton court to invent a new game that their entire families could play. It wasn’t until 1984 that the first pickleball rulebook was published by the United States Amateur Pickleball Association, and by 1990, the sport was being played in all 50 states. But it wasn’t until 2005 that the USA Pickleball Association was established and later, in 2009, that the first USAPA National Tournament was held.

So why, if the sport has been around for nearly 60 years, is pickleball just starting to become a household name?

“Like many others, I picked up pickleball during the pandemic,” says Maria Nili, Director of Pickleball for The Yards, a private club in Ponte Vedra Beach that offers golf, pickleball, tennis and event facilities. Nili formerly worked for the ATP Tour for a decade. “Like many other tennis players, I was a snob and thought, ‘I will never, ever even try it.’ Once I did try it, everything changed and I haven’t touched my tennis racket in a couple of years.”

Though The Yards is only open to members, there are dozens of places around Jacksonville and the surrounding areas to play, including Boone Park in Avondale, Ron Parker Park in St. Augustine, Jarboe Park in Neptune Beach, Walter Anderson Memorial Park in Mandarin and many, many others. In fact, there’s a handy “Where To Play” page on the Jax Pickleball Store’s website (jaxpickleball store.com) if you’re looking for a court.

Among the reasons for pickleball’s popularity, says Nili, is the fact that virtually anyone can

play. “When you think about it, there is really no other sport that kids can play with parents and grandparents and everyone has fun. Unlike other popular sports like tennis or golf, you don’t need an athletic background and thousands of hours of training before you can play at a satisfactory level. Most people need a short instruction before they can start playing the sport at a level they can enjoy and have fun. Nobody sucks at pickleball!”

Aside from the accessibility and relative ease of starting, pickleball also has numerous health benefits. According to Psychology Today, the sport offers high-intensity interval training (HIIT), which has been popularized as an efficient way to get the benefits of aerobic exercise in a short time, as well as keeping the mind sharp by offering visual fixation and increased neural activity.

“Most people’s perception of pickleball (it was mine, too) is that mobility and fitness are not that important,” says Nili. “But that is a huge misconception. Burning calories, building muscle strength, exercising hand-eye coordination, it really is a complete workout. And when you add the social aspect into the equation, you get a perfect activity that makes you happy and keeps you in great shape.”

For Greg Goldstein, a St. Augustine resident and sales consultant for Progress Wine Group, playing pickleball is about spending time with friends and getting in some cardio. “A friend of mine bought a beginner’s pickleball set and asked a group of us to meet him at Treaty Park,” Goldstein recalls of first playing the sport this past spring. “We didn’t know the rules. We didn’t really know what we were doing. We were just having some fun. The older players were laughing at us. They had these professional paddles and were really into it. Later that night, all of us went home and ordered proper paddles and started playing regularly.”

Goldstein says that before the summer heat set in, his group of around 16 was playing almost every night. They set up a group chat and would put out a call to see who wanted to play each night—sometimes playing for three or four hours at a time. Sometimes going out for drinks afterwards. Unfortunately, a couple of months ago, Goldstein came down hard on the court and broke his ankle during a game. It’s been a slow road to recovery—nearly 11 weeks before he could play again. In fact, we caught up with him right after his first game back since the injury.

“The exercise aspect of pickleball becomes addictive,” he says. “Every time we play, we get better. It’s a fun game to learn, but hard to master.”

Keeping the Beat

Heart failure, a condition in which the heart slowly weakens and is not able to adequately supply oxygen-rich blood, affects some 6.5 million Americans. HCA Florida Memorial Hospital in Jax is the first in the city to use a new, FDA-approved minimally invasive therapy to treat patients suffering from the condition. “Cardiac Contractility Modulation [CCM] therapy is a breakthrough option for heart failure patients to help them feel better, so they can start doing the things they love again,” says Dr. Robert Kim, electrophysiologist who performed the procedure on the hospital’s first patient in late July. “Medications are not always enough to help slow the progression of heart failure and improve the quality of life for these patients.” The innovative therapy is intended to improve the heart’s contraction, allowing more oxygen-rich blood to reach the body by delivering timed electrical pulses to the muscle.

CHILD’S PLAY

New works of art from a special group of young artists were recently unveiled at MOCA Jacksonville. Far from being nationally recognized painters or sculptors, these 16 artists are kids who have been treated at area hospitals. The exhibition What Lifts You Up is a partnership between the museum and Art With a Heart in Healthcare, a Jax-based non-profit group that uses fine art to enhance the healing process for patients and families. “In addition to the benefits each patient artist gleans from engaging in artistic exploration, they are able to build a sense of accomplishment, pride, and meaning by having their artwork on display with a museum space,” says Christy Ponder, executive director and artist-in-residence for Art With a Heart. Michael Aubin, president of Wolfson Children’s Hospital, agrees with Ponder, adding, “For children in the hospital, art is so much more than a fun activity. It provides a distraction from pain, helps them express themselves during a stressful time, and is part of their healing process.” What Lifts You Up remains on display through January 8.