JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
It's no secret that pickleball is the fastest-growing sport around, and it's particularly popular with older people. So we couldn't wrap our week reporting on active aging without hearing from some top picklers.
(SOUNDBITE OF BALLS BEING STRUCK)
SUMMERS: It's around 8 a.m. when we arrive at a sports complex north of Tampa. Pickleball players, holding their duffel bags and paddles, are crowded around a man in a neon-green polo shirt.
AARON DEL MAR: We're going to be running a round-robin system today. You may be playing against teams that may be younger or older than you.
SUMMERS: That's Aaron Del Mar, the tournament director for the Florida Senior Games pickleball competition. Players here are competing for spots at the National Senior Games, which will be held next summer in Iowa. Ruth Wile is one of the players hoping to punch her ticket. She wears a bright red visor, with her name in white on one side, and pristine white sneakers. Wile, who's 76, lives in The Villages, a sprawling retirement community in Florida, and she says the active community is part of what keeps her going.
RUTH WILE: I have two very bad knees that I just keep plugging along - cortisone shots. But it's just a matter of getting out and doing it and trying to stay active. My wife, who's 85 years old in January, is still competing in pickleball, and she is here today. And she, to me, is an inspiration for everybody...
SUMMERS: Yeah.
WILE: ...Because how many 85-year-olds do you see out playing? So as long as she competes, I will compete.
SUMMERS: When Wile and her wife, Joy, took up pickleball about 15 years ago, they got hooked. And Wile also plays on a softball team and already qualified for the National Senior Games in that sport. She's hoping pickleball will be her second sport.
WILE: I look at everybody, and I said, how lucky we all are at this age to be able to still compete.
SUMMERS: The competition at the Florida Senior Games is fast-paced, with players competing in divisions ranked by their age and skill. Nick Gandy is the sports information manager for the Florida Senior Games.
NICK GANDY: It's really an interesting community of 50-and-over people. The stories that I like to hear are the athletes who competed in their younger days, and they went on, had a career, raised families. The kids grew up. They retired from their successful careers. Their kids are gone. And they decided to come back, and they play pickleball, or they bowl, or they swim. And it's like they're going back to their younger days, when they did this with their friends when they were growing up (laughter).
SUMMERS: I love that. So we're here today. There's obviously pickleball going on behind us. I understand that this is one of the biggest sports at the Senior Games - is that right?
GANDY: (Laughter) It is the biggest sport of the Florida Senior Games. We have almost 600 people playing - 595 entries. And it's gone up by a hundred every - the last four years.
SUMMERS: There are first-timers, and then there are veterans, like Erica Gonzalez. She started playing pickleball when she moved to Florida from Puerto Rico and her new community had a court. She played tennis for more than 40 years and wanted a new challenge. She's also a pickleball coach. In between her games, she showed us around.
ERICA GONZALEZ: The key about pickleball is that it's kind of like tennis on a small court, but not. See that net? There's seven feet between the net and this line. People call it the kitchen.
SUMMERS: There's no smashing the ball in the kitchen. You can't even step in it after you hit a shot.
GONZALEZ: The other thing is that you serve diagonally.
SUMMERS: So if I'm starting in my rectangle, I'm going to serve diagonally across the court.
GONZALEZ: Yes.
SUMMERS: If the other player doesn't hit it back, then I score?
GONZALEZ: You get a point.
SUMMERS: I get a point, OK.
GONZALEZ: And then you switch over. Now, you did an overhand serving. You have to serve underhand.
SUMMERS: You have to serve underhand.
GONZALEZ: Yes.
SUMMERS: Got it.
I asked her for advice for someone who wants to start playing. She told me, find a community.
GONZALEZ: It's a very social game. It's very fun. It's multigenerational. I love that I can teach a 7-year-old to play with their 70-year-old or 80-year-old grandparent. And everybody can actually play and have a good time. So find a group of folks and learn together 'cause then you'll grow together, and then you'll support each other's addiction - on the court.
SUMMERS: Supporting each other's addiction - that's definitely the case for a couple that we met nearby. Gene Berg is 72 and lives in Litchfield, New Hampshire, with his wife Margaret, who's 63. He is hoping to medal at the Senior Games in every state that holds one.
GENE BERG: I think it's just a fetish (laughter).
MARGARET BERG: It's his bucket list. I'll play in the Games, but I'm not that interested in - I don't have to get a medal.
G BERG: (Laughter).
M BERG: But if I get a medal and he doesn't, we still have to go back to that state.
G BERG: But she lets me polish her medal when she wins and I don't (laughter).
M BERG: We have a 22-foot Airstream that we tow, and we'll do states that we can, like, on a road trip in the - during the year. And we've done - how many this year? Seven?
G BERG: Seven or eight this year. We're up to 36.
SUMMERS: So tell me how you guys got into pickleball.
G BERG: We spent probably 35 years chasing youth sports. And when the youths left, we had nothing to chase, so we had to chase each other.
(LAUGHTER)
M BERG: And he said, I've heard about this sport, pickleball. Do you want to try it? And we went to our local little indoor gymnasium where this - people taught us how to play. And from then on, I think we played maybe for six months, and he said, Margaret, there's a tournament. We need to play in this tournament.
SUMMERS: At this tournament, spectators watched players from metal bleachers near each pickleball court. Some players came with their parents, others with their adult children. We meet a man warming up with his daughter. She flew to Florida to support him as he competes.
BRAD SMITH: Well, I'm Brad Smith. I live in Ocala, Florida. I'm 86.
ANN SMITH ZWIEBLEMAN: Ann Smith Zwiebleman (ph). I live in Pleasant Ridge, Michigan, just outside of Detroit, and I'm 51.
SUMMERS: And, Ann, you were saying you came from Michigan to support your dad. And what made you want to come down here and see him at the Senior Games?
SMITH ZWIEBLEMAN: Really because it's, like, such a big deal for him. Like, he's - you know, the fact that he's made it to the state tournament - like, this is exactly what I want to be able to do now. Now I can support. I'm done driving my kids to sports tournaments year-round. Now I can go support my dad - you know, just like he did when I was a kid.
SUMMERS: What's it like playing pickleball together?
SMITH: It's competitive. Yes, it is. It's very competitive (laughter).
SMITH ZWIEBLEMAN: Any sport with Brad is competitive. Otherwise, what's the point?
SMITH: Yeah.
SMITH ZWIEBLEMAN: I think (laughter)...
SMITH: Yeah.
SMITH ZWIEBLEMAN: ...That's how it goes in the Smith household. Yeah.
SMITH: It does. We just play hard. We want to beat each other. Yeah (laughter).
SUMMERS: Before we leave, we catch back up with Ruth Wile. She has some exciting news to share.
All right, so you've finished for the day. How did you do? How did it go?
WILE: I did fabulous. We won all of our matches. We are looking forward to go to Iowa. I'm going to play softball. I'm going to play pickleball. And I can't wait.
SUMMERS: All right, so you've got the wins. You'll be there for both sports. How are you going to celebrate?
WILE: Wow. How am I going to celebrate? I've got friends in from New Jersey right now, so I'll definitely go have a drink tonight. Oh, blueberry vodka. Flavored vodka - my favorite (laughter).
SUMMERS: She tells us that she and her wife are going to pack their car full of equipment for both sports and drive from Florida to Des Moines, where the National Senior Games will be held - an opportunity, she says, to see more of the country, together.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PICKLEBALL ANTHEM")
MACKAVELL: (Rapping) Play some pickleball, pickleball. All ages, something different, try it - fun for all. Let's get active, let's stay healthy. Got to work hard. Stay out the kitchen. Stay out the kitchen. Stay out the kitchen. Stay out the kitchen. Stay out the kitchen. Stay out the kitchen. Stay out the kitchen. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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