Pickleball continues to grow as a sport

The Whites have a second home at Holden Beach and several years ago, they noticed a court being built nearby. 

“Every time they’d ask for surveys, Ronnie would ask for a tennis court,” Cindy White said. “Finally, they were building what we thought was tennis court. He went down to the town hall to ask, and they said it was for pickleball.”

At that time, the Whites didn’t know what pickleball was. When the court was finished, they went and watched them play. Pickleball is much like tennis but with a few modifications such as a smaller court (one-third the size of a tennis court) and the use of a solid paddle or composite paddle to hit a perforated plastic ball over a net 34 inches high in the center. 

“We couldn’t figure out the numbers,” Cindy White said. “They were calling out these three numbers and we couldn’t figure it out. We signed up for a beginner’s class.”

That was seven or eight years ago and Cindy White hasn’t picked up a tennis racket since.

“Tennis faded quickly for me too,” Ronnie White said. “I had another fellow I was playing with, and after he moved to the Raleigh area, I switched to pickleball.”

White had started to develop tennis elbow and have shoulder problems from playing tennis because of the length of the racket. 

“I had it so bad sometimes I couldn’t get my toothbrush up to my mouth,” he said. “I would rest and go back to it. I haven’t had any medical issues since switching to pickleball. The court is smaller and the racket is shorter. You can get three pickleball courts into one tennis court. Physically, it was a much better game for both of us. Cindy didn’t really like tennis, but she immediately liked pickleball.”

There is a social aspect to playing pickleball that the Whites really enjoy as well. They play almost every day at different courts in Lincoln County and at Cowans Ford Golf Club in Stanley.

“We joined Cowans Ford during COVID because they had courts open at night,” Cindy White said. “Betty Ross was closed during the pandemic.”

In late 2019, they approached the pastor and deacons at First Baptist Church about starting up a league in the gym there and they approved it.

“We purchased three nets,” Ronnie White said. “I had accumulated some spare paddles, so we’d have extra to loan. We taped off the courts with tape that could be removed.”

At first, they did just one court. They now have three and they’re usually filled during designated pickleball times with players of all ages. There’s a waiting list for courts.

Playing a doubles game is very similar to how singles are played, according to Lincoln Times-News owner Mark Boyd who’s also a pickleball player. He was awarded a gold medal for singles at the Senior Games State competition this past year. 

“The ball is served diagonally underhanded, below the waist, while standing behind the base line and from either the right or left of the centerline,” he said. “Points can only be scored by the serving side and only one ball is served per player. A player continues to serve until a point is lost.”

A player serves his/her ball to the other side and the receiving player must let the ball bounce before returning it. Then the serving team must let the ball bounce once again before hitting it. Once the ball has bounced on both sides, all the players can hit it until they score. This is called the two-bounce rule. The first side to score 11 points and leading by at least two points wins the game. 

Within the Kitchen area (non-volley zone) players are not permitted to hit the ball unless the ball bounces in this zone first. A player shouldn’t stand in this area while playing (see diagram). When scoring the game, you call the score in the following order: server's score, receiver's score, then the server number. For example, if the score of the serving team is three and the score of the receiving team is six and the second server on the side is serving, the score is three-six-two. These are the numbers that the Whites didn’t understand when they first watched a pickleball game.

The goal is to rally the ball back and forth until a team mishits the ball. Mishits include hitting the ball out of bounds, hitting the ball into the net and hitting the ball before it bounces while standing in the Kitchen. 

“Pickleball can be played by most people of any age,” Boyd said. “The game attracts people of all ages, and it doesn't require skill or athleticism. It's easy to play but has a steep learning curve making it still challenging as skills improve. So come on out and enjoy the fun, social and friendly game of pickleball which is easy to start and hard to stop.”