In a Pickle
Melanie Rosettenstein picks up a pickleball paddle to get the inside scoop on this rapidly growing sport!
Pickleball is booming worldwide, and Noosa is no exception. Fast, fun, and social, it’s easy to learn and hard to put down. With thriving local clubs and a growing community, more people are picking up a paddle. Even Hollywood has caught the bug! If you tuned into the Super Bowl this year, you might have seen a beer advert featuring actors Catherine O’Hara and Willem Dafoe dominating the pickleball court.
They’re not alone – tennis legends Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi also play, earning $1million in prize money for charity at the third annual Pickleball Slam in Las Vegas. With its growing star power and global appeal, this is the fastest growing sport on the planet.
And in Noosa, the craze is just as strong. Bringing together elements of tennis, badminton, and table tennis, pickleball is a paddle sport that can be learnt in 10 minutes and played for a lifetime. Formed in 2019, the Noosa Pickleball Club is one of Australia’s first. Local coach Ron Gatliff, an early pickleball adopter who’s played all over the world, says the social nature of the game is what makes it so popular.
“Pickleball is exploding worldwide,” he enthused. “My wife and I have played in the USA, Spain and France; and everywhere we’ve been, we’ve been welcomed with open arms.
“It’s the most social and welcoming sport I have ever played!”
Pickleball has grown quickly in Noosa with Ron sharing that the club received funding to help build two dedicated pickleball courts.
“At the time, we had 80 members,” he said. “Once the courts were built some 18 months later, the club had almost tripled to 275!”
He attributes this rapid growth to the addictive nature of the game and the free come-and-try sessions.
“We give beginners a 10-to-15-minute introduction and because it’s easy to pick up they are instantly hooked,” he explained. “People just get this smile on their face, especially those who’ve played a racquet sport before.
“It takes them back and gets those competitive juices flowing.”
While you don’t have to be overly athletic or fit to play, Ron does warn that a certain amount of preparation is needed to avoid injury.
“In a two-hour session, you’re going to do between 250 and 300 lunges so it’s important for your hips, calves, glutes and quads to be strong,” he advised.
“Viktoria and Tom at Activate Body Noosa provide a strength program to prepare beginners and then they come to me for their first introductory session.”
So, who plays pickleball? According to Ron, it was the boomers who led the way but now the game is being played by more and more people in the 30-45 age bracket, and even younger.
Falling into this age group (just), my interest was piqued. Injury put an end to my long-standing love affair with squash about 10 years ago. But now I found myself wondering – what would it be like to step onto a court again? With its light solid paddle, hollow plastic ball, and smaller court, pickleball seemed like the perfect alternative. Perhaps this was the sport that would give me that racquet sport fix I’ve been craving? It was time to find out!
Before my first pickleball session, I made sure to stretch properly and arrived ready to play. But before we hit the court, we receive a rundown of the scoring and terminology. If you ever wander past a game of beginner picklers (yes, that’s the name for pickleball players), you’ll hear a curious chant: “0-0-start, 2-0-1, 0-2-2.”
When calling the score, you announce your team’s score first, then your opponent’s, and finally, your server number – either one or two. It takes a little getting used to, so beginners often call it out slowly, making sure to get it right. And when you finally do, it feels like a small triumph! Another quirky rule? Stay out of the kitchen! The kitchen, or non-volley zone, is the area near the net where you can’t step in unless the ball bounces there first. Plus, after every serve, the ball must bounce twice before volleys are allowed.
A well-placed drop shot into your opponent’s kitchen is called dinking, and if you lose a game 11-0, you’ve officially been pickled. But once you get the hang of the rules – and the fact that you can only score on your own serve – the game is fast, fun, and packed with thrilling rallies that often end in a glorious smash. No wonder pickleball is sweeping the world! With a coaching session set up with Ron and exercise program booked with Activate Body to reduce injury and increase performance (see more on the next page), I can’t wait for my new chapter as a pickler to begin! Let’s go!
PICKLEBALL TERMINOLOGY
Here are some key pickleball terms to help you sound like a pro on the court:
Dink – A soft shot that lands in the opponent’s non-volley zone (or the kitchen).
Kitchen – The non-volley zone, a seven-foot area on both sides of the net where volleys aren’t allowed.
Volley – Hitting the ball before it bounces.
Third Shot Drop – A soft shot intended to land in the kitchen, helping to set up your team for a strategic rally.
Erne – A sneaky shot taken outside the sideline, near the net, to surprise opponents.
ATP (Around the Post) – A shot that travels around the net post (instead of over the net) and lands inbounds.
Bert – A flying poach shot where a player crosses in front of their partner to attack the ball.
OPA! – A call signifying an open rally after the third shot has been played.
Pickled – When a team loses 11-0.
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