Pickleballers Rejoice

What do you do when the Mayor invites you to a pickleball tournament? You go. Lisa Matichak told me about the new pickleball court that recently opened at Rengstorff Park. They were having an unofficial tournament and she wanted to know if I was interested in checking it out. The new court is at the far end of the park, right next to the parking lot of the Senior Center. 

The official opening of the court was last weekend. Pickleball is the fastest growing sport in the United States. NBC just published this story, Pickleball: The Fastest Growing Sport you’ve never heard of.  Oh good, it sounds like I wasn’t the only person who didn’t really know anything about it.

Everyone was so friendly and I think I might give it a try. One woman, Monica, seemed like she was the Pickleball Ambassador, and then I looked up the sport online and I see that she really is. Mercury News wrote this article “Pickleball Goddess on a mission to get more courts” and it looks like she might have accomplished her mission and got one here in Mountain View. Good job Monica!

The location of the new court in Rengstorff Park is perfect for playing in the morning. It’s shady early in the day. There’s plenty of parking at the back end of the Senior Center.

I was thinking about stopping by Swetka’s to see if they have pickleball rackets. Sure, I could just go to Amazon, but the pros that work at Swetka’s would be able to give me good advice and I would much rather support a local small business.

I watched a few youtube videos on pickleball before I went to the tournament and it seems like it’s a combination of tennis, ping pong and racketball. The court is one quarter the size of a tennis court, so the game is less strenuous than tennis. Oh, speaking of tennis… I walked past the tennis courts as I was leaving Rengstorff Park.

The game of tennis seems so serious, compared to pickleball. I could hear the one of the tennis players grunting as they hit the ball, no real laughing or chit chat. I guess that’s because their court is much larger and the game is more physically demanding. I really couldn’t help but think how social and friendly those pickleballers were. They were enthusiastic about greeting me and I felt welcome, even though I had zero experience. They totally seem like the kind of people I would want to hang out with. If you want to get involved, stop by the new court on Tuesday or Thursday at 10:00 am.