I Found My Pickleball Passion in Eau Claire, Wisconsin

My tennis friends may think I'm abandoning them when they read today's story.  That's probably because there seems to be some kind of division between tennis players and pickleball players.  I see things differently.  For me, there's plenty of room to get along for those who play tennis exclusively, pickleball only or hybrid players like me who enjoy both sports.

The learning curve for tennis is much longer.  In fact, I didn't weaponize my tennis backhand until about six weeks ago when Jim, my captain for all my teams in multiple age groups, worked one-on-one with me to implement some minor changes that changed everything.

Maybe you're asking, "why does someone who grew up playing tennis want to play pickleball?"  The answer is simple..."I love my wife and I'm looking for activities we can do together."  Tennis is her spectator sport.  Give her a good book and she's quite comfortable cheering us on from the sidelines.  Pickleball is different.  My wife, like our daughter who played high school tennis with her first cousin, Amy, has an amazing backhand.  Unlike me who needed 49 years to master the backhand on the tennis courts, my wife started hitting great pickleball backhands on day one.  We discovered this in Eau Claire, Wisconsin where I was on a day job assignment.  

There is something else unique to pickleball.  It's community.  My friend, Jodi, one of the newly appointed pickleball leaders in our hometown, introduced our club's first FaceBook page yesterday.  Click here for the link.  She states, "Pickleball is for everyone from grandparents to the young... Pickleball is community."

Ask any of the 62 FaceBook followers who joined the group on the first day yesterday why they are jumping on the Pickleball Express Train, and they will tell you it's all about coming together for fun, exercise and quality time.  

I'm thankful for the visionaries I met in Eau Claire who showed me what's possible when you come together.  Our group will be showing up at City Hall on May 1 to ask for outdoor Pickleball courts at our community center located next door to our home.  Stay tuned.  Have a great day.