Activity: Pickleball
Goal: To improve Pickleball Skills and build Social Connectedness
I am newly retired and have met many new retirees at our local Senior’s center, some of whom are new to town. In casual conversations we have talked about how some of us were tennis or badminton players in our earlier years and that it would great to get together and try playing pickleball outside during the summer. We wanted to get some exercise together as well as socialize and make new friendships. Our town only has 2 outdoor city courts and they are usually occupied. Plus they were slated by the city to be resurfaced. A local private school has their own outdoor hockey rink and they allowed someone the paint the lines for 4 outdoor pickleball playing surfaces. The private school board gave permission to us to use the space for the summer, provided we purchased our own portable pickleball nets. Thank you so much neighborhood grant program for helping us make this happen. The nets we purchased came with American Standard Pickleball guide books and so not only did we.practice together, we studied the rules snd watched videos on how to play. We met once a week for 2 to 3 hours, set up our portable nets and had a wonderful time. We incressed our physical activity, made social connections, and had great laughs. We had varying abilities at the start as some people had never played a raquet sport before and some were advanced tennis players who.also tried pickleball in urban places where the lived in their working lives. group grew in size over the course of the summer as people brought friends and family who wanted to try the sport. In addition to purchasing nets we also bought extra paddles with our funds so that people new to the sport could join right in with us. Thanks again NSG!
