![]() ![]() He credits the sport for keeping him active. He has been playing pickleball regularly for five years, despite the fact that he has Parkinson’s disease. Seventy-nine-year-old Ken Fox is also an inspiration to many. That’s my dream: to be 82 and flying around the court like that.” I watch one 82-year old woman who is out there playing all of the time. “I’m so inspired by the older people who play. Soon she was playing two to three hours every day and her ankle pain disappeared. As a 40-something, she is a bit younger than many of the players at the Central Park rec center, but she decided to take up pickleball when she was recovering from a broken ankle. Those quick games are one of the things that appealed to Joey Holland, who has organized a Central Park pickleball Facebook page. The first team to score 11 points-with at least a two-point margin-wins, so often it means a player can play four to five games with several new partners and new opponents in just two hours. Unlike tennis, where players usually arrive at the courts knowing who they are going to play, with pickleball, players can show up alone and instantly get into a rotation of playing with new teams. In fact, it’s that community-building aspect that players repeatedly mention when they talk about what they love about the game. You get exercise, but most importantly, it’s the social aspect that really keeps people coming back.” He’s not surprised at the sport’s meteoric rise. Seventy-one-year old Arslan says he’s become addicted to the fast-paced game and plays five to seven days a week, often for three to four hours at a time. ![]() They want the center to paint the kind of permanent lines that are found at other rec centers. Pickleball players at the Central Park Rec Center say the cloth markers that delineate the court boundaries pose a tripping hazard. Most say they’ve been wanting to learn but they didn’t know where to go,” says Devor. “We have lots of people who are retired, but we also have younger people who come on their lunch break and college kids who come when they’re home on vacation. They had no idea it would be such a success. The two women said they would volunteer to give free, informal lessons during the first two hours of the pickleball sessions. Devor and her friend, Dorothy Schepps, convinced Central Park rec center officials to set up six pickleball courts in the gym every Monday and Wednesday from 9 a.m. Jan Devor is part of an active pickleball community in Central Park that is advocating for additional resources. It’s a community-driven process, but we have to find balance between tennis, basketball, volleyball, other recreational programs and pickleball.” We’ve built pickleball courts that were old tennis courts. Martinez says he hears the pickleball players “loud and clear” but he must manage multiple recreational interests in determining where to invest infrastructure dollars. Perhaps nowhere is that more evident than in Northeast Denver where players are clamoring for more court time. Over the past five years, Denver Parks and Recreation has developed seven outdoor locations with 28 pickleball courts and 18 indoor locations with 45 courts.Īrslan Guney (facing camera) spends several days a week at Denver rec centers, volunteering his time to teach new players the fundamentals of pickleball.Īnd still it’s not enough. It is popular among active senior citizens, but also among millennials and even children. The paddle sport, which was created more than five decades ago, uses a court that is smaller than a tennis court and is usually played as doubles. “I haven’t seen anything take off this fast and get so many people so excited,” said John Martinez, Denver’s deputy executive director of recreation. Pickleball, which is a cross between tennis and ping pong, is delighting players of all ages even as it’s causing challenges for municipal recreation departments. It may have a funny-sounding name, but it’s the fastest growing sport across the nation and in Denver. Jan Devor (white shirt) volunteers twice a week at the Central Park Recreation Center, teaching new players the rules of the game. He says the sport makes him feel younger and more fit. Seventy-nine year old Ken Fox (foreground) plays pickleball several times a week, despite having Parkinson’s disease. ![]()
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