How pickleball proponents can be receptive to fresh faces

Emily Burnett is the creator of The Pickleball Times, where she writes about the bigger picture of pickleball — the people, the stories, the industry, the magic of it all. Capturing what makes it a great sport for almost everyone, and writing to help keep it that way.

A friend I’ll call Phoebe recently played pickleball for the first time. She and a close friend went to a city park and laughed their way through the whole experience, including making up their own rules. They loved it. She knew they looked ridiculous, but it didn’t sound like the courts were full that night and no one interfered in their fun.

It was a different story the next time they played, however. This time they were reprimanded by a court regular for not rotating off the court at the end of a game or game-time-equivalent. While rotating off is etiquette at most courts, it sounds like the woman could’ve been nicer about her approach with obvious beginners.

Phoebe is cool, and handled the semi-negative experience with class. But I heard in her voice a bit of sadness over the fact that the happy-go-lucky pickleball days had come to an end. She and her friend concluded with some regret that they had better figure out how to actually play this game, but feel a bit stymied about how to go about that since neither of them has any intention of getting amazing at the game.

Her conclusion was that she did actually need some guidance on getting into pickleball (good thing her friend wrote a guide about just such a thing), and her experiences have given me some important new things to add to it.

Phoebe’s experience is not an isolated instance. 

On nearly every court I’ve visited, I see newer players (usually in twos) floating around the edges of the court, playing some version of 1:1 pickleball, but not feeling comfortable playing with others. 

They go in off-peak hours so they don’t have to worry about navigating the paddle racks and bossy regulars. Even with all my experience breaking into pickleball, I understand this hesitation — a crowded court of mixed abilities can be an intimidating prospect for even the friendly among us.

Beginners lurk in Facebook groups, and are eager to respond when another new or prospective player is brave enough to ask a question or express interest in playing more with other beginners. 

Or maybe players are not exactly new to the game. They might be new to town or the friends they’ve played with have moved away and this makes them the “new” kid on a new court.

Even when the majority of players on community courts are welcoming and nice to even beginners or newcomers, it’s intimidating for many people to break into a new court or sport. 

It all begs the question: how do we make sure this game stays friendly to those just learning? How do new players or newcomers find people to play with and integrate at community courts at their desired play level? Here are a few ideas.

Ideas for individuals:

• Find free classes. Most pickleball facilities (paid clubs) offer at least one free class for beginners.
• Read the signs at your city courts so you know how things work there. This is one of those situations where the posted rules of etiquette are actually relevant, and not meaningless rules posted 23 years ago for liability purposes.
• Do your research, ask questions, talk to people at parks. The Guide for Getting into Pickleball can help you navigate this.

For communities and facilities:

• One facility has a Welcome court, where any newcomer to the facility or game knows they’ll be met by someone friendly and welcoming.
• Community organizations like Pikes Peak Pickleball Association in Colorado Springs often offer things like beginner lessons, weekly round robins for every level starting at 2.0, and guided play for new players. 
• One club in Sandy, Utah was recently running a promotion called “Three for Free” which included one free intro lesson and two free passes to join open play. Making it easy for beginners to play a couple times after the introductory class and perhaps meet people to continue playing with is smart.
• Someone at PickleCon was sharing that their community courts have paid Parks & Rec employees ensuring things run smoothly at their community courts. If this was you, or your community does something similar, let me know—I’d love to know more.

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Given the roots and spirit of it, I’m of the opinion that this game in particular ought always to have room for the casual player, ensuring that happy amateurs, families with young kids, and people of all ages and abilities can still get onto courts and have fun.

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This article originally appeared on The Pickleball Times and Triple Crown Sports/PickleCon is happy to share it with our readers here with permission.