Well, let me tell you, I been hearin’ a lot about this here pickleball thing lately. Seems like everyone and their dog is playin’ it. My neighbor, Mildred, she’s got a whole group that goes down to the community center and plays. Says it’s a hoot and a half. Now, we got plenty of old tennis courts around here, just sittin’ there, gatherin’ dust. Got me thinkin’, can you use a tennis court for pickleball?
I seen them young folks with their fancy paddles and that little plastic ball with the holes in it. Looks like a shrunk-down tennis game to me. Mildred, she tried to explain the rules, but lawsy, it went right over my head. Something about a kitchen and dinking. All I know is they sure do giggle a lot when they play.
So, I did a little pokin’ around, asked a few folks who seem to know about these things. Turns out, you kinda can use a tennis court for pickleball. Ain’t that somethin’? Just gotta make a few changes, I reckon. Here is what I found out about it.
- First thing, that there tennis net, it’s too high. Gotta lower that sucker down. They say 34 inches in the middle is what you need for pickleball. Now, how you gonna do that without a whole lot of fuss? I don’t rightly know. Maybe tie it up with some rope or somethin’.
- Then there’s the lines. Pickleball court’s smaller than a tennis court. Like a baby brother to a big ol’ daddy. You gotta mark out the new lines. Some folks use tape, the kind that won’t mess up the court. Others, they just paint new lines right on there. Now, if you’re gonna do that, you better be sure you know what you’re doin’. Don’t want to ruin a perfectly good tennis court, even if nobody’s usin’ it much these days.
Now, here’s the real kicker. You can fit, get this, four pickleball courts on one tennis court! Four! That’s a whole lotta pickleballin’ goin’ on. Imagine all them folks out there, whackin’ that little ball around. Be a regular party, I reckon. But you need to make sure the tennis court is the right size. I think they call it regulation. Some are too small to put four courts on.
They say each pickleball court needs to be 20 feet wide and 44 feet long. But then you need some extra space around it, so folks don’t go bumpin’ into each other. They call that “overruns,” like when you cook too much stew and it spills over the pot. So, you need about 30 feet wide and 60 feet long for each court, all in. Make sure your tennis court is 60 feet by 120 feet if you want to fit four courts.
Seems like a good way to get folks out and about, movin’ their bones. Better than sittin’ around watchin’ them soap operas all day. Lord knows, I do enough of that myself. Maybe I’ll even give it a try myself. Mildred says it’s easy to learn. We’ll see about that. My knees ain’t what they used to be. But it does look like a whole lot of fun, and who doesn’t need more fun, especially these days?
I asked Mildred if you could just use the tennis net without doing anything to it. She said you sure could. I see people doing that all the time around here. Of course, you still need the lines for pickleball. And the net will be a little higher than normal. But it still works, she said. So there you go. You don’t have to mess with the net if you don’t want to.
Heard some folks sayin’ it’s a good way to use them old tennis courts that ain’t gettin’ much love these days. Tennis ain’t as popular as it used to be, ‘cept maybe on the television. Seems like everybody’s playin’ pickleball now. It’s like that hula hoop craze a few years back, ‘cept this one might actually stick around for a while.
So, if you got an old tennis court just sittin’ there, and you’re lookin’ for somethin’ to do with it, maybe turnin’ it into a pickleball court is the way to go. Could be a real boon for the community. Get folks together, young and old, havin’ a good time. And who knows, maybe you’ll even discover you’re a natural-born pickleball player. Stranger things have happened, I reckon.
Now, I ain’t no expert on this pickleball stuff. Just a regular person passin’ on what I heard. But it does seem like a pretty good idea to me. And if Mildred can do it, well, maybe there’s hope for the rest of us. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think there’s a rerun of Matlock on, and I don’t want to miss it.
