The Pickleball Takeover

Part Two

Daniel Greilsheimer

editors@antonmediagroup.com

With more than 36 million players nationwide, pickleball has raced across the U.S., quickly becoming its fastest growing sport. In Great Neck, there are several locations to play, including the Jewish Community Center (JCC) of Great Neck and Allenwood Park.

The game, which is a combination of badminton, tennis and ping pong, is uniquely accessible for people of all ages and skill levels. The small dimensions of a pickleball court — one-fourth the size of a tennis court — are appealing to older crowds.

The rules are fairly simple, making the game easy to learn for beginners and very exciting at high levels. On each side of the court, there is a non-volley zone — known as the kitchen — which is closest to the net. The remaining parts of the court are divided vertically into a left and right service area — known as the odd and even courts.

To start each point, the ball is served diagonally into the opponent’s service court. The serve must be underhand. Here, the first major rule comes into play: the double bounce rule — following a serve, each side must hit one groundstroke before volleying the ball. As the point plays out, the other notable rule becomes important: balls cannot be vollied — hit out of the air without bouncing on the ground — when the player is standing in the non-volley zone.

Points can only be won by the serving player or team and are earned when the opposing side fails to return a ball or hits it out of play. After each point won on serve, the server switches between the odd and even courts. Pickleball matches are played to 11, win by two, creating a fast-paced, energetic environment.

Despite the smaller court size and relatively simple rules, injuries are still common, especially among older crowds.

“Pickleball is an easy game to pick up, and people just take it for granted. People just get out of the car and they start playing and if you’re not in good shape and you’re running around on the court, it’s very easy to strain a muscle,” said Roger Gerland, the Senior Director of Rehabilitation Services at Northwell Health STARS across their outpatient network and the team physical therapist at Hofstra University.

Gerland has seen injuries ranging from calf and hamstring pulls to wrist and hip fractures as a result of the sport. In fact, pickleball injuries are expected to cost Americans between $250 million and $500 million this year.

“One of the things that we do as a health system is identify needs in the community. One of the needs that we have just recently seen over the last couple years is an influx of pickleball injuries, not just in our physical therapy offices, but in our emergency rooms, as well as our physician offices,” said Gerland. “And as a result of this initiative, we felt the need to increase awareness of pickleball injury prevention, proper warm-up, proper training and conditioning.”

A full-body, active warm-up is important. To begin, Gerland recommends jogging around the court several times. Next, partaking in a series of active stretches, such as squats, leg swings, walking lunges with rotations and overhead arm movements, which may help to reduce injury.

Nonetheless, pickleball offers certain advantages over other racket sports.

“From a physical standpoint, I think it’s less physically challenging on your joints if we’re comparing it to racquetball… And if I’m comparing it to tennis, I think it’s less demanding on the shoulder than tennis is,” said Gerland.

As pickleball continues to explode, and shows no signs of stopping, remember to stretch before playing and to have fun.