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We Recommend: Culture, News + Reviews

No Big Dill By Abigail Morici

If someone were to ask you what’s the fastest-growing sport in America, what would your answer be? If you answered pickleball, congratulations, you must be a blast at trivia night. And if you think that pickleball involves throwing a pickle across the kitchen table, then you must be a di erent kind of blast at trivia night.

In all seriousness, if you haven’t heard of the game played with paddles and a perforated ball, you aren’t alone. When Taylor Taylor, founder of PickleMania, rst heard of the game, she says, “I laughed. I thought it was the weirdest sounding thing.” Taylor played tennis professionally for 20 years until, a er a few knee surgeries, her doctor told her to stop. “I was sort of freaking out. Like, oh gosh, what am I gonna do now? I’ve been doing this since I was 10 years old.”

Fortunately, a friend pushed her to start playing pickleball. ough she was hesitant at rst, Taylor says, “I was just hooked from the rst day. … en I started thinking about what I wanted to do for the second half of my life. I have a master’s in clinical social work. I had written my thesis … about teaching life lessons through sport.

“I woke up in the middle of the night thinking, oh my gosh, pickleball is the perfect sport because it’s so easy. e learning curve is very small compared to something like tennis. … I always say, nothing is sore in my body when I play pickleball except for my face because I’ve been smiling the entire time, even when I’m getting my booty kicked.”

Out of this idea came the nonpro t PickleMania, which teaches pickleball to under-resourced kids while implementing a curriculum of social-emotional learning, based on adverse-childhood-experience research. So far, the program has been implemented in three Universal Parenting Places. And, since the pandemic, the organization has painted more than 30 pickleball courts in driveways, and it hopes to work in charter schools with kids in summer school this summer. e organization also o ers pickleball lessons outside of its nonpro t e orts. Basically, “ e people who can pay for lessons pay for the people who can’t.”

To raise more money, PickleMania is hosting a pickleball tournament in a round-robin style in partnership with Church Health on March 26th. at Friday, there will be an exhibition and pro-am featuring professional player Kyle Yates. Tickets for one or both of the days can be purchased at picklemania.org/events.

PHOTO: BEN HERSHEY | UNSPLASH

PICKLE & PARTY, MEMPHIS HUNT & POLO CLUB, 650 S. SHADY GROVE, FRIDAY, MARCH 25, 5-8 P.M. | SATURDAY, MARCH 26, 9 A.M.-2 P.M.

VARIOUS DAYS & TIMES March 24th - 30th

“Beyond Van Gogh”

Graceland Exhibition Center, opens Friday, March 25 Be completely immersed in more than 300 of the greatest works of Vincent Van Gogh as his art is liberated from its two-dimensional limitations into a three-dimensional experience that exhilarates every sense and brings to life one of the most in uential artists the world has known.

Whiskey Warmer

Shelby Farms Park Event Center, Friday, March 25, 6-9 p.m., $49 Bundle up with great whiskey and great people to welcome in the warmer weather. Bringing together 40 labels of whiskey, bourbon, and Scotch. Bene ting Volunteer Memphis. is event is strictly 21+.

Soul Kids

Crosstown eater, Saturday, March 26, 7-10 p.m., $15 Memphis premiere of the lm Soul Kids, featuring in-person Q&A with director Hugo Sobelman and subjects of the lm, plus a performance from 926, the Stax Music Academy Alumni Band.

Soul Kids is a behind-the-scenes look at the Stax Music Academy, which continues the legacy of Stax Records, the legendary ’60s soul label. By learning and understanding soul music in a er-school programs, teenagers embark into the BlackAmerican legacy and open themselves to new future prospects. Put simply, Soul Kids is a musical odyssey through history and the concerns of a new generation.

Taste of Fitness

Old Dominick Distillery, 305 S. Front, Sunday, March 27, 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m., $25-$45 is event o ers 25-minute “tastes” of di erent workouts available throughout the greater Memphis area. e workouts will range from HIIT to yoga, from cycle to barre, and everything in between.

Each ticket gets you a taste of your choice of workouts, a tasting tour of the distillery, unlimited health and wellness experiences at vendor booths, and a tote with gi s from vendors and sponsors. Fuel Food Truck will be on-site.

Attendees can arrive any time, stay as long as desired, and attend any class. Attendance is rst-come, rst-served.