Downers Grove Magazine | #WeAreDG
Pandemic Pickleball A fun game and friendly competition bring out the best in a neighborhood BY MELISSA KINSEY PHOTOGRAPHY BY CAROLINA MENAPACE
M
y husband and I moved to Downers Grove a few years ago to be near our daughter’s family. We’ve made big moves before but never have we settled so easily into a community. Our new neighbors were friendly and welcoming, as had been promised about Midwesterners. We were all busy, though, with jobs and commutes and activities. A friendly wave or a quick chat over trash duty was about all we had time for. Then came the pandemic and associated restrictions. Things slowed down. People got creative. We watched families walking by in the middle of the street, tossing a football back and forth. A dad and son raced remote control cars in the little-used church parking lot. Nathan, the recent college graduate next door, hung a big net on his garage, laid down a patch of AstroTurf, and with a bucket
of balls started his own driveway driving range. Thwack! We heard him practicing for hours a day, often joined by his dad Rick and brother Brycen. Thwack! From early morning and often late into the evening he worked to perfect his swing. It was a welcome sound in the quiet of the pandemic. Spending more time at home we undertook a backyard project. With all of us outside more, we got to know Rick and the boys over the fence separating our yard from their driving range. Like-minded sports fans, we talked golf and baseball of course, but also books, art, gardening and the pandemic. In May we welcomed a puppy, a yellow lab named Dottie. The guys were just as excited as we were. Dottie quickly learned that the sound of club striking ball meant one of them would meet her at the fence for some much22
DOWNERS GROVE MAGAZINE
wanted attention. So, we connected with our neighbors over golf and Dottie and everything else that becomes important when the world slows down. One day I had an idea: maybe they’d play pickleball with us. We missed the weekly games we’d enjoyed with a big group, now canceled due to social distancing restrictions. But if each family stayed on their side of the net, we figured that would be safe. Rick was enthusiastic – he’d always wanted to play pickleball – and Nathan and Brycen were game too. They took to it quickly and soon we were engaging in the rapid back-and-forth that makes the game so much fun. We got to know them in a different way, less talk, more action. Rick revealed himself to be intensely competitive, refusing to let any shot go uncontested, not averse to a dramatic dive now and then. Nathan
