teens

BEC MING A PICKLEBALL POWERHOUSE

As the game grows in popularity, Southwest Florida teens are picking it up and taking home the gold. | BY ANDREA STETSON

Morgan Brown, 13, practices pickleball at Veterans Community Park in Naples. Morgan plays in tournaments, takes lessons and practices after school.

Pickleball isn’t just for retirees. It’s a sport that’s gaining momentum among children and teenagers, too. Many local teens have become so proficient at the sport that they are winning medals in tournaments around Florida and the nation.

Morgan Brown, 13, of Naples, has been playing pickleball for three years. She has numerous medals, including ones from the national championships in Palm Springs, California, and the Southern Tropics Tournament in East Naples.

She began playing at age 10 be-

Jorja Johnson and Morgan Brown stand on top of the podium wearing their gold medals after winning the women’s 3.5 division at the Southern Tropics Tournament in East Naples in March. cause her mom and other family members were enjoying the sport.

“I would play with my family a little bit because my family was obsessed with it,” Morgan says. “But I had no hand-eye coordination then.”

She wasn’t serious about the sport until a player was injured at one of her mom’s tournaments.

“I would always go to my mom’s tournaments, and then one day someone fell on the courts and then someone asked me to play,” Morgan says. “If that person didn’t fall, I never would have gotten to play.”

That first tournament sparked a greater interest for Morgan. She began taking lessons, joining youth clinics and spending hours practicing. “I used to play every day in the mornings, but now because of school, I don’t play as much,” she admits. “Homework takes up so much of my time.” Still Morgan manages to get in some practice and win games — and even place among the top players in tournaments. In November 2019, she medaled in Junior Girls Singles and Junior Girls Doubles at the USA Pickleball National Championships in Palm Springs, California. In early March, she and partner Jorja Johnson won gold at the 3.5 level in Women’s Doubles in the Southern Tropics Tournament at East Naples Community Park.

Jorja, 14, won another gold medal in October at the 3.5 level in the Texas Open Pickleball Championships. Jorja has been playing for three years and was introduced to the sport by a friend.

“I just think that anyone can pick it up,” Jorja says. “I think anybody can play it, not necessarily at a high level, but you can just pick up games and you don’t have to schedule. I like pickleball because I get to play with all my friends and meet so many new people. It’s just great. I love it.”

Jorja practices about three times a week for three hours at a time.

“It depends on how much homework I have,” she says.

The tournament in Texas was the first time Jorja had competed in singles. With the pandemic, many tournaments are keeping people separated by having only singles divisions.

“This is my first time playing a singles tournament, but I really liked it. I thought it was fun,” she says.

Morgan says she prefers playing doubles.

“I play singles just for fun and I played at nationals, but it is not my favorite thing to do,” Morgan says. “I like doubles better. If you get mad, you have someone to cheer you up.”

Yet just being on the court is cheery for Morgan.

“I don't like running, so it doesn't require a lot of running,” she says. “It is more fun than tennis. I like the paddle better. I have more control when I hit the ball soft rather than hard. You can meet so many different people. It is such a social game.”

Morgan especially likes dinking the ball gently into the court’s kitchen area.

“Dinking is so much easier than banging,” she says. “Banging, the ball usually will come back faster. So you have to have fast hands for that. The dinking is having the control, getting it where you want, getting it low enough, getting it where they can’t attack it.”

Morgan is now rated as a 4.0 player. Getting there took a lot of work. She does cardio exercises, sideways running sprints and she watches a lot of pickleball videos.

“She (her instructor) makes me do cardio,” Morgan says. “I don’t like that, but it has definitely helped me. Going side to side on the courts has definitely helped me. And if it hits the nets and rolls down, you have to be able to get that ball.”

Those strategies help her when she plays for fun and during tournaments. Morgan enjoys competing but says tournaments can be stressful at first.

“When you first get there and you see everyone there, I get nervous at first,” Morgan admits. “Once I am warmed up, I am fine. I am playing for fun.”

She also gets help from her dad, despite his death several years ago.

“When I do get nervous,” she says, “I just think of my dad because he always calms me down, like he is watching over me.”

Morgan’s mother, Sharon, loves that her daughter plays pickleball.

“It gets them out of the house and off the computers and it is something you can do as a family,” she says. “Moms and dads play, and some grandparents play, so the whole family can play together. It is a good wholesome sport and we just enjoy it.”

Justin Oster, 14, of Naples, has been playing pickleball for four years and has also competed in tournaments.

“I like playing with other people,” he says. “You improve your athletic skills. It’s now the fastest growing sport in the states. It is a fun overall game.”

Morgan has some tips for teens who want to play.

“Stay positive,” she says. “If you get down on yourself, you play horrible the rest of the game, which I learned the hard way. Everything is difficult, but it is also easy.”

The teenagers all recommend pickleball to other teens.

“I would tell them to play because it is fun and it gets them outside and it is not a hard game to learn,” Morgan explains. “It is a hard game to get really good at, but once you get the aspect of hitting the ball over the net, it is really easy to learn.”

“It’s just a great sport to pick up with your friends,” Jorja says. “It is fun to do especially since everything is closed down with the pandemic, but pickleball is open and you get lots of great exercise.”

WHAT IS PICKLEBALL? Pickleball is a sport that combines elements of tennis, badminton and pingpong and is played both indoors and outdoors with a paddle and plastic ball with holes.

History: Pickleball was invented in 1965 on Bainbridge Island near Seattle. Three dads invented the game for their bored children and named the sport after their dog. Court: The game is played on a court that is 44 feet long and 20 feet wide. There is a 7-foot nonvolley zone, called the kitchen, on either side of the 36-inch-high net.

HOW TO PLAY:

•Pickleball can be played as either singles or doubles, though doubles are much more popular. •Serve must be underhand and the ball must land diagonally crosscourt in the area between the non-volley zone and the baseline. •Points are only scored by the serving team. •Games are normally played to 11 points, win by 2. •If a point is scored, the server switches sides and serves from that side. •When the first server loses the serve, the partner then serves. (The first serving side of the game has only the first server and when the point is lost the serve goes to the other side.) •The second server continues serving until their team loses the point and then the serve goes to the opposing team. •Once the service goes to the opposing team (at side out), the first serve is from the righthand court and both players on that team can serve and score points until their team commits two faults. •When the ball is served, the receiving team must let it bounce before returning, and then the serving team must let it bounce before returning, thus two bounces. •After the ball has bounced once in each team’s court, both teams may either volley the ball (hit the ball before it bounces) or play it off a bounce (groundstroke). •The two-bounce rule eliminates the serve and volley advantage and extends rallies. •The nonvolley zone is the court area within 7 feet on both sides of the net where volleying is prohibited. This rule prevents players from executing smashes from a position within the zone. •A dink is a soft shot on a bounce. An effective dink arcs downward as it crosses the net creating a more difficult shot to return. •An overhead smash is a hard, overhand shot directed downward into the opponent’s court, usually as a return of an opponent’s lob, high return or high bounce. •A lofted shot sends the ball high overhead and deep. •The drop is a soft shot hit off a bounce from deep in the court, intended to land in the opponent’s kitchen preferably close to the net. •Groundstrokes are typically the most powerful and most accurate shot, therefore, the most used from at or near the baseline. •Volleys are a ball hit in the air before it bounces onto the court. •If you lose 11-0 you have been pickled.