Can You Say...'Pickleball Champion'

Right now...105 Hours Remaining...Rick's ReFlections of his 32 years career in the Fire Service...

Obie...thinking...I can beat this guy!

On ‘Shift 9’ I mentioned volleyball as one of my favorite PT time activities. Today’s activity…Pickleball. You say…Pickle what? You read it right… ‘Pickleball’! A game that was created back in the 60’s has become a craze around the country, especially Florida which has one location with over 100 courts. But it has also been a craze around the FD for the past 6 years or so.

 

Just ask Obie…oh wait, he doesn’t play anymore. Perhaps he’ll be able to start again this coming season. It was more than 3 years ago when Obie got on the PA to announce “Pickleball at 3:30”…(a pause)… then he says, “except for Rick!” Not that I would ever say that he’s a sore loser or anything :) it’s just that he doesn’t like losing. And losing is all he was able to do when he played this 20+ year OLD dude. Well…to be fair to him…actually no one has ever beat this dude in singles. Poor young boys…they just couldn’t handle "The Old Man's" stuff :) They came close a couple times. Ole John C (then 23 years old) had me down 9 to zero this past summer. The game is played to 11, so…I had to put the after burners on and get down to business to save my reputation. And oh … as well, I did switch from my right, to my stronger  - left hand. Sorry John :(

The court…a 20 by 44 foot area of pavement which is about 1/3 of a Tennis court. It is played with a hard paddle like that of a ping pong paddle, but the size of a racket ball racket. The net is a bit lower than that of Tennis. And…well…it can be loads of fun. OK, so maybe it’s more fun for this guy with…skillllllsssss. I’m just saying :)