Paddle Passion
Member Steve Bernstein explains how pickleball, a blend of tennis, badminton and table tennis, is helping him stay sharp on the court.
Growing up in Brooklyn, I played handball and paddle ball. My parents had four boys, two sets of twins, and we were playing every day.
I was always into ball sports, and when I went to college, I started to pick up racquetball. I played at Boston University and competed in a lot of tournaments. When I moved to Japan, I picked up squash because it was very hard to find places to play racquetball here.
I joined the Club in 1994 and played a lot of squash and basketball. Back in the old days, we had the basketball court right next to the squash courts—similar to how it is now—and I would go play squash, then basketball, then back to squash. Finally, my knees would be killing me. I was a young man, so I knew they would heal, but I remember saying to myself, “One day, I’m going to be paying for this.” Sure enough, after all those years of sports, my knees are not in great condition.
While I was in Hong Kong, I heard about this sport called pickleball. It’s been around a long time, but not many people have heard of it. It started getting popular three or four years ago. Even [former NFL quarterback] Tom Brady bought a Major League Pickleball team last year. I thought it sounded like the perfect sport for me. Because you’re playing doubles and the court is smaller, you’re not running around like in tennis, so it’s not so hard on your knees.
As soon as I tried it, I knew this was a sport more people should be playing, older people especially. And what I realized is that it’s a very social game. You can play with kids, men and women can play mixed doubles, and you laugh a lot. You get a workout, you definitely get your heart rate up, but it’s not like an hour of tennis or basketball.
It’s also very easy to pick up. You can learn the rules in five minutes. Anyone can hit the ball, and anyone can just join in. A while back, there were three of us who wanted to play, but we needed a fourth. I brought my wife, who has played some squash but never pickleball. She felt a little intimidated because she had not played before, but right away she was doing fine.
From a fitness perspective, I think back to my father. When he was my age, I’m 62, he wasn’t exercising. Back then, people didn’t really exercise when they got older. Now, people want to, but maybe they can’t play tennis, for example. Pickleball is a good substitute.
Pickleball has given me a chance to continue playing racket sports when I thought I would have to give up. I feel like I can play another 15 or 20 years. And that makes me happy.
As told to INTOUCH’s C Bryan Jones.
Top Image of Steve Bernstein: Clara Garcia
