The backyard game that’s sweeping the nation is also rooting itself into AVP culture. What is it about beach volleyball and pickleball?
It seems like everyone is playing this once-obscure sport whose popularity surged during Covid. Pickleball is fun, outdoorsy, cooperative, and can accommodate any skill level. Pickleball is a racket sport with a net similar to tennis, a court similar to badminton, and a paddle just a little bigger than in ping pong. It’s played with two or four people and a holey ball, basically a larger Wiffle ball. The point structure is slightly different from other racket sports, but it’s essentially life-size table tennis.
The best part about pickleball is how diverse the age and fitness level of the players are. Though it was originally a backyard game for kids, it’s now everywhere, from public parks to retirement villages. It’s a bonafide lifetime sport.
The AVP athletes have also picked up on the pickleball trend. I tried a few months ago to no avail; rackets aren’t my thing. But in general, the skills needed in pickleball mirror those that make a good volleyball player. Plus, the low impact and even lower barrier to entry make it a perfect cross-training activity. Just ask Casey Patterson.
“I started playing pickleball in the mornings super early in the off-season,” the three-time 2021 AVP finalist says. “Usually, I don’t play anything in the off-season because I’d get hurt playing basketball. Pickleball ignited a fire for me. It was like being a veteran at competing but a 12-year-old learning a new sport. It was seriously like Marty Mcfly taking the Almanac back to the past.”
With newfound passion, the ultra-competitive Olympian took his game to the next level. “I started drilling and focusing on specific aspects of the game,” Casey continues. “I felt like it gave me a youthful feeling again. It simulates the multi-directional footwork drills I used to do in the gym. Plus, the speed of the ball and hand-eye coordination required is a perfect crossover. You need to stay low and read the different heights and speeds of the game the whole time. It’s like playing defense in the sand. It’s a perfect in- and off-season sport to stay light and balanced.”
All AVP fans saw the energy and finesse Casey brought to the 2021 season. Dare I say pickleball is his secret weapon? Regardless of whether it is indeed his secret sauce, Casey is happy to find another passion. He’s so in love with the game that he’s hosting a podcast about it for the next six weeks.
Of course, Casey’s not the only AVP affiliate talking about pickleball. Camryn Irwin is literally talking about it. Last fall, she called the USA Pickleball National Championships, among other professional tourneys. She got in early on the broadcast of a fast-growing sport not just because it was a promising professional opportunity. Camryn’s a dedicated player, as well.
Yeung Photography
“I love that you’re doing this story because there’s so much overlap between pickleball and volleyball,” Camryn tells me from her car as she drives to Indian Wells for the pro tennis tournament. “All I ever talk about is how similar they are, not just the sports themselves but also the growth and competition. There are so many parallels.”
Camryn picked up the sport in just the last year. She had no idea how to play or any of the rules until a friend steered her toward the ever-educational YouTube (the McKibbins would be proud). Once a talented indoor player, Camryn suffered a career-ending spine injury a few years ago. She’s played volleyball on and off recreationally for years, but jumping isn’t an option most days. Enter pickleball – the perfect volleyball-adjacent sport for her to scratch her competitive itch.
“It’s just really complementary to beach,” Camryn adds. “It’s this aggressive, fast-paced sport that requires a ton of strategy. You don’t have to jump; it’s a ton of flexibility and core strength, different arm movements, but still very similar.” Camryn was hooked soon after her first pickleball practice. “It’s been pretty much an obsession since then.”
Camryn’s experience isn’t unique to her. The people who love pickleball LOVE it. It becomes an addiction, something they talk about all the time. “I play pickleball” is the “I’m Vegan” declaration of the 2020s. I know many people who have picked up and fallen in love with the game almost instantly.
Sarah Pavan and her husband Adam Schulz are avid participants; they often play at the courts in Hermosa. Sometimes my fiance, AVP announcer Mark Schuermann, will join them. Sarah Sponcil’s parents have a court in their driveway in Phoenix. Sponcil recently went home and played for the first time. You guessed it; she’s in love, as well.
Kim Jagd, a former UCLA indoor volleyball coach and beach player, is now a professional on the senior pickleball scene. I had a blast talking to her, and she helped me learn even more about the growing popularity of the game.
Photo by Steve Taylor
“Our society is in an instant gratification mode,” Kim says. “Pickleball is instant gratification. Anybody can get on the court, and within ten minutes of an explanation and hitting a ball around, they can play a game. A 70-year-old can go out with his 10-year-old grandson and have fun with this game instantly.”
Kim quite literally happened upon the sport; one morning on a hike, she heard the *thwack, thwack, thwack* of a group of nearby pickleballers and just had to investigate. A few years later, she was training five-six times a week and traveling the country as a professional on one of the most robust senior sport tours in the world.
Though Kim’s background as a young tennis prodigy is the most significant aid to her game, two decades of volleyball has certainly helped her pick it up quickly. “The similarities,” she says, “besides the paddle, are many. Pickleball is primarily doubles, the movement and patterns are the same, defense is kind of the same in terms of angles and the way you want to handle things.”
“Communication is prime,” she continues. “Obviously I bring a lot of that from my volleyball.” Kim noticed the players who came from tennis were much quieter; they come from a majority solo sport with mostly inner dialogue. Kim – who drilled communication into her indoor volleyball players for 18 years in Westwood – is the first to yell “mine!” as the ball crosses the net.
Years in two tough sports like volleyball and tennis may have given Kim an edge, but the game lends itself to universal enjoyment. “You take volleyball or tennis,” Kim says, “it takes years to learn a proper arm swing. The learning curve [in pickleball] is short. Not to become a pro, but anybody can go learn to play in five minutes.”
“And because of that, the rallies and the fun happen right away and over and over again. You get an endorphin rush 60 times in an hour! People are always like, ‘Ok, just one more game!’ or ‘Let’s meet tomorrow at 8 and play again.’ It’s an always thing, and it’s super social. We needed that, especially in Covid.”
After all the pickleball love, I may just need to try my hand at it again.