The world seems to have gone mad, MAD I tell you, for pickleball. Initially a laid back activity more like shuffleboard, it’s now morphed into a full-on high-energy, high-dollar phenom.
But not for Mary Anne nor yours truly. We’ve played twice, if playing it can be called, with our highly skilled and tolerant Scottsdale neighbors. Nevertheless, I feel obliged to promote pickleball because it really is good fun, and it originated right here on little old Bainbridge Island.
And don’t let any Kiwi tell you otherwise, like “Oh, Joe Bloggs was playing the game in Tutaenui back in 1937.”
But I digress.
I took photos of some pickle history when we visited the Founders Courts the other day. This is not, of course, where the game originated, but is a very nice public facility of six courts, with another six in the way.
Sorry I didn’t frame the pictures better. A bit of text got cut off at the bottom.
Do you realise that the literally translation of Tutaenui is “Big shit ” ? I bet you did !! 🥰
I did. It was hard to choose between that and Waimimi.
Near Masterton 🥰
Betsy McCallum, daughter of Barney, was a classmate all through grade school to high school. We were playing Pickleball at Queen Anne High School during lunch around 1974. My brother put in a Pickleball court in his backyard in 1980. We thought everyone knew about Pickleball back then. 🙂
I have both watched and smelled it being Pickle Ball being played indoors in Portland.
There was some talk of turning the Westminster Presbyterian Great Hall into PB courts, but higher thoughts and minds prevailed. The Fairleys are avid players. I will watch almost anyone play PB, if they’ll do the same for me at croquet!