Google the phrase “America’s fastest-growing sport,” and you’ll learn a lot about something called “pickleball.” As The New York Times reported a year ago:

“Pickleball, often described as a combination of tennis, Ping-Pong and badminton, grew nearly 40 percent between 2019 and 2021, making it America’s fastest-growing sport.”

That’s not surprising, because it’s certainly popular here at Westminster-Canterbury of the Blue Ridge. And it’s likely to become more so, judging by the national trend.

Ask resident Ducie Minich, who is the designated contact person – and an enthusiastic booster – of the WCBR Pickleball Group. She loves to tell people about it and urge them to take up the sport.

Her group has a mailing list of about 20, and a dozen or so regular players, including a couple of local non-WCBR residents. They meet three times a week at Darden Towe Park in Charlottesville. About a year ago, the park converted three of its tennis courts into six pickleball courts. It’s just about a mile from our campus, so it’s easy for the group to carpool over for their regular games on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

It’s a great chance to get outdoors, be active and enjoy each other’s company – at any time of the year. “We’ve played in 29 degrees and we’ve played in 99 degrees,” says Ducie.

Still not clear on what it is? Here’s Wikipedia’s definition:

“Pickleball is an indoor or outdoor racket/paddle sport where two players (singles), or four players (doubles), hit a perforated hollow plastic ball over a 36-inch-high (0.91 m) net using solid-faced paddles. Opponents on either side of the net hit the ball back and forth until one side commits a rule infraction. Pickleball was invented in 1965 as a children’s backyard game on Bainbridge Island, Washington, US. In 2022, pickleball was adopted as the official state sport of Washington.”

But don’t just read about it. Ducie hopes you’ll come out and learn about it by trying it. “It’s not that complicated,” she says. “We can teach them the basics in about 20 minutes, and within half an hour they’re playing a game.”

Unlike tennis, which can take years to get good at – if you ever do. A lot of pickleballers are former tennis players, including Ducie, although she says “I haven’t played tennis in probably 60 years.” Why do that when there’s pickleball?

And while plenty of young people have been taking it up recently, the game has been from the start a perfect one for seniors

First, “There’s not a lot of running around,” Ducie says. The court is only a third the size of a tennis court – 40 feet by 20 feet – which means you can easily talk with the other players. And that’s one of the things the WCBR players love about it – it’s a very sociable sport.

And it helps to learn strategies that keep you on your feet. For instance, you “learn that you don’t run backwards,” Ducie says. “A fall, at least for an 80-year-old, is a scary thing.” But the WCBR group is careful, and despite the constant playing, they’ve learned to do it safely. But no, it’s not for everyone, and Ducie will tell you frankly if your legs aren’t up to it – and she says people understand when she tells them that.

But the range of people who can play is wide. “We have people with double knee replacements and hip replacements, and they’re playing perfectly,” says Ducie.

Ducie took it up about a decade ago, and was experienced by the time she moved to WCBR in 2017. And she was already playing here in Charlottesville – she and her husband had moved to the area from Florida in 1994.

Are there any drawbacks to pickleball? Ducie acknowledges one that bothers some people in other places: the noise. After all, it’s about people hitting a plastic whiffle ball with hard composite paddles. A huge retirement community in Florida – with about 150,000 residents, and 150 pickleball courts – has experienced tension between pickleballers and some of their neighbors.

For that reason, Ducie isn’t anxious to have a court actually here on the premises. She worries there isn’t room for it, and besides, Darden Towe Park is so convenient. Noise isn’t a problem there, and there’s plenty of room – she has seldom seen all of the courts in use at once.

Let her know if you’re interested, and she’ll enlist you in spreading the enthusiasm. “I’ve taught a good percentage of the people we play with. Now, they’re perfectly capable of teaching others,” she says. It’s a sport that “gives back.”