Pickleball is more than a pastime

If you ask West Seattle residents Ed Johnstone, 89, Shoko Tanaka, 81, and Ken Gifford, 87, what racket they are in, they will probably tell you “pickleball.” And they are champs, too.

The sport is like tennis, but is played indoors with paddles. It’s like volleyball, but the ball has holes in it like a Wiffle Ball. And while some may say the ball resembles a round pickle, the sport was actually named after Washington State Congressman Joel Pritchard’s cocker spaniel named “Pickles,” who chased the ball when the congressman was developing the sport on Bainbridge Island the summer of 1965.

“We used to play marbles upstairs in the old gymnasium here,” said Gifford, referring to the Hiawatha Gym, where the three play pickleball three times a week. They play volleyball at Southwest Community Center twice a week, too. I’ve played tennis all my life. Pickleball is faster and you play more at the net. But it hurts your tennis game because you come up at the net.

“I retired 16 years ago from the Bank of Tokyo,” said Tanaka. “I played pickleball here ever since. I fish for salmon in Alaska. I fly-fish. I golf. I’m going to South Dakota to bike.”

“I’m from California, and came up here to join my grandkids in ’88 and met Ken and have played pickleball ever since,” said Johnstone, who won a bronze medal in doubles in Arizona National Seniors Games this summer after winning state iat the Lakewood Community Center. “If Ken had been there we would have won it. I had to play with a partner I didn’t know.”

“I have played pickleball a few times, and it's a great support, superior to tennis because the rallies are longer, equipment cheaper, doubles the preferred game, and one gets a fine workout in an hour without having to chase the damn ball all over the tennis grounds,” former national paddleball and racquetball champ Steve Keeley told the West Seattle Herald. Keeley was most active between 1974-1980. “The sport allows men to compete with women, and sports history shows that's always a success.”

UPDATE: After posting this story, the author has been offered strong evidence in comments below that pickleball was not named after a cocker spaniel.