Charlotte Varcoe
A NEW sport is taking Mount Gambier/Berrin by storm with the first session of Pickleball Mount Gambier Club being held this week.
The sport is known to be similar to other racket or paddle sports where two players in singles or four use a paddle to hit a hollow plastic ball over a net about waist height.
This is done until one side is unable to return the ball or commits a rule infraction and can be played indoors or outdoors.
Pickleball Mount Gambier Club committee members Casey and Ben Kerin said they were thrilled with the first practice session which had about 20 people come and try the sport.
“Pickleball is a lot of fun and you can play it as fast or as slowly as you want or at your own pace,” Ms Kerin said.
“We heard about the sport from a friend who kept mentioning it and then we looked it up online and Ben went to Adelaide in December last year where he had the opportunity to have a look and he thought it was great.”
She said the local tennis club had a few ‘come and try’ nights for the sport earlier in the year with a number of people interested.
“We wanted to keep this going so we and two others started the Mount Gambier Pickleball Club,” Ms Kerin said.
“It is a sport people of all levels and abilities can do as well so if people do not want to run, they do not have to and they can play it just by walking and basing themselves at the net area.”
She said 14 of the people who attended on Monday night were new to the game and wanted to give it a shot.
“By the end of the night everybody was getting the hang of scoring and having little rallies back and forth with some great little games,” she said.
“Even the people who never played it before picked it up very quickly and we were able to have a few little rallies which was great and they just loved it.”
Ms Kerin said there was a small fee for those interested in joining with a six-dollar fee per player having to be paid for the first four weeks.
Following that, there was a membership fee of $70 under Pickle South Australia which covered insurance.
“That also allows them to play in tournaments but if people do not want to become a member it will be $10 per player per week after the first four weeks,” Ms Kerin said.
“We really just want people to come along and play because they do not have to do it competitively and depending on the number of people we get coming out we’ll see whether we can get some mini-competitions going.”
She said while the sport was big in America and in the eastern states of Australia, it was growing rapidly in South Australia.
“People do not need to have any background knowledge of tennis or squash or table tennis and are more than welcome to come and have a go,” she said.
Mount Gambier Pickleball Club is open on Monday nights from 7pm at the Mount Gambier High School gymnasium.
