They’re not gherkin you around. Pickleball has been having a moment, and now it’s finally coming to Abilene.
Well, let’s back up. At 61 years-old, pickleball has been played before in Abilene, mostly on tennis courts and college campuses the last couple of years. But by summer’s end, the Key City will be set to open its first facility solely dedicated to the sport.
PickleTex is the idea of Ryan Connor who just opened this first pickleball club down in Georgetown. So why the leap to Abilene? Like many things in life, it’s all about family.
“I’ve got a son that works there, and we have a daughter that is a student at ACU,” he said by phone Thursday. “So we’ve been spending more and more time there.”
Building out their Georgetown facility, which opened this week, had him reflecting on the Key City as a possibility.
“It’s a perfect city, perfect size for a concept like this,” he said. “There’s no permanent pickleball facilities outside of country clubs and universities.”
Fast forward to this week and Connor already has a crew starting work on a former movie theater at 1210 Russwood Drive. It’s in the back of the complx behind the James McCoy’s Drug Store at Judge Ely Boulevard and North 10th Street.
“That spot is fantastic but too small for a whole lot of courts, so we came up with the idea of indoor and outdoor,” Connor said. “We’ll have three indoor courts and then six outdoor courts that’ll take over part of the parking lot.”
Summer buildout
The plan is to have the three inside courts finished by Aug. 1 and then get the outdoor courts installed after that.
New concrete will be poured for those outdoor courts, a process Connor said takes about six weeks to cure properly when the weather cooperates.
What is pickleball? If you’re of a certain age, it might ring a bell from long ago. The sport was organized in 1965 by three Washington state dads, according to Pickleball USA, one of whom was U.S. Rep. Joel Pritchard. The congressman and a friend, Bill Bell, had returned home from playing golf one summer day and found their families sitting around with nothing to do.
Digging out a badminton net and some ping pong paddles and a Wiffle ball, they improvised their own fun. The following weekend, after inviting a friend named Barney McCallum to try, the trio began designing rules and game play based heavily on Badminton but with a core principal still in mind — that this would be a game everyone in the family could enjoy.
And that name? The family maintains that they named it as a reference to the pickle boat races held locally. Another tale — that the name comes in memory of their dog Pickles who used to run away with the ball — is more tall than true. Pickles wasn’t born until three years after the game’s invention.
Live long and prosper — through pickleball
“I describe it like playing ping pong standing on the table,” Connor said of the game. “That’s kind of how it feels. The rules are really simple. You can start playing and quickly get good enough that you’re having fun.”
Aside from the cardiovascular benefit of the low-impact game, it has a communal one as well.
Connor said he read a report a few weeks ago about the health benefits of different exercise routines and their role in prolonging life.
“Obviously it’s averages. Weightlifting adds about a year, jogging like a year and a half to two years,” he said. “Pickleball adds up to 10 years, and it’s not only because of the activity.”
A constant in this sport is that whatever you are doing, you’re always doing it with three other people.
“The social aspect is what makes all the difference,” he said. “When you play you can win, you can lose, but you still have a good time. That’s kind of the draw.”
When PickleTex opens, there will be an initial flurry of free lessons for those interested. Equipment will be on hand for rental and a pro shop for those who start getting serious about their play. Players will be able to either pay per session or get a membership with its own perks.
“Try it once. Bring some friends. It’s a whole lot of fun, and the barriers to entry are super low,” Connor said. “Show up in a pair of tennis shoes and some shorts, ready to have fun, and we’ll take it from there.”
This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: A big dill, Abilene to get its first dedicated pickleball club
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