Having a ball with pickleball: Fans of all ages say racquet sport good for body and mind
After three heart attacks and struggles with his weight, diabetes and other health problems, Matt Palmer knew he had to change his life.
But he wasn't sure how to make those changes until last November.
A vocalist and guitarist in area coffee shops and pubs, he was oblivious to pickleball until he went to the Lake Anna YMCA in Barberton and saw a group of adults playing the game. .
He already had shed half of his 400 pounds through diet and help from doctors and supervised exercise when he became awestruck by the game and the players’ camaraderie.
Pickleball, which has surged in popularity in Northeast Ohio, is played on a court about half the size of a tennis court, using a paddle — a cross between a ping pong paddle and tennis racket — to strike a hole-filled plastic ball similar to a wiffle ball.
Green’s Parks and Recreation Department, which has seen such an influx of pickleball players in the last several years, now has six permanent pickleball courts in Boettler Park at 5100 Massillon Road, plus two tennis courts where pickleball can played.
The Boettler courts are expected to have lighting for night games once supply issues are resolved.
The city also has four tennis courts at East Liberty Park at 471 East Turkeyfoot Lake Road where pickleball was first played outdoors in Green.
Resident Mary Hlavac, a retired associate professor at Stark State College, is a beginning pickleball rules instructor for the Green parks as well as Green’s ambassador for pickleball.
She has more than 150 pickleball players on her list. The sport is played year-round in Green, with players moving indoors to Green Primary School and the Green YMCA in the winter.
She taught the game to a grandson now living in Michigan and he is doing the same in his community, she said.
For the last seven months, Palmer has played pickleball six days a week to help his physical and mental well-being.
“It’s such a blessing,” he said of the sport.
He plays at Boettler as well as Waters Park in Akron and Durling Park in Wadsworth, in addition to kayaking the Portage Lakes and biking several times a week.
“I’m getting much better moving on the court because I’m constantly playing. Mentally, it keeps me positive —something to look forward to and is a distraction to the pain I’m always in.
“It’s a sport for all people. Many people think it’s an old people’s game, but it really is a healthful game for everyone, including youngsters.”
Harold Milhoan and wife, Gail, were among the first to bring pickleball to Green. Peg Lauer brought the game from Florida in 2004, according to the Milhoans. They became involved as players from 2006 to 2018 and helped mark the East Liberty Park tennis courts for pickleball and carried the nets and balls.
Now in their early 80s, the Milhoans retired from the game because of health problems and Robert Keith became the Green ambassador for the USA Pickleball Association. The couple also went to other areas to start pickleball play.
Jeannine Jones of Akron has been playing just over three years after reconnecting with a friend from 30 years earlier when they played soccer together. The chance meeting occurred at a New Year’s Eve pickleball party and they immediately became pickleball partners.
“It just kinda took over my life,” said the retired Summit County Public Health nurse. “I played this morning in Bath and this afternoon had a lesson. This fall I’m going to Utah to play pickleball in the Huntsman Senior Games. We are going a week early so we can hike a couple of canyons: Zion National Park and Brice National Park.”
A chance meeting at the Green Y three years ago has turned widowed Green residents Helen Raub and Karen Guinter into pickleball partners and fast friends.
“I was always with people when working, but my life suddenly became different after my husband died," said Raub, a retired intensive-care nurse. "I needed to get out and socialize, to have something to do. When I walked into the Green Y, Mary Hlavac came up and introduced herself. When she heard my story, she introduced me to Karen. We started talking and playing together.”
Raub played tennis in high school and several years afterward. She suffered a serious injury to her right shoulder and can’t serve overhead.
“When I walked in, I realized I wanted to play this game because everyone there was having fun playing and talking together," she said. "It’s great fun and is healthy and challenging — good for you physically and mentally.”
Guinter agreed, saying the game "is just a really good thing for all around."
"I have arthritis and I hurt, but when I get on that court I don’t hurt at all," she said.
Hlavac also introduced Zi “Ee Ee” Yang of China to pickleball, which Yang now plays at least once a day and sometimes twice. Husband Mark Golightley also plays pickleball.
"he is a better competitor than me,” Golightley said. “I play racquetball and golf and I’m pretty competitive in those sports but she is much better than me at pickleball.”
Retired after 35 years as teacher and coach at Stark County’s GlenOak High School, Steve Pustay is the Massillon ambassador for USA Pickleball Association and works with pickleball groups and communities considering adding pickleball to their recreation programs. He also makes the racks where pickleball paddles are placed in a row to determine who is next to take the court.
He teaches the three basic pickleball strokes – service, dinks and backhands – while stressing that unlike in tennis, the pickleball serve is not a weapon and can be a disadvantage since “aces are extremely rare.”
Brook Park resident Neale Mahon knows firsthand the benefits of pickleball because he believes the game has given him a second chance at life.
An insurance salesman, Mahon suffered a stroke just before his 32nd birthday in 2018.
“It kinda put things into perspective for me as to what is really important in life,” he said.
Married to respiratory therapist Amanda Jean Mahon, the salesman was driving to his doctor’s office when his arm went numb. His left leg became numb in the doctor’s office, “but stroke was the last thing I was thinking of because I was in good health.”
He was finally rushed by ambulance to Cleveland Clinic, where the stroke was discovered right away. He underwent therapy there for eight weeks.
He found pickleball during walking and therapy when he saw people playing the racquet sport.
He calls the game “the best therapy I have found."
"I get all that therapy every day and I play almost every day," he said. "I’m able to move a lot more than in January.”
He hopes within two years to be ranked as a pickleball player and be able to play with anybody.
“Some days, I can play up to six hours.”
