Oct 26 Combined JW - Flipbook - Page 48
Hayling Herald Pickleball
No wins but one glorious rally!
By Helen Carpendale
I DID something rather brave.
Less than a year after first picking up a pickleball paddle – having
never played a racket sport in my
life – I represented Seacourt in my
first proper competition, hosting
Hiltingbury Pickleball Club.
I started playing when I was 60.
I also have a visual impairment,
which initially made the seemingly
simple business of actually hitting
the ball quite challenging. Yet somewhere along the way, I thought I’d
give pickleball a try. It soon turned
into a full-blown addiction.
The competition began at 10am
and ran until 2pm. My first match
was on the paddle court – a court
on which, during a previous club
night, I had performed a spectacular
backwards tumble while attempting
a volley and ended up flat on my
back.
My ambitions for the opening
game were to stay upright, make
contact with the ball and remember to breathe. My feet were firmly
planted, but unfortunately the rest
of me wouldn’t stop shaking. I was
absolutely terrified.
Then we nicked the first few
points from a very experienced
pair. We didn’t win, but that hardly
mattered. Once that first match was
over, I realised something important
– I could do this.
Over the next four hours, I played
eight games with three different
partners, each with a different style.
I didn’t win any of them – which,
admittedly, isn’t how sporting films
are usually written – but every game
taught me something.
By the seventh match, we were
actually leading 6-3. We then lost
the serve and couldn’t wrestle it
back, but for a few glorious minutes
victory had stopped being a distant
fantasy and was hovering tantalisingly nearby.
Then came the final game.
Naturally, we found ourselves
facing Hiltingbury’s best players. At
one point we became locked in a
battle at the net. They hit the ball at
me. I hit it back. They hit it harder.
I somehow returned it. Back and
forth it went, faster and faster, until
eventually they hit it out.
We had defended the point. Everyone sitting on the benches stood
up and cheered. Sharon, my partner, later said she had simply stood
and watched as the rally unfolded.
Apparently, it was the best rally of
the day.
Our opponents went on to win the
game, but for that one extraordinary
point, I had held my own against
the best players on the court. That
mattered.
At the end of the competition, one
of the best players I know came over
to speak to me. He is a phenomenal
player, but also an incredibly humble one. He said quietly: ‘Don’t give Helen Carpendale on the pickleball court at Seacourt
up, Helen. I lost every game in my
first competition.’
It wasn’t a polite consolation. It
was someone saying, ‘I’ve been exper mo
nth
actly where you are’.
Those words reminded me that
SPORTS CLUB
nobody begins as the player they
eventually become. Every confident
competitor was once the nervous
newcomer trying to remember the
score, watch the ball and breathe at
the same time.
That encouragement meant almost as much to me as the rally.
That is the wonderful thing about
pickleball. You don’t have to be
young, naturally athletic or completely fearless to begin. Sometimes
bravery is simply turning up while
your knees are shaking, keeping
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the ball one more time.
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And Seacourt is a very special
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place to do it. It feels like discov• Non members
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welcome
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ering a family you never knew you
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had. Everyone is welcoming, encouraging and fun.
Become a Seacourt member today!
So many of the visiting players
Call 02392 466122 or visit: seacourt.com
commented on what a lovely club it
is and what a wonderful atmosphere
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