Pickleball Alzheimer’s

Have you had a chance to take part in America's Hottest Sport - Pickleball? According to The Iowa Source their article published on April 6, 2018 entitled "Pickleball: America's Hottest New Sport", author Warren Goldie noted that while Pickleball has been around for 50 years, it is picking up traction as a "Boomer Obsession" but is indeed played by all ages.

Locally, I am a part of an informal group which is organized by a wonderful woman who keeps us "in the know" about where all the action is on a regular basis.

You might wonder - what does Pickleball and Alzheimer's have to do with each other? I can assure you, playing regular Pickleball does not bring on Alzheimer's. But I have observed a strange phenomenon that I just had to comment on - and that is the "memory loss" that players have when it comes to scoring.

Scoring in Pickleball is similar to other racquet or paddle sports, but just enough different to cause a newbie some discomfort in learning. Since my group plays doubles, I will refer to the scoring of a doubles game in this story. Play starts as a "volley" serve, so the server will call out 0-0-2 which means that both teams have a score of 0, and the server is the 2nd to serve (when in fact they really are the first to serve to start off the game). Serve is over the net to the cross court. Only the serving team can score a point. If the serving team failed to score a point on this first "volley", then the serve goes to the opposite team, who will now call out 0-0-1 which means each side has a score of 0 and the server is the 1st of their 2-person team to serve. When that server loses the serve, then the serve goes to their teammate, who will call out 0-0-2 (unless they scored a point, which would cause the 1st number of the sequence to change to reflect that new score.

You are probably still wondering what does Pickleball and Alzheimer's have to do with each other - and I'm getting to that point! As the game progresses, and the serve is exchanged back and forth between the teams, I have found it very common and often laughable that even though the serving team has called out the score upon service, when the receiving team now becomes the serving team, they can't recall the score. An animated discussion ensues, usually involving a quick recollection of the past volley of the pairs. The issue is usually resolved quickly, and without causing hard feelings - but it is a common dilemma that I have observed many times.

I have found that "forgetting the score" is common no matter the age of the player, nor the gender. At times it get's to be very comical because the score will be given by the other team as a reminder, and when the serving team serves, it still can get mixed up.

I can't say that there is any remedy for this - try as I might to concentrate and make sure that I'm calling out the score that I heard the other team call out - it does get mixed up - and then the humor comes in (or we hope that it does!)
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So - to offer encouragement to new Pickleball players - don't be discouraged when you get the score mixed up as you serve! It happens to the best of us, and is no reflection upon how you play the game. What matters is that you play! So get your paddles and find a game near you!