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Photos by Ron Burkett.
Pickleball
Jodi Krayer, Brian Harris, Jordan McNeal, Erica McNeal and Jarick Rager.
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Photos by Ron Burkett.
Erica McNeal plays pickleball.
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Photos by Ron Burkett.
Erica McNeal plays pickleball.
Enjoy tennis? Try an underhanded serve, requiring the ball to bounce once after a serve and return serve, and imagine only being able to slam a shot when more than seven feet away from the net. Now, shorten the racquet, shrink the court and substitute the ball with a Wiffle-type ball. That, in short, is pickleball, an action-packed sport taking the Trussville community by storm.
“It’s like playing ping pong standing on the table,” said Jarick Rager, who hosts TrussvillePickleball.org, a website that serves Trussville’s four pickleball locations. “Within Birmingham, it’s beginning to catch on and grow, and pretty soon it’s going to take off in a big way, and we’re kind of at the forefront of it all.”
Pickleball is offered six days a week, eight different times at four locations: CrossPoint Church, First Baptist Church Trussville, Trussville YMCA and Trussville Civic Center.
Rager is one of four tournament co-directors from Trussville, along with Forrest Bender, Jodi Krayer and Erica McNeal, who are organizing the community’s first tournament, the 2017 Trussville Pickleball Charity Classic, March 17-19 at CrossPoint Church. The charity event aims to help grow the sport while benefiting two local charities — Trussville-based Faith Like a Child and Special Equestrians in Indian Springs.
“The organizations are doing really incredible things,” Rager said. “It’s a blessing for us to help them.”
Bender says those who have not played pickleball before should try it out.
“From the first time we stepped on the court and played, it hooked me from a family standpoint,” Bender said, who had not heard of the sport before buying a net in December 2015. “It’s kind of unique in that within the rules of the game there’s some leveling influences. It’s the type of game that even if you’re not athletic, you can play and have fun. You can play it socially, or you can play it competitively.”
Similar to most racquet sports, pickleball provides men’s and women’s singles and doubles play and mixed doubles. Players are rated by their skill level from 1.0 to 5.0. Rager says a 1.0 would be those who know how to spell pickleball and 5.0 would be a pro. The tournament will feature opportunities for skill levels from 2.5 (beginner to intermediate) to 5.0 as well as senior divisions for 60-plus and 70-plus.
Rager is expecting at least 150 participants from all over the Southeast.
“Sixty percent of the people will be from out of town,” he said. “I think there’s going to be a huge economic impact on the community.”
The seven-court, double-elimination tournament will in some ways serve as a kickoff to the competitive pickleball schedule in the Southeast, which begins in March and April. It is the only tournament scheduled in Alabama prior to the National Senior Games in Birmingham this June.
“This is a great opportunity for us to house something in Alabama that is not a regional tournament where members have to be members of the USAPA,” said Rager, a USA Pickleball Association (USAPA) ambassador.
For more information about the tournament, go to TrussvillePickleball.org/events/2017-trussville-pickleball-charity-classic. Deadline for registration is March 3 and is available online only at PickleballTournaments.com. Cost is $40.
