Last month, the UVA Foundation-owned Boar’s Head Sports Club unveiled four new outdoor pickleball courts to complement the two indoor courts that can be set up in its gymnasium.
Even with lots of rain in the forecast this week, the Snyder and Perry-Fishburne courts have been packed with pickleball players.
“Now that we’re getting back to normal, it’s a great way to spend time outside, stay active and meet new people,” Stone said. “Every time I go to practice, I love watching our members meet people and learn new things about the sport.”
Stone and Wood most certainly enjoyed getting to play with Ryan, who came out for a hit last March.
“President Ryan is crazy good!” Stone said.
“He absolutely smoked us,” Wood added. “He did not lose one match, in fact.”
Pickleball, often described as a combination of badminton, ping-pong and tennis, is played on a hard surface that has much smaller dimensions than a tennis court. It is played with paddles and balls similar to Wiffle balls. Players serve underhanded, the ball has less bounce than in tennis, and there is a 7-foot no-volley zone called “the kitchen” that extends from the net.
Stone and Wood stress that they designed the club to be both casual and inclusive. To that end, the club is free and open to players of all skill levels, and fellow players lend racquets to those who don’t have their own.
“Pickleball is a unique sport, in that it is both easy to pick up and can be challenging when mastered,” Stone said. “You can pick up a paddle for the first time and be playing a match in no time, while on the next court over experienced players may be battling it out.
“Additionally, it isn’t necessarily an extremely physically demanding sport. We joked that we’d picked up an ‘old people sport,’ which does ring true in that you do not have to be in peak physical shape to get out and play. [But] above all else, it’s a ton of fun. Most people who play once stick with it for just that reason.”
