I hate pickleball.
Pickleball is ruining gyms across America.
Any gym that has a basketball court has been taken over by pickleball. Now I have nothing against to the players or as I like to call them pickle people. I love all the Grammies and Grampies out there getting there exercise in while having some low impact fun. What I particularly despise is how they absolutely hog court time.
Let me provide some insight here. My gym has a full sized basketball court with two basketball hoops. We used to have a half sized court with one basketball hoop as well. Ever since pickleball started to boom, my gym made the executive decision to take down the half sized basketball hoop to accommodate the increasing thirst for pickleball time. Here comes the kicker, even though the pickle people now have two pickleball courts 100% dedicated to them. On top of this they reserve anywhere between four to eight hours a day, leaving the hoopers with nothing.
See, gyms that have basketball courts used to be run by the hoopers. Probably sounds redundant right. People playing basketball on a basketball court. Now, the only caveat is that the pickle people have the court reserved for a MINIMUM of 4 hours a day, and during prime hours too. Now I was not raised by a pack of wolves I understand the concept of sharing, that isn’t my issue here. I am happy to share, I don’t mind when they have the court reserved from 11am – 3pm, I have no problem working around their “prime time” retirement hours, happy to do so.
My biggest issue is with the gym’s “Activities Director” She is the one who schedules the court time. She knows that us hoopers meet up and play pickup on Saturday and Sunday mornings at 9am. I know this because I have chatted about it to her, about how I look forward to playing with my buddies and how most guys can’t make it during the week anymore because of kids, work and all the pickleball times making it difficult to coordinate a time where 10 people can all make it. I am not kidding here when I tell you not one week after having this conversation with her, she goes and schedules an eight hour pickleball tournament on Sunday. Am I wrong or is that a complete disregard for humanity. A big middle finger to us hoopers.
I honestly can’t help but feel like a loyal and loving wife who just cheated on and left in the dust by her husband who wanted to run off with a new, younger, prettier woman. Us hoopers have played at this gym since the court was built over 25 years ago. We faithfully paid our memberships and continually brought new memberships to the gym for years. Now, pickleball waltzes in on the scene and all of a sudden the gym is catering to pickleball free play, tournaments, leagues, clinics, clubs and believe me I could go on and on. Of course I know all of these programs pay the big bucks, but there is something about being loyal to those who have always been there for you. I can’t help but feel betrayed and neglected.
As you can see it is not the pickle people’s fault all they’re doing is having fun with their buddies just like me, it is management’s fault. Scheduling is not hard when there is only two groups who want to play on the court. Anyways, thanks for listening to me complain.
C