Ageless addicts: Pickleball continues to grow in popularity among wide range of local enthusiasts

Doug Brown looks like a guy who has spent some time moving people. Now in his fifth decade of life, it's been a while since Brown pulled on football pads or hit the wrestling mat for Jackson High School, but his physique -- even if weathered by the years -- still hints at his past, and as he speaks, his intensity belies bygone days when adrenaline fueled on-field survival and success.

Nowadays, though, Brown gets his kicks in decidedly less macho and muscle-y environs -- the pickleball court.

I'm at the Osage Center in Cape Girardeau watching pickleball for the first time; getting set to step on the court for the first time. I didn't know quite what to expect from a fast-growing sport that sounds like it was named by my 4-year-old son, but Brown is definitely not it.

He -- among a handful of pickleball enthusiasts -- is offering me some insight on the game, and he doesn't so much speak as power through his thoughts, on to the next one before the former knows what has hit it. His speech is peppered with colorful language and excitement.

"When I first started playing it, I was working out in the fitness center," Brown says, "and I saw these folks playing it and thought, 'You know, that would be great for my dad to get exercise.' He's in his 80s. By the time he figured out he couldn't see the ball well enough to play, I was addicted.

"It's just fun. You start playing and it's, 'I was supposed to be somewhere at noon and, [expletive], it's already 12:30. The time just flies when you're playing this game."

Doug Brown slams the ball while playing pickleball at the Osage Centre on Monday, June 20, 2016, in Cape Girardeau.Laura Simon

For the uninitiated, pickleball has been called "the fastest-growing sport in America" and resembles a Frankenstein mish-mash of tennis, ping-pong and badminton. The paddle is slightly smaller than one used in racquetball, but rather than a mesh hitting surface akin to racquetball or tennis, it is solid and made of wood or a composite material. The ball is a plastic material without much bounce, the size of a whiffle ball and Swiss-cheesed with holes (40 holes, to be precise, in the newest regulation-issue equipment). The playing surface resembles a tennis court, but is a third of the size.

With less ground to cover and a ball that moves with less pace than in tennis, pickleball quickly took root with seniors -- there are communities in Florida centered around the sport, boasting 100-court facilities -- but those who play are adamant that part of the appeal of the game is that it's for everyone, from children to the elderly, and that the ability to never age out of it is part of its charm.

"The whole idea of pickleball is that it's fun. That's it," says Ronnie McCormick, president of the SEMO Pickleball Club. "Any ages can play -- we have children that come in and play, people in their 90s play. It's a game for life."

The crowd at the Osage Center on Monday confirms the wide-ranging participation -- although seniors make up the bulk of the player pool, there are participants in attendance ranging from their 30s to their 80s.

Don Jacobs returns a hit while playing pickleball at the Osage Centre on Monday, June 20, 2016, in Cape Girardeau.Laura Simon

"This sport ain't all about old people, and that's the stigma that we get into and the ribbing some of us take," Brown says. "'Oh, so you're playing with a bunch of old people?' There's 14-year-old kids out there."

Brown offers up the story of the 14-year-old as an example of the sport's broad appeal and parity, but from his mouth, it becomes a semi-epic yarn. Even by his own standards, his voice takes on a new energy when telling it.

The SEMO Pickleball Club, birthed in 2015, is proud of a group of medal winners at the recent Show Me State Games and Missouri Senior Games -- a total medal haul of 10 between the two competitions. Brown partnered with his brother, Curt, to win a bronze medal in the doubles competition of the 50-54 age group in the Senior Games and a silver medal at the Show Me State Games in the 4.0 skill group (pickleball players and classifications are rated on a 1.0-5.0 scale, in half-point increments; the higher the number, the higher the level of play).

But Curt also won gold in the 3.5 skill group in singles competition (as well as singles gold at the Senior Games) and in doing so, came toe to toe with a fresh-faced teenager.

"My brother, he entered singles," Brown says, "and I said, 'Now wait a minute, you're in way too much here.' ... Hell, he's 52 years old ... Now I'm giving him some grief because ... for singles he wanted to move back down to 3.5. Ok, I get it. Well, there lies a 14-year-old kid who runs him ragged, because a dang 14-year-old kid can go anywhere [on the court]. Curt beat him the first game, that kid beat Curt the second game, and here comes the third game and Curt [wins and] comes off the court and says, 'Good lord.'

"The thing about pickleball is it's a double-elimination tournament. Curt's like, 'I hope someone beats that dag-gum kid.' He's 14 [dang] years old running a 50-year-old around. Nope, it wasn't to be. That little [expletive] went through, beat everybody else, and came back [around in the loser's bracket] and said, 'C'mon, old man.' Curt ended up beating him in two games."

But Brown's enthusiasm doesn't wane at any point during his pickleball manifesto. He is the USA Pickleball Association (USAPA) Ambassador for Jackson and has been playing pickleball "for a couple of years." Rex Riepe, the USAPA Ambassador for Cape Girardeau, credits Brown as the biggest reason the Jackson Civic Center features pickleball courts that are currently used on Monday nights and Tuesday mornings. When he's not pushing the game there, Brown is playing in Cape Girardeau, where I meet him; he calls himself the "worst nerd" when it comes to pickleball and sometimes plays six days a week.

"He'll play seven-plus because he'll play twice a day," Riepe says.

The SEMO Pickleball Club has helped grow the sport in Cape Girardeau to the point that there are games six days a week. The Osage Center plays host on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., while Shawnee Park Sports Complex is busy on Tuesdays and Thursdays, drawing a crowd of less-experienced players. And the city lined three courts outside at Arena Park, offering a free venue for pickleball players.

The club is also hopeful that inroads can be made with the new indoor sportsplex currently under construction near the intersection of Highway 61 and I-55.

"We're working on it. We're hoping," McCormick says. "We're working with them, but I don't know if there's been any certain yes or no. We're working toward that. If you can get that, you'll have people from all over. I've been in tournaments in places like Destin, and there are people from New Orleans, south Florida, Tennessee, the Carolinas. Of course, the snowbirds come down and play, and they're from Canada and Wisconsin and Michigan. It's just all over. And foreign countries too."

Veronica McCormick taps the ball to the opposing team during her pickleball match at the Osage Centre on Monday, June 20, 2016, in Cape Girardeau.Laura Simon

The SEMO Pickleball Club -- which features more than 60 members and hosts even more players -- sees participants from all over the area. In my two hours on the court Monday, I meet players from Perryville to Bloomfield to Dexter and everywhere in between.

It's safe to say that on this day, I'm the least experienced.

My partner, gracious enough to take the court with a mildly confused newbie, is Vicki Long, an avid golfer and at 71 years of age more than twice my senior. One of my opponents in this doubles showdown is two-year veteran Sue Watkins, 74.

"I like to try new things," Watkins says, dropping the 'A' bomb -- addicting. "... I felt like, 'This is something I can do.' You're limited after a certain age as to youth and agility. I was looking for something. I had been doing aerobic swimming, and I was bored with that. I wanted to do something to get some aerobic exercise, and when I saw that, I was just like, 'Oh, this is fabulous.'"

Age, though, matters little in pickleball, as Brown explains to me.

"The equalizer of the 50-year-old versus the 14-year-old is that line. That 7-foot line in front of that net," he says. "You can drop it in front of that net, and they can't get in there to hit it until it bounces. So there's your [dang] equalizer."

That line is one of the things I'm learning on the fly. Pickleballers refer to the seven-foot-deep area directly in front of the net as "the kitchen." It dictates the game's eccentricities and essentially divides players into two categories -- less experienced players who stand deep and power the ball back and forth, tennis style, (referred to as "bangers") and veterans who attack that 7-foot line and play the short "dink" game, embracing a more complex strategical approach not unlike that taken in any of the sports that seem to have birthed pickleball.

Donna Chambers serves during her pickleball match at the Osage Centre on Monday, June 20, 2016, in Cape Girardeau.Laura Simon

"For the most part, the pros play at the 7-foot line," Brown says. "... Getting it over the net, just babying it, babying it, trying to make them stretch. Then if you screw up and put it waist high, it's coming down your teeth. They're going to stroke it. They're going to bring it to you."

My opponents appear to be of the more casual, recreational variety, so while they boast experience, I do not -- my teeth feel safe in my skull.

Games are played to 11, winning by two. In large part due to me, I'm sure, my team is quickly losing 0-4. But midway through the match, we rally a bit, and I'm even responsible for a few points, managing a quick series of volleys while toeing the kitchen. It almost feels like I'm starting to get the hang of this thing.

With confidence brimming, I attempt to salvage a lost point with a behind-the-back underhand desperation hit that nearly falls in. Alas, the Stephen Curry of pickleball I am not. Ultimately, we fall by a handful of points, but it feels like the seed has been sown.

"It's addicting," McCormick says. "Once you start playing"

By the end, I'm beginning to understand what all the fuss is about.

"I would say in a couple of years if you haven't heard about pickleball, you're living under a shell I guess," Riepe says.