Pickleball fever catches on in Vestavia Hills

When Alli McGill Ammons was working as director of the wellness and recreation programs at Vestavia Hills United Methodist Church in 2018, she got a phone call one day from someone asking if the church offered pickleball.

Ammons wasn’t familiar with pickleball and had to ask what it was. She did some research, and the church began offering it. Now, four years later, she has fallen in love with the sport and plays in tournaments around the Southeast. She even serves as an ambassador for USA Pickleball in Jefferson and Shelby counties.

“It’s just turned into a great sport for me and for my family,” she said.

She convinced her husband, Jefferson County Commissioner Steve Ammons, to play in some tournaments with her, and her children play recreationally with her also.

During the COVID-19 shutdown, her family even set up a pickleball court on the street in front of their house and played.

The Ammonses are not alone. Pickleball has turned into one of the fastest growing sports in the United States and is picking up steam in Vestavia Hills, too.

The city started offering it in mid-2019 at the Vestavia Hills Recreation Center, laying out three courts on the gym floor. The COVID-19 pandemic closed the gym down for a while, but when things were opening back up, pickleball was moved to the former Vestavia Hills Elementary-Central school gym around August 2020, said Sandi Wilson, the superintendent for the Vestavia Hills Parks and Recreation Department.

The gym typically is reserved for pickleball from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday nights. The pickleball program will move back to the Rec Center this summer due to a summer camp at the old Central school, and when the new Vestavia Hills Civic Center opens, there will be six pickleball courts there, Wilson said.

Additionally, the city built six outdoor pickleball courts at the Sicard Hollow Athletic Complex that opened in November 2020 and is looking to add six more in the third phase of Wald Park, she said.

Pickleball fever is catching.

For those not familiar with the sport, it often is described as a blend of tennis, badminton and table tennis.

While it has some similarities to tennis, there are some differences. The court is smaller, the paddles are smaller than tennis rackets (more like large ping-pong paddles), and the ball is plastic with holes in it like a wiffle ball and therefore doesn’t bounce as much.

Games usually are played to 11 points, and a two-point lead is needed to win. The games usually take about 10-20 minutes.

According to the USA Pickleball Association, the governing and rule-setting body for the sport in this country, 4.2 million Americans were playing pickleball in 2020, an increase of 21.3% from 2019.

Participation in tournaments is growing, new leagues are forming, and communities, country clubs and fitness centers across the country are converting hard-court surfaces for pickleball use and building new courts dedicated to the sport.

The city of Vestavia Hills doesn’t run a pickleball league, but the Magic City Pickleball Club runs a league at Sicard Hollow on Sundays. Other places with courts include Vestavia Hills United Methodist and Life Time Fitness.

There are probably about 75 people who play regularly at the old Central school site, but it’s different people on different days, with probably an average of 25 on any given day, Wilson said. The average age is probably 45 to 60, with the morning crowd tending to be older retirees and more younger players coming at night, she said.

With the games being short, people swap up and play a variety of opponents and often with different partners, Ammons said.

Stan Brown, an avid pickleball player from Birmingham, along with Ammons, helped the city of Vestavia Hills get its program off the ground. Brown, who also is an ambassador for USA Pickleball and a referee at pickleball tournaments across the country, said he was asked to help teach people in Vestavia Hills who were new to the game and was happy to oblige.

When the Sicard Hollow pickleball courts opened, he organized a charity tournament there that drew about 200 participants, he said. The Vestavia Hills Beautification Board held a pickleball tournament at this year’s Dogwood Festival and plan to continue it annually, Wilson said.

The great thing about pickleball is that it’s easy to learn and easy to play, Brown said. “You don’t have to be an outstanding athlete,” he said. “And for older folks, it’s easier on the knees, feet and joints.”

Ammons said it helps keep her in shape, and it’s a very social game. “Most pickleball players are warm and welcoming and will let you jump in a game anytime,” she said.

It’s just a fun, family-friendly game that allows you to form new friendships with a lot of people, she said. She predicts it soon will be a part of the World Games, if not the Olympics. “My goal is just to introduce it to everybody and give people an opportunity to play.”