Profile by Donna Carter Two snowbird retirees are among the thousands of Canadians addicted to the fastest-growing sport in North America. Over the past few years, the game with the funny name has virtually skyrocketed onto the recreational sports scene – attracting hordes of enthusiastic players such as Bill and Linda Furse. Retired school teachers living in the Blue Mountain tourist town of Collingwood, Ont., they were first introduced to pickleball in 2003 during a winter getaway in Florida. “Within a few days, we were both hooked,” said Bill. “At the time, we were into tennis and golf but pickleball quickly became muchmore of a passion than tennis ever was.” The Furses say that the game they fell in love with is a fun sport that combines many of the elements of tennis, badminton and pingpong. In simple terms, it’s played on a badminton-sized court divided in the middle by a 36-inch-high net. Special wood or high-tech paddles are used to volley perforated plastic balls back and forth over the net – much like in tennis “but with a lot less running,” said Bill. “The learning curve is also much faster than tennis,” added Linda. The couple obviously negotiated the curve very well, since they won the mixed doubles in the 70-74 age category at the 2015 Pickleball Association of Ontario Championships in Kitchener, Ont. In the same year and same category, the Furses also scored a win in the Eastern Canadian Championships together with similar wins prior to 2015. (The Furses’ expanding medal collection also includes Bill’s wins in the mixed men’s category.) The couple now look forward to competing in the 2016 Ontario Championships in the Markham Pan-Am Centre in September. Every province has its own regional and provincial competitions, culminating this year inmid-July in the Pickleball National Tournament in Kelowna, B.C. People who know nothing about the sport invariably ask the Furses why the game is called pickleball when there are no pickles involved. There are varying accounts of how it got its name, but the one most commonly accepted has a lot to do with a family dog that liked to chase balls. As the story goes, on a summer day in 1965 on Bainbridge Island, near Seattle, Washington, as an antidote for a family’s boredom, the game was invented using improvised equipment which was later refined. The family dog, Pickles, is said to have continually chased after errant balls – hence the name pickleball. This account is hotly disputed by some, but remains the one most repeated. Since the sport’s accidental invention a half-century ago, the rest is history. Today, there is an explosion of pickleball clubs in every province across Canada, as well as throughout the United States and across the world: France, India, Spain, Finland, New Zealand, Australia, Peru, the U.K., etc. Touted as a game for all ages, the Furses point out that the sport has become so widely popular that accessibility to indoor and outdoor places to play can sometimes be an issue in certain communities. “This is such a fun game, it’s incredibly easy to get addicted to it,” said Linda. The couple admit, however, that there is more to the sport than just plain fun; potential benefits include increased flexibility, balance, agility, muscle tone, heightened energy and a high degree of social interaction. BobMacLeod, board president of the CSGA (Canadian Senior Games Assoc.), says that his organization includes pickleball as one of its core activities. “It’s a minimal-cost sport offering great exercise and a path to better health,” he said. Pickleball will be among the competitive events at the CSGA’s 2016 Canada 55+ Games in which each of the provinces sends pre-qualified competitors.The Games take place in mid-August in the host city of Brampton. Once summer tournaments are over and cold weather descends, pickleballers move to indoor courts – unless they are snowbirds like the Furses, who head south to Florida and The Villages retirement community north of Orlando. The couple could not have chosen a better snowbird retreat since The Villages supports pickleball in a big way. The giant retirement community has numerous courts for both regular play and scheduled competitions. Overall, Bill said that he and Linda have the best of both worlds. “Instead of total snowbirds, we like to call ourselves snowflakes. We rent inThe Villages November and December, return home for skiing in January and February, then back to Florida for March and April.” When the Furses took up pickleballing just over a decade ago, it was on the leading edge of the game’s phenomenal growth in which numbers today speak to the trend. Board president for Pickleball Canada, Val Vollman, said that an informal June 2016 count showed that there are more than 27,000 pickleball players across the country with new clubs springing up so fast that the tally increases month to month. To those not yet introduced to the game, the Furses have this advice. “Try it, you’ll love it.” WILD ABOUT PICKLEBALL 20 | www.snowbirds.org
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