Pickleball, the fast-growing sport, is also growing in Taupō.
An open day run by the Taupō Pickleball Club at the Tauhara College gymnasium on Saturday (June 13) had plenty of interested newcomers turning up, with club secretary Carol Milligan, noting it was a great sport for all ages and all abilities.
Played with a smooth-faced paddle and perforated plastic ball on a badminton court with a lower net, pickleball can be played indoors or outdoors and several outdoor tennis courts around the district have now been marked out to accommodate play.
Milligan says the club runs a number of regular sessions.
“We play at the Taupō Event Centre on a Tuesday from 12 noon-2 pm… That's for everybody, but it mainly encompasses retired people, people on shift work, people who can't get there in the weekends.”
Another open play session is run at Tauhara College on Saturdays from 3-5pm, while the Sunday afternoon session at the Taupō Event Centre, from 3:30-5:30pm, is mainly for the club’s intermediate to advanced players.
“It's not really suitable for beginners,” says Milligan.
The club also has a court in Miro Street, in an industrial building, which can be booked online through Hello Club.
“It’s $12 for an hour for four people. So, $3 a person, it’s cheap as.”
Club membership at $30 is also not expensive, she says.
The open day was popular with those who turned up with people picking up the basics very quickly.
“People are telling us that they're finding it a lot easier than tennis… as you get a little bit older… it’s a lot easier on the body, all ages, we've got people in our club in their '80s. We've got people in their 30s, so there's a wide variance there.”
Obviously, the game gets faster and more tactical the greater the level of individual skill, says Milligan.
“Some of the guys in our club who are our superstars, you watch them play, and it's just amazing. It's so good… But then you've got to accommodate everybody, don't you? You want to be able to accommodate the older people, the younger people, the beginners, the advanced.”
And while it’s a sport the whole family can play – the club does not yet have a time dedicated just for juniors.
“It’s something we're hoping to get up and running, but we don't have a lot of space to play.”
One day, the club would like to have its own facility, she says.
“Where we can maybe have six courts or so, but it's just growing all the time, really. We don't advertise a lot.”
While the better club players are not yet regularly going to tournaments, the club is also hoping that will develop in time and are looking at inviting some established coaches in from other areas to runs some coaching sessions locally.
