Mike and Sue

Challenge:

Staying active and finding activities that they can do with their family. Mike and Sue are an active, retired couple looking for more activities they could do together and with their family and that would accommodate Mike as he lives with a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis affecting his balance and gait and results in hand tremors.

Solution:

Mike and Sue learned about RAA’s Pickleball for Families Living with Parkinson’s when RAA visited their PD Support Group to talk about opportunities for staying active with family and friends. Supported by a Parkinson’s Foundation grant, the program encouraged participants to attend a schedule of Socials and Workshops which provided introductory classes through RAA’s partnership with Pickled Power’s Bob Stokes, a pickleball instructor who loves to teach EVERYONE to play the game.

Mike and Sue began attending and discovered a wonderful experience for them to learn the game, socialize with friends and get some needed exercise. As the weeks passed, it was evident that Mike and Sue’s skills were progressing too. They were more confident and needed less concentration to play the game. This resulted in a more relaxed play and the ability to just have fun. As we watched Mike play, his tremors would subside while he was concentrating on the game allowing him the ability to deliver a wicked serve and consistently return the ball. Together, they worked on mastering the rules of the game as their skills increased.

Pickleball is often described as a combination of table tennis and badminton. The lightweight paddles make the game accessible to more people for whom a tennis racket may be too heavy or fatiguing. The ball is much like a wiffle ball, it’s hard plastic and holes make it less likely to take large bounces. The court is smaller than the regulation size tennis court – often found with different colored lines within existing tennis courts – and requires less running. The strategy of play revolves around expertly volleying the ball with an opponent and placing it, of course, just out of reach for a return.

Mike and Sue also have discovered that there is a whole community of pickleball players. Pickleball is a sport that is easily accessed through community recreational programs and open public courts are readily available, making it a game they can continue to play on hometown or cross-town courts.

There may be no wonder pickleball is the fastest growing sport in the country – it’s fun! Mike and Sue will continue to play pickleball with each other and their family, and now have one more activity that they can share and enjoy with their granddaughter.

“I have enjoyed every event I have attended sponsored by RAA,” Mike says.
“The biking and kayaking in Fairport, the fishing on Black Creek, birding at Braddock’s Bay, and of course Pickleball. I’ve had the most fun of any exercise event since being diagnosed with PD. Exercise is important to everyone but especially people with PD.  The rule of exercise is pick exercises you like to do; Pickleball is easy to pick.”