Pickleball Monologue

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Pickleball “But Kaden, they’re like, really good,” my friend Lucas told me when he introduced me to this group. I first arrived at the middle school gymnasium on March 13. They meet every Wednesday to play. While I walked in, I ran into one of the younger players (younger meaning in her 30s), Jenny. Jenny was in shape with black hair and bangs. I could tell she was surprised to see someone so young walking in because she raised her eyebrows at me and looked confused as to why I was there. She asked if I was there to play pickleball, I didn’t know how to respond because I wasn’t there to play but instead observed them. I’m happy I ran into her because she brought me to Wendy, my insider, whom I have never met in person or seen before. I said …show more content…

At least I know some of the terminology and the complexity of the rules. I also wanted to know why. Why is there a group of old people getting together every Wednesday to play pickleball? It couldn’t have been just for the sport. Pickleball isn’t THAT fun! I figured there had to be some health benefits to playing, especially for the old folk. Maybe they did it for exercise and health benefits. I decided to do some more research on that. I found that a simple leisure activity, such as pickleball, had several benefits for elderly people. Some of these benefits include physical & mental health boosts, social interaction & connectivity, positive impacts on the quality of their life, playing the role of caregivers & family members, and emotional well-being enhancements. The one that I found most interesting was the social interaction & connectivity. Both because it was the sole purpose of my ethnography and because I had never thought of that aspect of the life of an elder. Without school or a job and their family living with them, they don’t have a lot of social interaction. Maybe that’s why they go. For anybody, going into a new group of people with nobody by your side is

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