I tried out the world's fastest growing sport and I am addicted - but these are the two things I struggled with

I knew it was big in America but didn’t really think it was something I could do in Crawley, let alone the UK. But recently I can do it within a five minute drive from my house.

Thursday, October 10 was World Pickleball Day (who knew?!) and an email popped into my inbox inviting me to give the sport a go - and I thought ‘why not?’. A quick google told me it was the world’s fastest growing sport and being Head of Sport for SussexWorld I thought it would be good to be part of that. After a few emails I was hooked up with Francisco Guerra the Pickleball Coach Leader - and personal trainer - at K2 Crawley.

We arranged it so I would join one of their Friday sessions (12.30pm-2.30pm) to give it a go and basically learn about the sport.

Bearing in mind I haven’t done any sport in anger for about eight years, I was worried for a couple of reasons.

1: Have I still got that hand eye co-ordination I had when I was a youngster. I enjoyed racquet sports and was ok at them and had a good eye when wielding a cricket bat (I was the Ben Duckett to my brother’s Zak Crawley). But do you lose that over the years? I was about to find out in front of people I didn’t know.

2: How would my body react? I sit at my desk most of the day and then on the sofa at night. Exercise and myself are not really on speaking terms so I felt the muscles might not like it.

But the first big question is - what on earth is pickleball?

In basic terms, it’s a mix of tennis (the net), badminton (the court) and table tennis (the racquets).

It was actually invented in 1965 on Bainbridge Island, Washington, by Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell and Barney McCallum, who were looking for a game that their kids could play together.

But in recent years it's really blown up. Tennis player Francisco told us: “It was about 15 years ago I started to play Paddle and it was a good transition from tennis because of the smaller court, it really suited me.

“Then a few months ago I discovered Pickleball in Crawley and I was addicted after the first try.

“I began coaching Pickleball because I love seeing how quickly people take to the game and the community it creates.”

And it’s easy to see why it is addictive. You’ll be happy to know I have not lost my hand eye co-ordination.

Francisco and Dave Downey, activity and well-being manager for Everyone Active at K2 Crawley both told me it’s a ‘beginners’ sport’. - basically meaning it’s really easy to pick up.

Dave told me: “Any age or ability can do it and it’s a great example about how different age groups can come together and play sport. It’s definitely a sport for everyone.”

And it is. It is basically tennis on a badminton court with ping pong racquets but at the session I attended it’s also the community spirit and camaraderie.

One of the players was 12-year-old Lucy Barnes, who had been attending the sessions for five weeks and she told us: “I just love the people who I play with and the socializing. I feel it’s just a game for everyone.”

The only thing I found difficult was judging the bounce of the plastic hole-filled balls and the scoring.

Every time someone hit a ball at me, I was expecting a tennis ball-type bounce but it was lighter than that and I hit over the ball a few times. But once you got used to it it was fine.

On to the scoring and when Francisco said ‘Right, let me explain how the scoring works’ there were a few knowing laughs from the more experienced playing members.

You can only score off your serve. But before you serve you must say what the score is and who is serving. So if you start the game - and we were playing doubles - you say ‘0-0-2). No points scored yet and server number two. Make sense? No, me neither. But it’s server two because if you start, you only get one service game (until you lose a point).

But once it swaps to the other end, both players get a turn, hence server 1 and server 2.

It seemed unnecessarily complicated but I soon got it.

But overall I really enjoyed the game and the experience of the session at K2. Francisco was a good teacher, but when I was playing with other attendees, they were really supportive and helped me understand the game. I have to say, when it finished the first question was ‘when is the next session?’

I cannot wait to get back with the paddle in my hand and start to really get to grip with Pickleball.

And the answer to my question? The next session is on Thursday evenings at K2 Crawley 7pm-8pm and 8pm-9pm (£3.50). The Friday session runs from 12.30pm-2.30pm.