Sports direction from the USA: Pickleball in Höchstadt an der Aisch

Whoever has 11 points wins the game

As with other ball sports, baseball is ultimately all about scoring points. The winner is the player or team that reaches eleven first. If the opposing team already has ten points, the game continues – until the aggression differs. The service always comes from the right edge of the field. So far, it’s very easy. But not quite: “The rules are a bit complicated in the first two weeks, especially for tennis players,” explains coach Bastian Grau. Above all, they find it difficult to keep their distance from the net when they want to play volleyball. “He catches a lot of players at first who click in front and then are not allowed to hit the ball at all.” Because with pickle ball – unlike tennis – there is a volleyball-free zone on either side of the net, where you are not allowed to play directly. But you get used to these subtleties relatively quickly. Helga Kurzdorfer can only emphasize this. She’s still a novice at baseball, only training for the third time: “Of course, I miscalculated at first,” she says. You have to direct the ball and racket differently. But: “I hope I’m still learning that.”

Pickleball is a team player sport

She definitely has enough enthusiastic colleagues. At LSC Höchstadt / Aisch there are now about 20 active people who regularly play pickle ball. Student Felix Eck, for example, especially likes that ball games are well suited to team players: “You have to play with your teammate, you have to support him when he is a little weaker than you, because in the end the team is always as good as the weakest player” .

LSC Höchstadt/Aisch takes first place at 1st Rhön Open

At Höchstadt an der Aisch, the focus is on enjoyment. Even if one or the other is of course exercising more performance-oriented. Like, for example, coach Bastian Grau and his playing partner Felix Grunert. In Germany’s first nationwide pickle tournament, the first Rhön Open in September last year, they took first place among the advanced players. It seems that pickleball – the popular sport from the United States – made it to Höchstadt anyway. On the one hand, because of its dynamism, but also certainly because of the high fun factor.