Years ago, grandma would get her paddle out. Grandkids would scatter everywhere and hide, hoping they were not the target of her ire.

Fast forward to 2023 and when granny gets her paddle out it’s probably to go play pickleball, and she’s not alone. The number of people playing pickleball has grown by 159 percent in the past few years, and many of these players are seniors.

Players aged 55 and older were the largest bracket of players in 2021, followed closely by players aged 18 to 34. The average age of pickleball players is 38.1 years and is declining as younger people discover the sport.

Pickleball is relatively easy to learn and often players are quite competitive after just a few games. Most typically, pickleball is played recreationally in a doubles format with two players on a team. Age difference doesn’t seem to be much of a factor on teams as demonstrated locally in a recent mixed doubles tournament when the team of 78-year-old Pat McCabe paired with 18-year-old Austin Griffin stood on the podium as they accepted the silver medal.

Captain Jeremy Griffin of Wolf Creek Volunteer Fire Department said, “That’s the beauty of the sport. I often play with and against my 71-year-old father and my 18-year-old son in the same game. There’s few sports that the entire family can participate in at the same time.

“We actually started playing here in the fire bay at the station and we recently had four firefighters participate in Eden’s winter league.”

One of the best things about pickleball is the social aspect. The players are some of the friendliest and most helpful participants in any sport, often putting aside their competitive games to help a new player that’s not even aware of the rules — or when and how to hit a ball.

And it’s certainly bittersweet a month later when that newbie you taught knocks you out of a tournament. But it’s worthwhile even then because, on some scale, you helped create something.

Perhaps the hardest part of pickleball locally is finding a place to play in the Pell City area. The civic center offers only one indoor court that isn’t really suited for the high lobs that are often necessary in pickleball.

Occasionally, locals can play on the tennis courts there, but they are usually busy with a very popular tennis program. Pell City has money earmarked, and even a location on 19th Street designated for new pickleball courts, but to date, there has been no progress beyond that.

Local churches saw the want and the need and stepped in during the past year to offer their venues. Eden Westside Baptist Church is one of the most popular locations.

John McVey of Eden Westside recalled the start of their program late last year: “The first night of pickleball we had just three players show up, and now after just six months we’ve had to add a third court — and we have anywhere from 40 to 60 players on a Monday night.

“We’ve even modified the scoring so we can get more games in.”

Eden Westside also just added a Tuesday afternoon session which has proven quite popular.

A local Cropwell church has also started a pickleball program twice a week. They offer special times designed especially for beginning players. Though still in its infancy, they expect their program to grow substantially as more and more people discover pickleball.

Other nearby options include indoor play at Lincoln Parks and Recreation hosted by USA Pickleball Ambassador Kip Chappell. Kip offers instruction and sometimes snacks at his sessions. Michael Harris is another USAP ambassador and is very active with pickleball in the Oxford/Anniston area.

Harris said, “Check us out on Facebook at 256-Pickleball for local locations and tournaments in the area.”

Childersburg, Sylacauga and Talladega also offer pickleball activities in some form.

Now, if you’ve read all this and still making excuses such as “I’m too old” or “I’ve got physical issues,” consider this: This June are the Master’s Games in Oxford and the local mixed doubles team of Betty Deuel and Doug Griffin hope to bring home medals. Between the two of them, the combined team age is 150 years old. In the past year, Deuel has had a knee replacement and Griffin has had surgery to replace an implanted cardiac defibrillator. He’s had the defibrillator since open heart surgery in 2004 but said, “I like our chances and we play well together. Worst case scenario: We got to play pickleball.”

Follow local pickleball news and activities on Facebook at 256-Pickleball.