In early December I watched a mixed doubles pickleball match on the Tennis Channel. The match, part of a tournament in Orlando, featured number one ranked fifteen-year-old phenom Anna Leigh Waters and number one ranked Ben Johns against Jay Devilliers and Jessie Irvine. Not only did Waters and Johns win that match, they also won their respective men’s and women’s doubles and singles matches. Each took gold in all three categories against stiff competition; a remarkable accomplishment.
Anna Leigh Waters first played pickleball in 2017 when she was ten, competed in her first tournament when she was eleven and at age twelve became the youngest professional pickleball player in history. Ben Johns, a twenty-three-year-old Materials and Engineering major at the University of Maryland, started playing in 2016 and turned pro the same year. As they played, I was struck by the symmetry of their seemingly choreographed moves on the court. They moved in concert, anticipating each other’s reactions, rarely finding themselves out of position. I might well have been watching Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire.
While watching the match, I was transported back to my own youth in Baltimore. I first played lacrosse when I was twelve and was immediately hooked. I grew up a mile and a half from Johns Hopkins University, for years a Mecca for outstanding lacrosse players. My friends and I would walk to Homewood Field whenever the Blue Jay’s had a home game. We cheered for future Hall of Fame players like Joe Cowan, Hank Kaestner and Downie McCarty, all of whom played their high school lacrosse at Friends School in Baltimore before going the Hopkins. We saw them play powerhouses like Army, Navy and Maryland and after the games we moved to a nearby field where we tried to emulate their every move. We all played for teams, and learned our basic skills from coaches, many of whom had been talented players themselves. But one of the most important aspects of our learning experience was watching the players we hoped to be in the future.
Led by Alex Fox, who gives individual and group instruction, we have terrific pickleball professionals at The Landings Club. Everyone at every level of performance should avail themselves to their expert tutelage. The Landings Club also boasts many high-level players and much can be learned by watching them play. In much the same way my friends and I learned by watching the games at Hopkins, there is much to learn from watching players who are ranked 4.0 and 4.5. The list is too long to mention all of them, but if you don’t know who they are just ask and you will be directed to the right courts. I know my friends and I learned to play lacrosse by watching great lacrosse players. The same can be said about pickleball.
On a last unrelated note, a word to the wise: If you ever decide to sponsor a pickleball tournament, it is best to learn how to spell pickleball before printing the souvenir tee shirts! Yes, this really happened.