Dinking with my dad

A new holiday tradition was born today. It's a pain in the butt to coordinate the holidays with my family. I have 3 siblings who each have two kids of their own. Their partners have families that they also like spending time with on holidays.

Rather than trying to pack in multiple meals by driving hours all over the state of New Jersey, we decided that we're going to have family pickle time in the morning and then let everyone do whatever else they have to do to celebrate.

My dad recently caught the pickleball bug. Similar to me, he's a competitive guy that doesn't like to lose. He doesn't have any tennis background but used to enjoy playing racquetball quite a bit. He's got a better backhand than a forehand, he can keep the ball low, but we have to work on some forehand drives.

Just like everyone else, he's looking to get into better games, but I'm trying to explain the social constructs around pickleball. Everyone has their group. No one is really looking to expand their groups unless the new person looking to join significantly challenges the existing players.

If you're reading this, Dad, you've got some work to do on lateral mobility, and you need to learn how to add topspin on your drives and volleys. We'll get there.

Bring your parents to the courts. You may unlock a competitive drive in them they forgot they had. Get them active again. Spend time with them doing the thing you love: playing pickleball.