News VCU Athletic Village

[VCU Heel]

Just because we are kicking around the subject, they just converted the tennis courts at Huguenot Park across from Johnston Willis to pickleball courts as well.

So, there are plenty of places for people to play and VCU doesn’t need to expand on its already ambitious Athletic Village plans to include pickleball.

 

[Ramcounter]

The tennis courts in the facility will supposedly available for public use when not being used by the team.

I actually didn’t know that. Thank you for the heads up.

 

[bighornn]

The tennis courts at Byrd Park are absolutely packed when the weather is nice.

If you’re so interested in playing pickleball, then there’s already a facility being built at Regency. VCU doesn’t need to use its resources or land to build one.

VA's largest indoor pickleball facility coming to Richmond

Jon Laaser, the former voice of the Hokies and Squirrels and a pickleball fanatic, co-founded the company behind the facility.

richmond.com

Plenty of places to play pickleball myself (multiple locations available every day within a 15-minute drive) ... I'm thinking of the VCU students.

 

[VCU Heel]

Plenty of places to play pickleball myself (multiple locations available every day within a 15-minute drive) ... I'm thinking of the VCU students.

That’s great. The Athletic Village is being built for our athletes. If you’d like to buy some land around campus and build pickleball courts for the student body, then feel free. I bet if you polled the student body that pickleball courts wouldn’t be in the top 10 things they want on campus. From my experience, more college kids play spikeball than pickleball. VCU probably has more kids playing quidditch than pickleball.

 

[bighornn]

Competitive Aisle Walking

Pickleball and slow pitch softball. What is next fast walking?

So you seem to look down on pickleball and slow-pitch softball, which is your prerogative .... that being the case, what sports do you engage in? More manly activities like MMA? Rugby? Powerlifting? Major League baseball?

I would be hesitant to disparage anyone else's sporting endeavors whether I was any good at them or not. But if you'd like to show off your prowess in either softball or pickleball, let me know and I can set you up as early as today.

Playing any sport yourself is better than being on the sidelines and watching others have the fun. That would apply to people of all ages and certainly to college students.

 

[AlienAiden]

So you seem to look down on pickleball and slow-pitch softball, which is your prerogative .... that being the case, what sports do you engage in? More manly activities like MMA? Rugby? Powerlifting? Major League baseball?

I would be hesitant to disparage anyone else's sporting endeavors whether I was any good at them or not. But if you'd like to show off your prowess in either softball or pickleball, let me know and I can set you up as early as today.

Playing any sport yourself is better than being on the sidelines and watching others have the fun. That would apply to people of all ages and certainly to college students.

I don't look down on it. Just giving you grief. I like softball. I play tennis but one day I might join in with pickleball. I have always played tennis.

 

[bighornn]

I don't look down on it. Just giving you grief. I like softball. I play tennis but one day I might join in with pickleball. I have always played tennis.

Prediction: probably sooner than later, you'll switch to pickleball (due to peer pressure, curiosity), and when you do, you'll be reluctant to ever go back to tennis. Pickleball is the real dill, you know.

At least on the youth level, tennis won't totally disappear like adult fast-pitch softball.

There will always be little girls who want to be the next Serena and little boys who yearn to be the next McEnroe.

But pro pickleball has arrived .... videos are all over YouTube. And if you check it out, you'll see mostly younger people playing.

 

[VCU Heel]

Prediction: probably sooner than later, you'll switch to pickleball (due to peer pressure, curiosity), and when you do, you'll be reluctant to ever go back to tennis. Pickleball is the real dill, you know.

At least on the youth level, tennis won't totally disappear like adult fast-pitch softball.

There will always be little girls who want to be the next Serena and little boys who yearn to be the next McEnroe.

But pro pickleball has arrived .... videos are all over YouTube. And if you check it out, you'll see mostly younger people playing.

McEnroe? Boys these days aren’t growing up wanting to emulate him. He was a great player in his day, but that is not what they yearn to be.

 

[VRam]

Prediction: probably sooner than later, you'll switch to pickleball (due to peer pressure, curiosity), and when you do, you'll be reluctant to ever go back to tennis. Pickleball is the real dill, you know.

At least on the youth level, tennis won't totally disappear like adult fast-pitch softball.

There will always be little girls who want to be the next Serena and little boys who yearn to be the next McEnroe.

But pro pickleball has arrived .... videos are all over YouTube. And if you check it out, you'll see mostly younger people playing.

The tennis courts in Florida are packed with pros, juniors and amateurs. There are after-school tennis programs for kids all over the place. The club I play at has thirty courts and are always filled. You don't see kids playing pickleball. The people playing pickleball are people who haven't done anything in the last 20 years, except maybe a little softball (which is mostly for people who sucked in baseball) and people who used to play other sports, but who no longer can because of injuries. In addition, the pickleball players don't seem to like the summer heat and retreat to the couch and air conditioning.

 

[Ramaholic]

Prediction: probably sooner than later, you'll switch to pickleball (due to peer pressure, curiosity), and when you do, you'll be reluctant to ever go back to tennis. Pickleball is the real dill, you know.

At least on the youth level, tennis won't totally disappear like adult fast-pitch softball.

There will always be little girls who want to be the next Serena and little boys who yearn to be the next McEnroe.

But pro pickleball has arrived .... videos are all over YouTube. And if you check it out, you'll see mostly younger people playing.

I belong to Westwood racquet club. They added Pickle ball courts. They are sparingly used. Squash/ raquetball get used more. Tennis popularity at the club is as high as ever. .

 

[rammed]

Plenty of places to play pickleball myself (multiple locations available every day within a 15-minute drive) ... I'm thinking of the VCU students.

Respectfully, pickle ball is mostly an old person’s game. Those who can’t play tennis. And a lot of posters on this board would categorize me as “old,” you have 10+ years on me….VCU students? Naw.

 

[bighornn]

Respectfully, pickle ball is mostly an old person’s game. Those who can’t play tennis. And a lot of posters on this board would categorize me as “old,” you have 10+ years on me….VCU students? Naw.

Anyone of any age that is introduced to pickleball will love it and likely become addicted .... just got off the courts at Rockwood; among my partners was a young man named Jamal who plays on the JV football team at Thomas Dale. It is not a sport of "those than can't play tennis." They don't want to play tennis. You've got an old scouting report. But let me know; I can set anyone of any age up with a game as early as right now ... they've got lights at Rockwood (8 courts), Harry Daniel Park (8) and CTC, old Clover hill high, 12. You can play all night.

 

[bighornn]

The tennis courts in Florida are packed with pros, juniors and amateurs. There are after-school tennis programs for kids all over the place. The club I play at has thirty courts and are always filled. You don't see kids playing pickleball. The people playing pickleball are people who haven't done anything in the last 20 years, except maybe a little softball (which is mostly for people who sucked in baseball) and people who used to play other sports, but who no longer can because of injuries. In addition, the pickleball players don't seem to like the summer heat and retreat to the couch and air conditioning.

Huh? Softball is for people "who sucked in baseball?" There is something to that comment although the term "sucked" is way off base. Yes, softball is for the 99.99 percent of ballplayers who will not play professional baseball. I doubt anyone on these boards was ever good enough to play on anything but the lowest level of softball, if that How about you VRam, were you the robust home-run hitter and fleet shortstop on your softball teams? Or did you play professional baseball instead? And even if you did suit up for the Yankees, what about life after 35?

 

[Celticguy]

less popular than sumo wrestling or cricket.

While there is not so much interest in sumo (I happen to love it) around here. Although there do seem to be quite a lot of people in training to get bulked up !

But you might be surprised at how much interest there is in Cricket in the Richmond area.

Its wildly popular in southern asia and the west indies and South Africa. Quite a lot of those folks came here for Y2K.

 

[bighornn]

While there is not so much interest in sumo (I happen to love it) around here. Although there do seem to be quite a lot of people in training to get bulked up !

But you might be surprised at how much interest there is in Cricket in the Richmond area.

Its wildly popular in southern asia and the west indies and South Africa. Quite a lot of those folks came here for Y2K.

I recall writing a story on a cricket player from India ... also on a squash player at Country Club of Virginia .... and a "Tough man Contest" winner who was a bouncer at a country 'n' western bar in western Henrico. There are exceptions to everything. But let's face it, lacrosse has become the up-and-coming sport of the suburban youth and pickleball the sport of the old enough to drink. Lax is a spinoff of football; in many cases for the kids who don't see much future in football .... pickleball is just a phenomenon. The best area player I know of is Bryan Still, who you might recall as the Huguenot High, Virginia Tech and NFL receiver. Bryan mostly plays at CTC.