Lara Marmelstein had been a highly ranked (5.0) tennis player for more than 30 years when a buddy introduced her to a new racquet sport with a silly name: pickleball. The 54-year-old nurse from San Juan Capistrano was instantly hooked.
“I love, love, love, love pickleball!” Marmelstein gushes. “I love it so much that I gave up tennis. I look forward to playing pickleball until I’m 100.”
She means that literally. With its compact court and low-force volleys, pickleball is senior-friendly and uniquely well-suited for intergenerational play.
“There’s less emphasis on running than in tennis. You can sort of hop over to one side or the other. That’s why older people and children can play,” says Marmelstein, who took up pickleball in 2015.
She had no trouble selling her 85-year-old mother, Mary Lou McCauley, and sister Kelley Mayeda on the sport. The fever quickly spread to Mayeda’s adult sons, Mac and Jacob, and Marmelstein’s own adult children, Mitchel and McKenna. Another sister, Marlo Blandford, and brother-in-law Johnny have since embraced the family pastime.
Marmelstein, who worked at Torrance Memorial for a decade before moving to Orange County in 2000, returns to the South Bay every week. By long-standing tradition, she and her siblings, their spouses and offspring gather on Thursdays at mom’s house in Redondo Beach for “family night.” Then bright and early Friday morning, these self-described “pickleheads” take to the courts at Manhattan Heights Park or Hermosa Beach.
“It’s such a neat thing that I can play with my 85-year-old mom and my 30-year-old nephew. I could never do that in tennis,” says Marmelstein, who plays pickleball five times a week. Her skill-level rating is 4.5 on a scale of 6. Pro level starts at 5.5.
Tournament age brackets go from preteens to seniors. One of the world’s top pro players is 14-year-old Anna Leigh Waters of Delray Beach, Florida. (Read More)
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