WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. — At the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus on a recent Tuesday morning, dozens of pickleball players gathered around tournament director Aaron Del Mar.
Dressed in a neon green shirt, with a walkie-talkie microphone clipped to his chest, Del Mar bellowed out instructions, before dispatching the players across two dozen indoor courts.
"We're going to be running a round-robin system today, " he told the group. "You may be playing against teams that may be younger or older than you. If you don't want to play them, you don't have to."
The players competing here are all over the age of 50. Some had come with their adult children cheering them on in the stands. Some wore colorful shirts that matched their teammates. And all were vying for a spot in the National Senior Games in 2025.
Many states across the country host senior games, which include all types of sports like archery, basketball and mountain biking. But here in Florida, pickleball is the crown jewel. Nick Gandy, sports information manager for the Florida Senior Games, says nearly 600 players registered to compete, including some who traveled from outside of Florida.
"It's like they're going back to their younger days when they did this with their friends," said Gandy, who's been involved with the Florida Senior Games for 25 years. "But it's a more mature, adult group of people just trying to stay active, and stay healthy, and stay involved in a sport that they love, and they meet other people that inspire them."
As part of our series on active aging, we headed down to Florida to spend some time with pickleball players as they competed for nationals. Some of them were competing at the state level for the first time. Others had been playing for years. One couple made it their mission to medal at senior games in every state.
Almost to a person, when we asked them for advice for anyone who hoped to pick up a paddle or begin a new sport the answer was simple: Just start.
Ruth Weil, 76, of The Villages, Fla.
Ruth Weil started playing pickleball 15 years ago after she and her wife moved to The Villages, a sprawling retirement community. She says the active community there is part of what keeps her going.
"I have two very bad knees that I just keep plugging along — cortisone shots — knowing that eventually I'm going to have to have replacements. But it's just a matter of getting out and doing it and trying to stay active ... I mean, we have things going on morning, noon and night.
"I look at everybody, and I said, 'How lucky we all are at this age, to be able to still compete,' " Weil said.
Her wife, Joy, is also a competitive pickleball player.
"My wife, who's 85 years old in January, is still competing in pickleball and she is here today," Weil said. "And she, to me, is an inspiration for everybody. Because how many 85-year-olds do you see out playing? So as long as she competes, I will compete."
At the Florida Senior Games, Weil clinched her spot and will play in the national games in 2025 in both pickleball and softball.
She and Joy plan to load their car full of equipment, and drive from The Villages to Des Moines, Iowa, so they can see part of the United States before competition begins.
Gene Berg, 72, and Margaret Berg, 63, of Litchfield, N.H.
Gene Berg has an ambitious goal: He wants to medal in the senior games in every state in the country. So far? He's up to 36.
When we asked Gene how he started on this path, he laughed, and said: "I think it's just a fetish."
"It's his bucket list. I'll play in the games but I don't have to get a medal," Margaret said. "But if I get a medal and he doesn't we still have to go back to that state."
They started playing pickleball when their kids got older.
"We spent probably 35 years chasing youth sports," Gene said. "And when the youths left the nest, we had nothing left to chase, so we had to chase each other."
Margaret adds, "he said, 'I've heard about this sport, pickleball, do you want to try it?' And we went to our local, little indoor gymnasium where the people taught us how to play."
Now, Gene plays about four times a week, for hours at a time. Though, he and Margaret both note that they're careful to stretch to avoid injury.
The two have a 22-foot Airstream and frequently drive from competition to competition. But on this recent trip to Florida, they opted to fly. It's their seventh or eighth event this year.
"Florida's got a lot of retirees, a lot of good players," Gene said. "So we're a little nervous coming down here, but here we are."
Sondra Boruty, 58 of Tampa, and Tania Miller, 57
As Tania Miller played pickleball at the Florida Senior Games, her parents watched from the metal bleachers. It was their influence that led her to pick up a paddle herself.
"My parents always played and I always made fun of it, 'Oh pickleball, it's for old people,' " she said. "And they were like, you need to get out of the house and do something other than go to work."
She was hooked by the first game.
"You don't have to be a super athlete or be extra strong to hit a good ball," she said.
Miller met her pickleball partner, Sondra Boruty, at the local rec center.
"We just clicked, in all ways, in life too," Miller said. "Exact same age born the exact same year. We both went to college for art and design. I mean, so many things just clicked, and it was right away.
"It's like so many things fell into place, like once we started playing together and, you know, and we do outside things together now too," she said. "It was a fate thing."
Alice Edington, 56, and Teresa Cheney 62, of Palm Coast, Fla.
Alice Edington and Teresa Cheney were first-timers at the Florida Senior Games. We spoke to them as they stepped off the court after their first game — a victory.
Edington says she loves that she's "still in the game."
"I really was a competitive racquetball player, but my knees just wouldn't take it over time," she said. "And so being able to play another game, I mean, it may look slow when you're watching it, but when you're playing it, you know, it's very competitive and it just gives you that old feeling again."
Both women stay active off the pickleball court, too. Edington does cardio, walks and swims. Cheney strength trains with kettlebells, runs and does Pilates.
"I mean, [I'm] 62 and I'm still able to play — knock on wood — competitively," Cheney said.
Age is a number, she added. "Just go out and have fun."
Debra Wells-Lynn, 70, of Poinciana, Fla.
Debra Wells-Lynn isn't just a pickleball player. She's also a coach. A former tennis player, she picked up pickleball when she moved to Florida from New York.
"I ate tennis, I drank tennis, I loved tennis, it was all about tennis," she said. "But then, when I got down here, tennis kind of went out the window."
She took a class for beginners and immediately fell in love with the sport.
"You have an advantage when you're a tennis player, and you come into pickleball, great advantage because you know how the ball bounces," she said.
Her advice for new pickleball players? Pay close attention. Listening to instructors will help avoid injury and keep you playing longer.
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