Chatting to Wendy Smyth about pickleball, she mentions badminton, squash and table tennis.

Pickleball has elements of all three, but in reality, it’s its own game.

Wendy is the driving force behind the twice weekly pickleball sessions at Te Puke Baptist Church that she started in October last year.

She “imported” the game from Auckland.

“My mum and brother live in Auckland. I was up there and my brother said ‘Wendy, come and have a game of pickleball with me’, and I said ‘what?’.

“I’d never played it, never seen it, didn’t know anything about it, but I went and played for an hour, loved it so much I said ‘I need to start my own club’.”

As a member of the Baptist Church congregation, she knew there was a gym at the church, so she approached the powers that be.

“I knew we had three badminton courts and the pickleball courts are very similar – there’s just one little line that’s not quite right – and there were these badminton courts sitting here doing nothing on a Monday.

“They said ‘let’s do it’.”

She dipped into her own pocket to buy equipment and put a post on Facebook.

The sessions were so popular a second night was quickly added and now 20 or more players turn up each Monday and Wednesday to play.

Pickleball can perhaps best be described as a miniature version of tennis played on a smaller court with paddles and a plastic ball.

“I have a bit of auto immune disease that affects my muscles, but the paddle is light - it’s not a bat or racquet - the ball’s light and it’s great exercise, you are moving all the time.”

A game for all ages

“Anyone can play it - even people who say they are unco-ordinated come and play because it’s just easy.”

When she started the sessions, her two sons Ryan and Curtis gave her “a bit of a hard time” saying it was an “old person’s game”.

“But they are now just as hooked as me.”

“It’s a good way to get active without feeling like you are getting active,” said Ryan.

“It gets your heart rate up and you get a sweat on, but you are having fun. It doesn’t feel like it’s hard on the body or anything like that. It’s a fast-paced game and quite a cool little mixture.

”So far the games in Te Puke are very much social in nature, but there is a possibility of more serious competition for those who might want it.“

There are some really good players here but we haven’t had a night yet where we haven’t had a new person shown up,” said Wendy.

Games start at 7pm each Monday and Wednesday and playing costs $5 per session.

Money is being banked to go towards a refurbishment of the gym and buy curtains for its high-level windows.

Anyone interested can just turn up, said Wendy.