Commentary: Is the pickleball craze catching on at Fort Drum?

FORT DRUM, N.Y. (Oct. 17, 2023) -- Pickleball, in my mind, always fell in the “meh” column of sports I wanted to play.

I became aware of its presence in the cultural zeitgeist a few years ago when pickleball teams began infesting the neighborhood tennis courts where I had played for years. No matter the time or day, more and more of them appeared, marking their turf with pickleball-regulation boundary lines.

Fort Drum Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation’s Sports, Fitness and Aquatics staff hosted their inaugural pickleball tournament several months ago, and they managed to corral enough players for a singles bracket. The participants were mostly new to the game, but their competitive spirit and good humor eclipsed their inexperience.

I thought this might have laid the foundation for more events, but as far as I could tell, pickleball hadn’t infiltrated Fort Drum.

Then, recently, FMWR announced a pickleball clinic and tournament. That’s when I asked myself: “Will this pickleball craze ever spread to Fort Drum?”

I signed up to find out.

Mike D’Augustino, FMWR supervisory recreation assistant, was an ideal instructor for us newbies. With several years of experience in the sport, including tournament play, he methodically broke down the rules for us as we built up our skills – and more importantly, our confidence.

Mike became interested in pickleball several years ago while serving as a recreational assistant for the New York State Department of Corrections in Rochester.

“Pickleball is huge in Rochester, and every town has its own dedicated pickleball courts,” he said. “I haven’t seen that around here, so I thought it would be fun seeing if we could get people interested in playing.”

I was told that gameplay is easy to pick up but hard to master, so I entered both the singles and doubles bracket in the tournament to get the full pickleball experience.

The confidence I had developed at the clinic was summarily obliterated in the tournament. And it happened so fast I didn’t have time to let it bother me. The other players clearly had better reflexes and ball control. They were more agile, deft, and stronger, and I prayed that every one of them had to wake up early the next morning for a 50-mile ruck march with full kit.

Just kidding on the last part. It was friendly competition in every sense of the term, and after my quick elimination I had ample time to observe that and talk with some of the players. Ed Smith said he tries to play three times a week in Watertown if it doesn’t conflict with work.

“I’ve been playing for about a year now,” he said. “I love the game, and when I heard about this tournament, I was so excited. I couldn’t believe it.”

Pickleball is something Ed has suggested several times to improve morale and quality of life for Soldiers at Fort Drum.

“I know there are some good players around who want to play,” he said. “If we could have some open court time here in the gym, I’m all about that. Especially in the winter, when this would be my only option because it’s expensive to play off post.”

Ed won the singles event, and I asked him what I needed to improve on heading into doubles.

“You have a good return,” he said. “But a lot of this game is getting to the net quick. You want to control the net.”

So that’s what I was thinking heading into the doubles tournament. And then history repeated itself. Another scoreless game.

Fortunately, my partner, Amber, had more achievable goals in mind.

“Let’s get a point next time,” she said.

And we did. Three to be exact. Then for our next game, she suggested we try to break the five-minute mark, noting how fast we were losing each contest. Again, we improved, recording four points, and prolonging our defeat for a record eight minutes.

“I think it went well,” she remarked afterward. “I think we showed improvement each time, so we shouldn’t give up. We just need to play more.”

That’s something Elieser Perez wants to do. He attended the first pickleball clinic with his wife and then planned on going to the next one for more practice. He got the dates confused and what he thought would be another training session turned out to be the actual tournament.

That didn’t stop him from playing or enjoying his first taste of competition.

“Honestly, I did not even care if I didn’t play well. It’s just fun,” he said. “You can get some good cardio in without having to run extra miles. At the same time, you get to meet some nice people and socialize.”

Mike said the response to the clinics and tournament was proof that pickleball could catch on at Fort Drum.

“Given the growing popularity in pickleball, I was proud to see how many people sign up for this event,” he said. “The atmosphere was great, and the attitude of all the participants was friendly and encouraging – win or lose – which is awesome to see.”

Mike said the next tournament is slated for December, and he will schedule regular Monday night pickup games, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Magrath Sports Complex.

“If all goes well, we will assess and add another day and time for pickup games, and work toward establishing more tournaments and pickleball leagues,” he said.

Sign me up, I thought. Although I’m firmly positioned to be on the bottom of any tournament bracket for a while, I’m ready to elevate pickleball out of my “meh” column. And who knows, one day I may compete in the inaugural Fort Drum Garrison versus 10th Mountain Division Pickleball Classic.