Leurene Hildenbrand credits the coronavirus pandemic for her improved pickleball stamina. “If we rally longer, we touch the ball less,” she says. At 88, Ms. Hildenbrand uses pickleball—a cross between tennis and ping pong—to keep fit and stay social.
A snowbird, she splits her time between Pinellas Park, Fla., and Hartville, Ohio, but has extended her Florida stay due to the pandemic. She typically plays pickup games of pickleball at a nearby indoor tennis court, but when it closed on April 15, she wasn’t about to let herself fall out of shape. She started going on daily, two-hour bike rides, and encouraged members of her retirement community to join.
Ms. Hildenbrand shows off medals from state and national Senior Games competitions and a trophy awarded by her neighbors as a token of appreciation.
Photo: Eve Edelheit for The Wall Street JournalWhen an outdoor tennis court reopened in her retirement community in early May she recruited her neighbors and formed a pickleball league that plays socially-distanced games every day. Many players were new to the game. A sign-up sheet allows the 16 participants to schedule game times.
Players must bring hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes, and balls are dunked in a bucket of bleach solution between matches. The group plays singles or doubles matches on the ends of the tennis courts to ensure people stay socially distanced. Joseph Kuhn, 70, says he was nervous at first about playing, but he wears a golf glove on his non-hitting hand so he never touches the ball. “Some people have to be reminded to keep a safe distance, but I am not afraid to tell them,” he says.
Friends call Ms. Hildenbrand “Wonder Woman” because she’s always on the move. “I try to go out to exercise three times a day,” she says. “My neighbors comment how I’m never home, and I say, ‘maybe you should try getting outdoors to do things, too.’” When she retired from her job as a research scientist at age 55, Ms. Hildenbrand embraced athletics, including cycling, rollerblading, running, table tennis and pickleball. Since 2013, she’s competed annually in state and national Senior Games competitions. The National Senior Games have been rescheduled for November 2021, and Ms. Hildenbrand says she’s already in training mode for 15 sports including pickleball, bocce, horseshoes and several track-and-field events.
Ms. Hildenbrand plays pickleball at least two hours a day.
Photo: Eve Edelheit for The Wall Street JournalThe Workout
Ms. Hildenbrand plays pickleball every day, sometimes twice a day, for up to two hours a session. A typical game lasts anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the level of play. A smaller court, about one-third the size of a tennis court, and slower balls make the sport a low-impact alternative to tennis. Points are scored only on the serve, which must be underhand. Games are typically played to 11 points and won by two. “Leurene has an amazing serve and short game,” says David Tregaskis, age 64. “She can keep up with the best of us.”
One day a week she plays table tennis with a friend. “The table is 9 feet long, and we wash our hands before and after play,” she says. She normally teaches an hour-long aerobics class three days a week at a local RV resort. Public classes haven’t resumed, but she keeps up her routine at home. She spends 30 minutes getting her heart rate up by marching in place and doing step-ups on an aerobic step. The second 30 minutes are devoted to strength. She uses 1-, 2-, 3- and 5-pound dumbbells to perform exercises such as biceps curls and variations of lunges. “The front lunge is great for balance,” she says.
She walks, bikes or rollerblades on the Fred Marquis Pinellas Trail for up to two hours every day.
When her indoor pickleball court closed, Ms. Hildenbrand recruited her neighbors to play games at their community tennis court.
Photo: Eve Edelheit for The Wall Street JournalThe Diet
Breakfast is a bowl of oatmeal topped with sunflower, flax, hemp and chia seeds and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Lunch is grilled salmon, chicken or steak with a vegetable, and she makes enough to have leftovers for the next day. Dinner might be chicken or scallops with mashed cauliflower paired with a glass of Gewürztraminer. She considers ice cream a snack, not a splurge. “I have it every day,” she says. She typically keeps pints of mint chocolate chip, chocolate, almond pistachio and Moose Tracks—vanilla with fudge swirls and peanut butter cups—in her freezer.
To keep safe, players socially distance, disinfect balls between matches and some even wear gloves.
Photo: Eve Edelheit for The Wall Street JournalThe Gear and Cost
Ms. Hildenbrand owns a RiverStyks Rubicon 2.0 paddle ($199) and a Selkirk AMPED S2 X5 FiberFlex paddle ($149) for pickleball. She buys balls from RiverStyks ($100 per 100 pack) or Onix Fuse G2 balls ($250 per 100 pack), which she says are more durable. She plays in apparel from Nike, Under Armour or Adidas, and wears Asics Gel-Court Speed tennis shoes ($110) or Fila Double Bounce pickleball court shoes ($65). Her Zetrablade rollerblades cost $130. She wears a helmet and elbow and knee pads when she rollerblades.
The Playlist
“When I do aerobics, I like anything with a Latin beat,” she says.
Know the Risks
Chad Asplund, a professor of family medicine and orthopedics at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., says if you want to play group sports during the pandemic, play outdoors and choose a sport where you can stay socially distanced. If you can get your team to commit to a bubble concept, where they agree to socialize with each other but no one else, that will lower the risk of spread, he says. “And don’t be afraid to speak up if someone isn’t respecting safety protocol,” Dr. Asplund says. Here, he weighs in on best practices for various sports:
Tennis and Pickleball: Low Risk
“You’re already distanced on a court,” he says. “The ball is the only object handled communally.” Dr. Asplund suggests each server have their own set of balls. One set should be a different color so players can tell them apart. Because a pickleball is plastic, he says the balls can be wiped down with disinfectant between plays.
Soccer: Low Risk
Reduce risk by playing 7 on 7 versus 11 on 11, says Dr. Asplund. “The only person touching the ball is the goalie and they should have on gloves,” he says. “Players shouldn’t be in close contact for long periods of time during play.”
Baseball and Softball: Moderate Risk
“The pitcher and catcher are at the highest risk as they handle the ball every play,” he says. To minimize risk, he suggests sanitizing the ball between innings, or requiring the fielding and batting team to each have their own set of balls.
Volleyball: Moderate Risk
By reducing the number of players, you’ll reduce the number of people touching a ball, he says. Wiping down the ball with a disinfectant between plays is suggested.
Basketball: High Risk
“Even when you take the game outdoors, you’re in close proximity with players when you are guarding them and you have multiple hands on the ball,” he says.
Football: High Risk
“Even if you reduce the number of players, football is a contact sport,” he says. “Two-hand touch or flag football is a little less risky.”
Write to Jen Murphy at workout@wsj.com
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