Pickleball Magazine 2-6 Courtesy of PickleballTournaments | Page 77

M
y husband and I are almost
70, and at the top of our
bucket list was a WORLD
CRUISE...but how could
we be on a ship for 128 days and not
play pickleball? My husband, Mike, said
it would be a good time for my “old-
age pickle injuries” to heal. I thought
differently and snuck four paddles and a
few balls into my luggage.
Our itinerary was amazing and fast-
paced, visiting 32 countries and 66
ports, an “all-inclusive” fantasy…except
for pickleball. I knew that our ship, the
Regent Navigator, did not have a sport
court, but I was determined to find a
place to play onboard for our “at sea”
days. Lucky for me, our cruise directors
were picklers from Traverse City,
Michigan, so when they were surrounded by people (how
could they say no?), I asked if we could play pickleball on
the stage of our showroom. To my amazement, they said
YES and Regent Pickleball was born.
The next day, our daily program announced that a
“pickleball enthusiast” was aboard and invited everyone
to join her to play. The first few days, we tied a ribbon
between two bar stools—not the best net. By the time
we reached San Diego, we were 15-20 players strong, but
were desperate for a net. Since San Diego is my hometown,
our dear pickle friends, Jay and Haruko Meinhardt, gave
us a net, some paddles and more balls. Now we were in
business.
Each sea day at 9:00 a.m. we dinked, we lobbed (the
only person who almost broke the ceiling theater lights
was our cruise director), we played short and long games.
We even had weekly tournaments! We played for an hour,
right before the morning lecture, so the audience was often
filled with our cheering section. Our pickle group was from
all over the world: Scotland, Australia, Canada, Spain,
the UK and the USA. We had special pickle parties in the
dining room with menus in the shape of paddles and white
chocolate pickleballs for dessert.
My friend, Mike Hess, who is president of the
International Pickleball Federation, introduced us to
players around the world. We played with the locals in
Wellington, New Zealand; Sidney, Australia; Barcelona,
Spain; and Mumbai, India. The most special experience
was given to us by the Indian Pickleball Federation, which
invited us to present pickleball to the university women
of Mumbai. We introduced the sport, did a demonstration
with the Indian Federation picklers, and played with the
university women in their beautiful saris. As a result, the
directress of sports in India decided to include pickleball in
the freshman curriculum.
On days in port, when returning early from touring, we
snuck our net and paddles outside of the ship and pickled
inside the port. However, the security officers on the ship
and the port authorities told us we were breaking a number
of security and safety rules. Oh please, just let us play for
a little while! I learned to beg in a plethora of different
languages and found hand gestures to be most useful.
As we were heading home across the Atlantic, we were
treated to a surprise goodbye pickle party where our
players were given Regent Pickle The World t-shirts. They
were also given the names of their hometown ambassadors
so they could continue to play when they returned. We all
knew the trip would have to end, but we now look forward
to our first Regent Pickle reunion in the near future.
Yes, love makes the world go round…and so does
pickleball!  •
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017 |
MAGAZINE
75