Pickleball Magazine 3-4 Courtesy of Pickleball Guru | Page 61

S
even years ago, when Andrew
Leighton was diagnosed with
Parkinson’s disease, it confirmed
what he’d already known for a
year. He had suspicions that his
father suffered from the disease
before he passed away in his
80s, and Andrew recognized the
pattern of symptoms.
But Andrew has found a medicine better than
anything else when it comes to alleviating his
symptoms—pickleball. “For me, pickleball is the
number-one activity that makes me the most
comfortable in terms of lessening my symptoms. Other
sports do too, but not as much as pickleball,” he says.
While the full impact of exercise in Parkinson’s
treatment hasn’t been addressed by the medical
community, an Australian study shows that exercise
has a “selective” impact on curbing Parkinson’s
symptoms among sufferers. In other words, what
works for one person might not work for another, a
caveat Andrew’s neurologist echoed to him.
“I’ve talked with my neurologist, a movement
disorder specialist, and essentially exercise is really
good medicine. The neurologist has acknowledged the
benefit of pickleball within a family of sports, but I’m
not sure he’s ready to champion pickleball on its own.
Personally I am, because it’s true for me,” Andrew
says. “It’s helped me. I don’t know if it would have the
same effect on others.”
Helen, Andrew’s wife of 38 years, teaches pickleball
to Parkinson’s patients locally. She taught Andrew
the game shortly after he retired. While his sports
background included tennis, she had a four to five-year
head start on him in pickleball and the two play about
four times a week on average.
“Andy’s a very good tennis player and taught me how
to play tennis. Now the roles are reversed,” she notes.
“It’s pretty annoying,” Andrew jokes, about Helen now
having the upper hand on the court.
Off the court, the Leightons organize and play in
a variety of Parkinson’s-related charity events and
traveled north from Virginia to Pittsburgh to play in the
Gamma Classic, which benefits Parkinson’s treatment
and research.
Parkinson’s is very quietly
“
asking you to slow down and get
smaller. Pickleball is very loudly
asking you to get faster and
bigger. They’re incompatible,
yet I feel so good when I play
pickleball. I see myself as big
and fast on the court, and that’s
a good thing. ”
“Helen runs a tournament right here in Arlington,
for the main Parkinson’s Foundation of the National
Capital Area, which has about 300 players on 17 courts.
We’ll be closing off registration shortly because we
already have more than 200 registrants for an event
that takes place on Columbus Day weekend,” Andrew
says. “We’re pretty excited about it. It’s not the Gamma
Classic, but it’s filled to capacity. Helen is the brainchild
behind our local tournament, organizing competitors,
bringing in pros for the first time, arranging skill
sessions and teaching. She’s also the Assistant
Regional Director for USAPA and has about 300
ambassadors reporting to her.”
When he’s not on the court, Andrew is somewhat of a
local celebrity, known as the French Horn player at the
airport. As a former human resources employee for the
Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, and a horn
player, he has been providing improvisational music in
the airport for years.
While Parkinson’s has made his playing more
difficult, Andrew is confident pickleball will fill the void
down the road. “The horn itself has a reputation for
being a difficult instrument to play because it’s always
moving slightly. You have to get over that, and once I
get past that, I can calm myself and play as a normal
musicia