E
arlier this year, the idea of playing
pickleball in Hawaii, with the aloha
lifestyle, warm air and rainbow-
filled skies, became a must-do
adventure for my wife Sharon and
me. We’ve lived in Australia and have family
there, and have flown the long journey many
times. It’s our habit to stop over in Honolulu to
break up the trip and ensure our longest leg is
not more than 10 hours.
This time, before we booked our flight, I did a
web search for “pickleball in Hawaii” and came
across www.pickleballmaui.com. The link
showed a photo of a pickleball court in Maui
with four people playing, surrounded by trees,
and introduced Laurie Loney’s business and
the term “pukaball.” I called Laurie to secure a
date to play and we booked our flight to Maui.
Serendipitously, a few weeks later, at the
US Open Pickleball Championships in Naples,
Florida, I was chatting with Jennifer Lucore
and her mother, Beverly Youngren, authors of
"The History of Pickleball,” which I purchased.
In the book are three pages about Laurie Loney
and pickleball in Maui. Imagine my surprise
seeing this in print.
According to Jennifer, Laurie’s father, Roger
Knox, and his family first learned the game of
pickleball in the late 1960s from Bob O’Brian,
who went to Maui to enjoy the sun. Bob had
built one of the first pickleball courts on
Bainbridge Island, Washington.
Roger soon built his own court and was
responsible for changing the name of
pickleball to PUKABALL in the following way:
One day he lost a point and shouted, “That
damned pukaball!” and the name stuck. Puka
means “hole” in Hawaiian and of course a
pickleball has lots of holes.
We landed in Maui on a windy July day—of
course strong breezes are an enemy of outdoor
pickleball. But after checking into our rental
unit, we headed for Pickleball Maui located in
Kula at an elevation of 2,000 feet.
After a 45-minute drive, we punched in the
code to open the gate at Laurie’s property and
saw the Pickleball Maui court, looking just
as it was on the website. There were trees
and sprawling acres of land. To the right of
the court were Puakenikeni and Plumeria
(fragrant flowers) as well as avocado, papaya,
macadamia and Lilikoi (passion fruit) trees.
To the left was the back of the garage with
“Pukaball” and the web address written on it.
Laurie and her husband, Steve “Pocket”
Loney, were there along with other family
members and a few friends Laurie invited
to play with us. And play we did. We started
at 4 p.m. and went on for several hours. We
changed partners after each game and when
rotating out a game, sat at a picnic table and
ate fresh fruit and guacamole and watched the
games on the court. The pace of play was fast,
fierce, friendly and made for lots of laughter.
Afterward, Laurie regaled us with her
pickleball history and gave us more details
about her father playing with the pickleball
founders. She began playing with them at age
10 in the 1960s. We were delighted to play with
one of the only players in the world who has
played pickleball for more than 50 years!
At the end of the two days, Sharon and I
came away with the feeling we’d gone back
in time and played pickleball much the way
the founders and those who followed had
played it in the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s—communal
pickup games with friends, neighbors and
family involving cheerful banter, assorted food
platters to feed hungry players, and time for
talk, play and fun, challenging games.
Our Pickleball Maui journey turned out to
be more than playing pickleball. For us, it
had brought us close to the original spirit,
simplicity and natural ebullience of those who
had crafted this wonderful game. Pukaball
dreaming indeed! •
10-year-old
Laurie with
her dad
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018 |
MAGAZINE
55