Project Rally participants reported increases in physical activity, social time
FEATURE
Cancer Survivors Benefit from Pickleball
Project Rally participants reported increases in physical activity, social time
By ALEX ABRAMS
RED LINE EDITORIAL
Dr. Nathan Parker watched as his mother in New Hampshire quickly became an avid pickleball player like many other adults across the country.
Over time, the positive effects of the sport on her physical and mental wellness were clear. She was exercising, having fun and making new friends.
That experience gave Parker, a researcher at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, an idea for a pilot study. He suspected that cancer survivors would gain the same health benefits from playing pickleball as his mother, who’ s not a cancer survivor.
Researchers at Moffitt partnered with the YMCA of the Suncoast in western Florida to launch Project Rally, a community-based pickleball program. The study encouraged 18 cancer survivors ranging in age from 47 to 76 to start playing pickleball on a regular basis to help combat the physical and emotional toll of cancer treatment.
“ I saw it as a way to not only get folks who may not have been pickleball players to increase their physical activity and learn a new sport, but obviously the sustainability of it is there because they’ re going to enjoy it,” Parker explained.“ They’ re going to become pickleball addicts like everybody has become, and I just saw it as a really fun way to think about boosting physical activity levels.”
While physical inactivity is a concern for many adults, Parker said it’ s especially important for cancer survivors to exercise. They can experience muscle loss and fatigue while going through treatment, and that can have a negative effect on their mental health and perceived quality of life.
Parker said pickleball seemed like an ideal sport for the cancer survivors in the study, with a median age of 61.5 years old.
For starters, the growing popularity of pickleball over the past decade has led to more courts being built in the Tampa Bay area, so access wasn’ t an issue for the Moffitt researchers. Many YMCAs already have programs in place for older adults to play pickleball.
At the same time, pickleball is an easy sport to introduce to adults.
“ Think about tennis,” explained Parker, who grew up as an avid tennis player.“ It’ s going to be the novice person whacking the ball over the fence or missing
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