Despite not involving eating pickles, pickleball proved a joyful surprise | Nova Weetman

While playing decent tennis requires a certain degree of skill, pickleball felt like a simpler game to master

As a child, it seemed like everyone in my world played tennis. I grew up in a small outer suburb where sport had currency and tennis was at the heart of our community. The clubhouse and red clay en-tout-cas courts sat in the centre of town, surrounded by a local hall, a kindergarten and a plot of land for the mobile library to park each Tuesday afternoon.

Those courts were always in use. Juniors on a Saturday, lessons after school and adult competitions on weekdays. I played as much sport as I could when I was young and tennis dominated for years. When I wasn't playing, I was watching, hanging around competitions and waiting to pounce on famous players for their autographs in my little red book.