Jayne Ray: Hi, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Joyous Journeys Over 60. I'm Jane Ray, and I'm here with my podcast partner.

Andreas Stein: Andrea Stein, how are you, Jane, this afternoon?

Jayne Ray: I am good, but more importantly, how are you? You had your knee replaced recently.

Andreas Stein: Yes, about 5 weeks ago or so, I had my knee replaced, and… you know, during the day, I'm doing quite well. I mean, I can walk around paint-free, I can do most everything pain-free.

Andreas Stein: But night times is a different story. You know, the pain really… the swelling and the pain increase overnight, and, you know, I… if I get an hour or two of restless sleep per night, it's a lot, you know, so this makes it…

Andreas Stein: A little bit frustrating right now, so I feel sorry for my wife, you know, because she has this person next to her who keeps tossing left and right and right and left and, whatever else, and trying whatever I can do to, you know, to get the pain under control, but…

Andreas Stein: usually doesn't work.

Jayne Ray: Well, hopefully soon, this will just be a bad memory, and that new knee will be allowing you to do things you couldn't do before.

Andreas Stein: There we go.

Jayne Ray: Which is great. If you look…

Jayne Ray: Yeah, if you look behind me now, you could tell we're in a certain season of the year.

Andreas Stein: Yes.

Jayne Ray: I love Christmas, I've always loved Christmas, you know? The memories, the sounds, the foods, the smells… it's just a beautiful, beautiful time of the year, you know? You know, honestly, no matter how old we become, I hope we never lose that sense of awe.

Andreas Stein: And the beauty of the season, you know, so many people, well, it's commercialized, and it's stressful, and all the planning, all the cooking, all the traveling, and I know it's true, but it's truly magical. I love it.

Jayne Ray: It's the one time of the year that I become a happy little baker. There we go. Yeah, yeah, in fact, if you looked in my kitchen right now, you would see a lot of baking ingredients. I still have quite a bit to do, but my family's coming over for the holidays, so I'll make sure that they have all the sweets that they grew up with.

Jayne Ray: Yes.

Jayne Ray: And so, yes, very, very excited about that. So, you know, when we were talking about your knee, right, and so, you know, knee replacement, joint replacements, pain, is something that unfortunately hits us when we get a little bit older.

Jayne Ray: You know, it's… it's, you know, the number of people I know that, and you know, that have had, you know, joints replaced, knee replacement is pretty common.

Jayne Ray: You know, hip replacements, people, you know, that are recovering from, from orthopedic, and, you know, the first word in the morning that I say is, ow. Yeah. That's always my first word, it's like, ow. And then, you know, as you said, as the day goes on, you know, your body gets…

Jayne Ray: Gets, back to, some type of rhythm, and hopefully the owls become a little less owie.

Jayne Ray: But I think what we wanted to talk about today, and you could see I'm dressed for the occasion, is there's been an interesting phenomenon, particularly in the over 65 community over the last several years, and I'll call it the pickleball effect.

Jayne Ray: Right? It's… it's… Fascinating!

Jayne Ray: that… That… A sport named Pickleball.

Jayne Ray: Has really, kind of.

Jayne Ray: I don't know, encouraged, been interesting, you know, more seniors are playing pickleball than any other sport right now.

Andreas Stein: Hmm?

Jayne Ray: And so, I don't know that it's necessarily pickleball itself, but there is this phenomenon

Jayne Ray: Among the, again, let's say over 55, over 65 community that have just embraced

Jayne Ray: pickleball as a new activity. Retired tennis players are suddenly now going pro-pickleball.

Andreas Stein: Do you play pickleball?

Jayne Ray: I did, I just started this summer.

Jayne Ray: So, you know, if you've listened to previous episodes, you know that I also started playing tennis again, about a year and a half ago. I played in my 20s.

Jayne Ray: And, and I've been playing, just about a year and a half in my community.

Jayne Ray: and happy to be outside, and happy to be active, and tennis players are a little funny about pickleball. Like, maybe a little threatened by pickleball, honestly, right? But this summer, I started playing pickleball, and it's really interesting, the people that I've met

Jayne Ray: It's a very social sport.

Jayne Ray: it's not a hard sport to learn, although, personally, I think there were drugs involved when they invented pickleball, because it's a crazy… you know, it's a wiffle ball, a paddle, a shortened tennis net, and the scoring is a little bit insane, so I always thought there was, you know, some kind of psychedelic involved in that.

Jayne Ray: But it's really… it's just really interesting, the effect.

Jayne Ray: that pickleball, and there's young people playing it, I mean, it's not just necessarily for seniors, but I mean, you and I both know people in their 80s.

Andreas Stein: Yeah?

Jayne Ray: That are actively playing it.

Andreas Stein: So, do you prefer tennis or pickleball?

Jayne Ray: So, frankly, I don't play enough pickleball yet.

Jayne Ray: To be able to make that comparison. But I love them both.

Andreas Stein: Now, you play pickleball together with your husband, right? You're kind of are tag-teaming there.

Jayne Ray: Well, sort of. We're not good playing together.

Andreas Stein: Not good playing together?

Andreas Stein: He's getting upset if you make a mistake, huh?

Jayne Ray: No, no, he's… you know, my husband, when he was younger, was a very natural athlete, and so he played baseball and basketball, and so, you know, and he plays golf now. And so, you know, he's one of these people that just picks things up very, very easily, and frankly, I had to say to him, you're not my coach.

Jayne Ray: So, but when we've gone together, so, the other nice thing about pickleball is, it is remarkable how many indoor pickleball places have emerged.

Jayne Ray: So, not only is pickleball, you know, becoming very, very popular, but it's become popular as an indoor sport. We have a new indoor place, that's gonna be open next year across the street from us with 13 courts. Now.

Jayne Ray: this little girl from Brooklyn, you put me in an air-conditioned inside, you know, sports situation, I'm there, right?

Andreas Stein: Amazing.

Jayne Ray: What is my… I mean, I'm still gonna sweat, but I'm not out in the blazing sun, and… Right. Right? So, that's the other thing that's really fascinating, is that, yes, there are lots of outdoor pickleball courts in a lot of senior communities, but

Jayne Ray: there's a lot of indoor sports, pickleball communities that are growing as well, and so, you know, again, I'm not quite sure how that evolved, but yeah, it's kind of fascinating.

Andreas Stein: So, is pickleball kind of… are you into pickleball for the competitive part of it, or for the social part of it?

Jayne Ray: For me, it's two things, and for those listening, I want to encourage… first of all, it is a very social sport, right? The games don't last…

Jayne Ray: You know, more than 15, 20 minutes, and then you may be changing partners, or doing a round robin, or something like that. So, there is a very big social side to it. There's a competitive side, I mean, there are tournaments. I've never played in a tournament for pickleball, but there are tournaments, and of course, it's more fun to win than to lose.

Jayne Ray: But you don't even feel that bad when you lose, right? Because again, like, where I go, they have 3 courts, and you kind of rotate through different partners and whatever, so if you lost one, chances are good you may play with a partner.

Jayne Ray: Who's better than you, or you're better than them, and… and everybody just seems to be very nice. Now, again.

Jayne Ray: in every sport, there are those people. You know those people, right? But generally, people, particularly in our age group, like where I play, I would tell you that the average age is…

Jayne Ray: 60? 65?

Jayne Ray: And it's not a country club community, it's a commercial facility.

Jayne Ray: I pay $11 to play for an hour and a half, so it's pretty reasonable. You can go to a park, I mean, it's… there's… it's free, but, yeah, I said it's more fun to win than to lose, but… but you're not at that point where competition surpasses the social or the friendly side of it.

Jayne Ray: So, yeah, I've made a lot of friends. I mean, I've met a lot of nice people.

Andreas Stein: Now, what intrigued me about, Jane, about when you told me about pickleball, I have to admit.

Andreas Stein: I never played pickleball up until about half a year ago, I didn't even know what it is, you know? I, like, naively envisioned, like, a pickle, like a pickle you eat. I said, what do you mean, pickleball? I mean, you throw a pickle around, or… regardless, but you explained to me…

Andreas Stein: that, really, pickleball, even for people suffering of some of the illnesses, or, you know, that come with age, like Parkinson's or so, that pickleball still is a really good outlet, you know? They can go and play, and I was really intrigued by that, you know? It seems like that pickleball

Andreas Stein: Really is something that allows you to remain active and involved, even when a lot of other activities are no longer possible.

Jayne Ray: Yes, pickleball's been recommended for people with Parkinson's, and you know what's really… I'm intrigued. Right? Fascinating, because again, tremors and whatever, but it helps with muscle control, and there isn't a lot of running.

Jayne Ray: And I think that's, now, there can be running, I mean, if you play at a higher level or whatever, but when I was in Georgia, the recreation Center had a Pickleball for Parkinson's group that came in to the gym.

Andreas Stein: Pickleball for Parkinson Group, that sounds absolutely fascinating.

Jayne Ray: There were about 8, 9 people that were rotating through, and again, they weren't running, but they were hitting, and they were… and there was a facilitator helping them to, to understand how to play and whatever, but apparently, you can look it up, apparently pickleball.

Jayne Ray: is recommended for people, particularly with early onset Parkinson's. Interesting. Really fascinating, right? Yes. I mean, people think that a sport like that, which requires good eye-hand coordination.

Jayne Ray: would be difficult, but no, I mean, I was watching them, they were in the court next to ours, and… and yeah, they were taking that paddle and hitting it back and forth, and playing, and…

Jayne Ray: And again, I would say most of the people in that group were easily, easily 65 or older.

Andreas Stein: Yeah.

Jayne Ray: But it isn't just pickleball, right? It isn't just, like, oh, pickleball is this new miracle sport, or, you know, there's something fantastic. I just find it very interesting that despite the fact that other sports have been around for a while.

Jayne Ray: You don't find a lot of seniors playing baseball. Or basketball. Well, we've got a lot of running involved, right? With baseball, you run the bases, and…

Jayne Ray: Yeah, and again, that whole, you know, I'm not a baseball player, but that whole coordination, you know, bowling, I mean, there are bowling leagues and whatever, but for some reason.

Jayne Ray: Pickleball has captured the spirit of a lot of

Jayne Ray: Of, of people of an age.

Jayne Ray: And, it's not hard to learn. I said the scoring's a little funky, but it's not hard to learn. Most of the time, if you go onto a court.

Jayne Ray: and you say, I'm a newbie.

Jayne Ray: People are welcoming, they're helpful, they're… again, because we're all of an age. I mean, none of us are going to play in the Pickleball US Open, none of us are, you know, I mean, there are people I know playing in, like, local tournaments, but, I mean, none of us are going to be professional pickleball players, right? So, you know, and I'm not a small person, and a small person could be faster than me, or whatever.

Jayne Ray: it's got a… I don't know, it's got a spirit that just seems to have captured

Jayne Ray: a lot of folks, but I also think it's something because we can do it.

Jayne Ray: You know, like the Parkinson's folks, right? So, it's not hard to learn, it's, you know, it's fairly forgiving in terms of, you know, how you use the pedal. But what I really wanted to explore, Andreas, is this effect.

Jayne Ray: On people that maybe thought That their time…

Jayne Ray: being physically, mentally, socially active may have passed. Now, let me just caveat that. I go to the gym, I see those 75-year-old

Jayne Ray: Fit gym people, but, you know.

Jayne Ray: Proportionately, there's probably a few less of them than there are people like me that hate going to the gym.

Andreas Stein: Bye.

Jayne Ray: I know I should do strength training, I think about it a lot, I just don't actually do it. But…

Jayne Ray: For some reason, Pickleball has inspired, maybe? Is that a strong word?

Jayne Ray: People that… that… again, we know people in their 80s that are out playing several times a week.

Jayne Ray: you know, that is remarkable. So, I don't know why. I mean, I really don't understand why this crazy sport named Pickleball

Jayne Ray: Has, you know, inspired People that maybe were not physically applicant before to suddenly get out there.

Andreas Stein: But I love what you just said. You were never too old to be inspired and to try something new. I mean, you know, even if you're 83 years old, you know, I mean, there is still stuff out there that can light the fire in your heart.

Andreas Stein: if you let it, and I want to try it, you know? And I just love that aspect of it. You are never too old to let something inspire you, spark you, to try it out.

Jayne Ray: Yeah, and it doesn't have to be pickleball. It doesn't have to be… it doesn't have to be even something physically active. I guess that's part of the fascinating message to me, is that just about the time where you feel like, you know, you should be sitting in the rocking chair knitting, or, you know, the stereotypes of people of an age.

Jayne Ray: You see… You see this… this sport.

Jayne Ray: That has encouraged people to try something new.

Jayne Ray: And so what's the message there? You're never too old to try something new. It doesn't have to be pickleball, it doesn't have to be a physical activity, it could be you join a book club, it could be that you try a new craft, it could be… it could be anything.

Jayne Ray: That you've been… you think you're interested in.

Jayne Ray: and now taking the first step. And if you don't mind, you know, adding one more piece of it.

Jayne Ray: The hardest part about starting a new activity is…

Jayne Ray: walking into that first, whatever that is, sewing circle, pickleball court, you know, bowling alley, whatever it is, right? Whatever it is. It's… it's being the new kid on the block.

Jayne Ray: and walking into something that you have no idea what you're doing, right? Because again, we've all been successful at something in our lives, and now suddenly we're at that kind of newbie stage again. And I think that…

Jayne Ray: It's interesting to see… people just openly saying, hey, I'm new at this.

Jayne Ray: And taking that first step, you know, they say the first step is always the hardest step, and introducing yourself.

Jayne Ray: To people, particularly if you're not a particularly socially extroverted person.

Andreas Stein: Yeah?

Andreas Stein: But, I mean, to let your heart…

Andreas Stein: Part of it is also kind of a…

Andreas Stein: a matter of attitude or mindset, you know, that you still allow your heart to be fired up, ignited, inspired by something, you know, and so, sometimes I even find this in myself, you know, well…

Andreas Stein: I've been there, tried this, nothing new under the sun type of deal, you know. I've been around long enough, you know, after a while.

Andreas Stein: you recognize nothing is really new, and you start to get into this mindset, this attitude, whatever, you know, who cares, type of deal. But you remain, even at age 85, to let your heart be as…

Andreas Stein: as excited about something new, like when you were a 12-year-old teenager, you know? I said, I want to try this, to let… give your heart that space to be fired up, to be excited.

Andreas Stein: Pickleball or whatever else. I think that is powerful. You are never too old to… to just to let your heart take over. You're now to be ignited.

Jayne Ray: You know, the funny thing about that is, too, is that, you know, I do think that a big obstacle in this is that intimidation factor, right?

Jayne Ray: intimidation factor, and it doesn't matter whether it's pickleball or, you know, anything else. There was an intimidation factor, like…

Jayne Ray: I'm gonna be the person that doesn't know what they're doing, I don't know how to talk to new people, I'm afraid, you know, I'm afraid.

Jayne Ray: fill in whatever the blank is after that. There is an intimidation factor, but here's the funny thing about today that's really, really different.

Jayne Ray: So, let's say you're interested in learning a little bit about pickleball. You want to learn the rules, you want to whatever.

Jayne Ray: go on YouTube, right? Look at a couple of videos, right? You know, there's a bunch of videos. You want to learn how to do a particular craft, or you want to learn… like, in my community, canaster is a very, very big thing. So many people play cards.

Jayne Ray: I'm too ADD to do that.

Andreas Stein: Yeah.

Jayne Ray: But I will tell you, as much as you might think that I'm very, very extroverted, I walk into a situation like that, and I'm a mouse. I mean, I'm the little mouse that doesn't open her mouth and is… is really, really afraid of doing something wrong.

Andreas Stein: So there is a shy side about Jane.

Jayne Ray: There's a very, very shy side of Jane. And… and…

Jayne Ray: playing cards, I don't have the attention span for that, but again, you want to learn how to play Canaster? Go on YouTube, look at a video before you join the Canaster Club. So you could do some pre-prep.

Jayne Ray: to kind of see whether it's your thing, first of all. You can take a lesson, you can take a pickleball lesson, you could take a card lesson, you could take a bowling lesson, you could take a craft lesson.

Jayne Ray: And the other part of this is that unlike sports like golf, because golf can be an exclusive sport, it can be an expensive sport, you know, all of that, a lot of these activities

Jayne Ray: Even pickleball. You can go to a pickleball place, they'll let you demo a paddle, you don't have to, you know, start investing them. You can buy them online, beginner paddles, for, like, $10.

Jayne Ray: You can experiment.

Jayne Ray: Right? With new things. And I think the willingness to experiment…

Jayne Ray: And you know, the whole thing about experiments is some experiments are successful and some aren't.

Jayne Ray: Right? And what do scientists do? Scientists, when they have an experiment that doesn't succeed, they try a different experiment. So there's so many opportunities to kind of get yourself excited.

Jayne Ray: You know, get yourself motivated, and test, you know, experiment. But not feel like, you know, you have to be, you know, perfect at everything, or that people are gonna look at you. They're not. They're not, right? They're not.

Jayne Ray: So…

Jayne Ray: the pickleball fact. Now, on people that you… you see all the time, I mean, you see people trying new activities, and you also see people that are…

Jayne Ray: Afraid to try new activities.

Andreas Stein: But what I love, you know, when I walk our dog bellow, you know, I walk by a pickleball court, and it's just, people are laughing loud, there is an energy buzz there, it sounds like they're having the time of their life, and…

Andreas Stein: I'm living in a 55-year and older community, so I know that everyone there is 60 years and older.

Andreas Stein: And, I mean, it sounds like a teenager having a party. I mean, laughing and jeering and cheering and whatever else. I said, wow, good for them. I mean, this is just so incredible. They are obviously having the time of their lives, you know, and I assume none of them is a professional pickleball player, I assume…

Andreas Stein: Probably just doing it for the fun of it, you know, and playing a game, hanging out with each other, getting the day going with some, you know, physical exercise, not extreme exercise, just, you know, whatever exercise, pickleball.

Andreas Stein: I just… wow. I mean, this is pretty incredible, you know, that they're…

Andreas Stein: And it's contagious, you know, when you hear people laughing and cheering and having a good time, you just want to join. I want to have a good time as well, you know, so maybe I… maybe I have to give it a try to play pickleball as soon as my knee is allowing me to do some of the normal stuff again.

Jayne Ray: I'll tell you something funny about that. So you're absolutely right. I mean, we do become a little bit like teenagers.

Jayne Ray: And again, if you're listening to this, I don't want you to focus only on pickleball. It's the pickleball effect. For some reason, pickleball has had an effect on the senior community.

Jayne Ray: Unlike anything we've seen recently. It's had an effect where it's been encouraging, and it's influenced us to do things. But the other interesting thing about it is, you go out to a pickleball court, and I'm sure you've seen this in your community, you have people with knee braces on.

Jayne Ray: And you have people with elbow braces on, you have, you know, I mean, you know, double knee, double elbow… Yeah. So, that's the other part of it that I find very fascinating, is that despite

Jayne Ray: some… Skeletal or orthopedic, Perhaps not as much range of motion.

Andreas Stein: Yeah.

Jayne Ray: People are still getting out there, right? They're still getting out there. And if you can't, that's not the message here, right? Yeah. Learn to play cards.

Jayne Ray: Right? Learn a new craft. Learn something new, but use the pickleball effect as an inspiration that there is nothing you can't do just because the calendar says that you're over a certain age.

Andreas Stein: Absolutely.

Jayne Ray: Yeah, I think that's important. So, I'm off to the pickleball court.

Andreas Stein: I hope that you win every game you play, that you become Pickleball World Champion.

Andreas Stein: And you just tell your husband, you don't need any coach, you are a natural.

Jayne Ray: No, when we go, we actually, because again, we go to a round robin thing, so he'll go play with a group of four, and I'll go play with a group of four, and we'll kind of, like, watch each other, and it actually works out really, really nicely.

Andreas Stein: Ever played against each other.

Jayne Ray: We have not played against each…

Jayne Ray: No, we probably have. Yeah, we probably have. We're not experts, I mean, really.

Jayne Ray: Yeah, again, even in tennis, I mean, I don't want to let anybody think that, you know, I'm headed to the Open. I'm a 2.5 player on both of them, but the point is, it's fun.

Andreas Stein: And at this stage of your life, when you have time.

Jayne Ray: Right? Because you didn't have time before. When you have time, why not go have some fun?

Andreas Stein: Absolutely. And just show your husband that you are a much better pickleball player than him.

Jayne Ray: I don't want to get into that competitive piece of it, but I am a little competitive. Anyhow, I do hope your knee, heals, and that you start to get some sleep. And again, if you're listening, hey, you know what? Get out today, tomorrow, do something different, try something new. We are not too old.

Andreas Stein: No, you are never too old to let your heart get fired up.

Jayne Ray: Yes, absolutely. Anyhow, I'm Jane Ray, and this is my podcast partner.

Andreas Stein: Andrea Stein.

Jayne Ray: And this has been Joyous Journeys Over 60. I do hope you'll go onto Facebook and join our Facebook group so we can talk more about these topics. Have a good time.