Read below the full interviews from Woodmont triathletes Norma Eisen, Fran Goldstein, Jan Grossman, and Joanne Spielman!

1) How long have you been playing each sport (pickleball, tennis and golf)? How did you take each up and how has your participation evolved from tennis to golf to pickleball?

Fran: I started playing tennis in my teens, at Sidwell Friends Tennis camp with Pauline Betz Addie. I started team tennis at Woodmont shortly after we got married in 1985. Golf came along much later, maybe 10 years ago. And Pickleball is very recent, last Fall. I started playing tennis after we joined 37 years ago! Tennis became more than just a team sport we played. We developed deep and meaningful friendships. We traveled together, skied together, attended Bar and Bat mitzvahs and shared a few somber times as well. Some of my closest friends are my Tennis Girls!! We all like and play numerous sports, so as we had more time we started golf. I am finding that playing Pickleball is filling the space that tennis used to occupy in my group of activities. 

Norma: Tennis has been a life-long passion since the age of 10. I learned on the courts of Indian Spring Country Club and played competitively on my high school and college teams. When I became a member of Woodmont 22 years ago, tennis was my entrée into meeting new people. I was invited to join the women’s team and from the get-go, I had a sense of belonging. Our team became much more than a group of women. We became great friends, something that has continued to this day.

Golf has always been a big part of my family, starting with my dad and brothers, and now with nephews, my husband, Dean, and our children. It was more of a side interest for me. It was another way to spend uninterrupted time with Dean and it provided a social outlet to be with other couples. But it was always second to tennis. 

Then the pandemic hit.  And golf became a lifesaver. It gave us an activity that we could do without fear of contaminating each other. It provided us with an outlet to meet up with friends and family. Over the course of the past two years, I have spent more quality time with my parents, with my family and with my friends walking the golf course. The “golf bug” was planted and it sprouted!

Now with most of my tennis friends putting their racquets down due to persistent body aches and pains, golf has become the activity of choice. In the past five years, I have evolved from a tennis player who played golf, to a golfer who plays tennis.

I was introduced to pickleball just this year, due in large measure to the loss of tennis comrades. More of my friends were trading their racquets for the paddle. It seemed like a natural progression, less strain on the body and for me, easy to pick up given my tennis background.  

Joanne: When I moved back to the area in 1992 I started to play tennis to meet people. I joined the tennis team on the lower C team. I met the most wonderful women and we have been friends ever since. I went through two pregnancies, now my babies are in their late twenty somethings and fine young men.  Practice Practice Practice along with my friends we moved up from lower C to the bottom of the A division.  30 yrs on Woodmont’s tennis courts.   

I wanted to learn golf to play with my husband. I found it very difficult to prefect my golf while perfecting my tennis. I started hitting a golf ball long ago, but did not really see a change until this year. I organized a clinic and was consist throughout the winter with weekly lessons… consistency of hearing a coach and practice practice practice I’m starting to see some improvement.   

I picked up Pickleball recently - it felt like coming home, albeit with a smaller racket. being over the net again is exhilarating and feels so comfortable. Average 2 to 4 times a week since Nov. when I picked up the sport and started to meet the Woodmont Pickleball community. 

Injuries and the pandemic went hand in hand in my transition from playing no tennis to playing a lot of golf.  Hearing the rag of Pickleball I was skeptical on how my body would fair, but found out I love the game, body is holding up and now appreciate and understand the obsession!  

Jan: I started playing tennis at Woodmont in 1987 when I was pregnant with my oldest child, Jamie. I wanted to meet people and tennis provided the opportunity. I played on the tennis team for years where I made lifetime friendships and I cherish my “tennis gals”! I quit tennis three years ago due to several injuries.

I became interested in golf when my youngest son, Bradley, took up the game when he was growing up. My entire family is passionate about golf, which allows for quality family time on the course. 

I started playing Pickleball Memorial Day weekend last year at Sea Colony in Bethany Beach, Delaware. I took several lessons and fell in love with the sport. I am addicted!! I love the social aspects and have met so many members of Woodmont that I did not know. I recently went on a PB trip to Hilton Head with nine amazing women. We had a blast on and off the court. 

The pro at Woodmont, Gary Lyst, has been supportive of my new passion and encourages us to play. He gives many of us lessons and has great clinics. He also orchestrates evenings with “open play” where we rotate play with various different men and women so we can meet more players and have good competitive games. My kids, their spouses and my husband all play, so we make PB a family affair.

Whether it was tennis, golf or PB I have made wonderful friends on and off the court. I also get to spend more time with my family.

2) How many times a week do you play each? Do you play them both in the same day? If yes, do you have strategies to keep up your stamina? 

Fran: Ideally I would love to play Pickleball and Golf each 3 times a week. Sometimes life gets in the way. I haven't played tennis in a couple of years, due to Covid and a shoulder issue. I like to give myself an hour in between each sport, and having a good protein bar definitely helps.

Norma: If you were to ask me this question two years ago, I would have had a completely different calendar of activities. Where tennis use to be my dominant activity, golf now takes precedence, playing a minimum of 3-4 times per week, whereas tennis is down to once a week, if at all. But I still love the sport and can be found on a court with the ball machine just to keep in form and to remember the by-gone days.

Pickleball has had a steady increase of activity to 2-3 times per week, and sometimes more than once a day. 

I have played golf and tennis and golf and pickleball on the same day. On those occasions, I will only play nine holes of golf. My preference would be to play tennis or pickleball first as it will have warmed up my body and loosened whatever needs to be loosened…

Joanne: Tennis was a 4 to 5 days a week activity , went to 3 to 4 days a week then 2 to 3 days a week before the pandemic. With the need to wear a mask, combined with the nice weather and relatively mild winter, golf became my go-to, year-round activity. 

Golf varies but usually 2 to 4 times a week; Pickleball I could play almost everyday. I have met so many new people on the pickleball court.  It’s remarkable that after 30 yrs at Woodmont, I’m  making new friends with pickleball and golf.  

I did play both tennis and golf on the same day, and today do likewise with pickleball and golf. Tennis and golf was much more challenging to play both in a single day; pickleball and golf are much easier on my body and mind.  My strategy “back in the day” would be tennis then cool off with a shower, then lunch before hitting the golf course.  Pickleball to golf or vice-versa aren’t as taxing, so downtime and regrouping isn’t required to the same extent.

Jan: I don’t play tennis anymore and play golf a couple dozen times a year. I prefer playing nine holes. My real passion is Pickleball, I would play PB 7 days a week and twice on some days if I could. My first priority is spending time with family, especially my granddaughter. I am a dentist and enjoy my profession too. There are not enough hours in the day nor days in the week!

3) Can you discuss any skills or warm-ups in one sport that you think help or disadvantage you in the other? 

Fran:: Getting warmed up for Pickleball and moving around for 90 minutes gets me limber and helps me rotate for a better golf swing. Needless to say, taking an Advil before I start either sport really helps.

Norma:: STRETCHING, STRETCHING, STRETCHING….short of that, the short-game warm-up that we do in tennis is a great precursor for pickleball. It requires more finesse, less power-driven, and a quicker reaction time, all elements of pickleball.

Joanne: I think playing multiple sports is challenging on the mind and body.  These three sports have in common the need to WATCH THE BALL! One of my favorite aspects about these games is the camaraderie among the players, while learning and perfecting the game.  I learn best in groups so clinics are my choice of how to learn. It’s great to learn not just from the pros, but from one another as well, discussing what we’ve learned and while how to keep improving.

Jan: I try to warm up for at least 30 minutes on the Stairmaster or stationary bike before I play any sport and stretch. Honestly, I know I should stretch more, especially as I get older so I can avoid injuries.

4) PB is always a team sport and played with others and you all play doubles tennis. Golf while sometimes a solo score, is most often played with others. Can you talk about the social aspects of playing picleball, tennis and golf? Do you often play pickleball, tennis and golf with the same people? 

Fran: I prefer playing social sports. Pickleball is the most fun because you can talk and laugh and not bother people. I do play these sports with many of these long-time friends.  We are all on the same page and want to improve but also enjoy our time together. I have made a lot of new friends playing pickleball. That's one of the best aspects of the sport, the camaraderie and sociability.

Norma: All three activities have an element of competition and social components, which I love. However, with tennis, a player’s level of ability is more of a factor when selecting playing companions than with golf or pickleball. One’s level of enjoyment with tennis is determined by the proficiency of those you are playing with. Less so with pickleball and certainly with golf. Tennis is all about the competition.

Pickleball is an easier game to pick up quickly even for those who aren’t tennis players.  It’s more forgiving with miss-hits and with players out of position, and to an extent, less strain on the body, which immediately expands the spectrum of people that will play and to the same extent, to the people you choose to play with. Pickleball does not require the same proficiency as tennis. Given the significantly reduced court size, it’s more reactionary and more of a finesse game than power driven, which helps level the playing field. 

Golf, as a social activity, is predominantly an individual sport where the competition is internal, and one’s level of proficiency compared to their playing partners is less relevant. And because of the handicap system, golf automatically levels the playing field, something tennis can’t do. 

More importantly, golf allows for the opportunity to get to know someone with focused attention. Whether it's nine holes or eighteen, you have 2-4 hours of uninterrupted conversation. The same cannot be said with either tennis or pickleball. Golf promotes a social atmosphere. 

Without question, just in the last year, golf and pickleball have expanded my social circle of playing companions. 

Joanne: Pickleball seems to be the most social of the three sports to me.  The round robin format in pickleball (& tennis) is a fantastic way to meet new people. Pickleball has the added benefit of being more social, with players of different skill levels playing together.