Photography by Kathy Tran.
The Aaron Family Jewish Community Center of Dallas has added a new program called Pickleball Palooza – Train for Life to its lineup of community events.
Pickleball combines elements of tennis, badminton and ping-pong to create a sport easily played inside or outside for people of all skill levels. Though the sport was invented over 50 years ago in 1965, it has recently rose in popularity, spurring the creation of teams all over DFW. In fact, we interviewed players from all over Dallas in November and found that most of them started playing right before or during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The JCC’s group fitness and wellness director Terri Arends and certified yoga instructor Debbi K. Levy put their fitness knowledge together to develop a conditioning and stretch class to decrease the likelihood of an injury while playing pickleball. The classes are delivered through a four-part series with instruction on warm-up tips, agility drills, core strength, wearing proper footwear and staying hydrated.
The first set of classes, Pickle-Fit-Conditioning, will be held on January 17 and February 7 at 9:15 a.m. The second set, Pickleball Palooza Yoga Stretch & Flex, will take place on January 18 and February 15 at 1 p.m. The classes are open to the public and free to attend with registration.
“The additional access to fluidity within the body will be the advantage that delivers wins for you in pickleball,” said Levy.
Levy has been coaching yoga and mindfulness for over a decade and can be found playing pickleball in her free time for the Social Dinkers. Arends holds a master’s degree in sports management and promotes fitness through her role as the wellness and group fitness director of the JCC of Dallas. Arends can also be found playing pickleball in her free time or hanging out with her dog Mulligan.
