Dinks & Discipleship

The very first time I heard the word “dinking” I thought that I must be hearing it wrong, or they just did not pronounce the “R” and they meant to say “drinking.” Sure enough, dinking is a thing if you know anything about pickleball. If you have not had the chance to grab your pickleball paddle and play, please make that a priority very soon, you will not be disappointed!

I was introduced to this new trendy sport not too long ago when some of my closest friends started talking about all of the fun they were having out on the court. I figured that I would give it a try and see how it goes, and so I did, and now I can’t wait until the next time I get to play. I can see why it becomes everyone’s favorite thing to do once they begin!

Just to give you some of the history of the game, I copied the information below from the USA Pickleball Website:

1965: After playing golf one Saturday during the summer, Joel Pritchard, congressman from Washington State and Bill Bell, successful businessman, returned to Pritchard’s home on Bainbridge Island, WA (near Seattle) to find their families sitting around with nothing to do. The property had an old badminton court so Pritchard and Bell looked for some badminton equipment and could not find a full set of rackets. They improvised and started playing with ping-pong paddles and a perforated plastic ball. At first they placed the net at badminton height of 60 inches and volleyed the ball over the net.As the weekend progressed, the players found that the ball bounced well on the asphalt surface and soon the net was lowered to 36 inches. The following weekend, Barney McCallum was introduced to the game at Pritchard’s home. Soon, the three men created rules, relying heavily on badminton. They kept in mind the original purpose, which was to provide a game that the whole family could play together.

1976: During the spring of 1976, the first known pickleball tournament in the world was held at South Center Athletic Club in Tukwila, Washington. David Lester won Men’s Singles and Steve Paranto placed second. Many of the participants were college tennis players who knew very little about pickleball. In fact, they practiced with large wood paddles and a softball sized plastic ball.

By 1990 Pickleball was being played in all 50 states! Can you believe that?! How am I just now hearing about it? I would have guessed that it began in 2010 at the very earliest and I just missed it because I am not in the know when it comes to sports, but not the case here. It’s always interesting to me how trends come and go in our society.

One thing that stands out to me most about playing pickleball is that it is not a sport that is limited to one particular group or another. You do not have to be the most athletic individual to grab your paddle and have your turn at a pickleball game. Since I have started playing I have witnessed adults in their 80’s playing as well as younger kids doing the same. I do not know of many sports that bring everyone together like that. One of my highlights so far is being able to play a few rounds with my Nanny who will be turning 81 this year, and yes she has a very sneaky shot right across the net and down the middle!

So what is dinking and why in the world would that be in the title of this blog along with discipleship? Dinking is where the player in pickleball takes a soft and controlled shot on the ball and causes it to drop just on the other side of the net and this can sometimes challenge the other player who may have anticipated a powerful return, they now have to try and make it to the net quickly for the return. It also is a great way to warm up when you are starting your game with your partner.

Now to bring in my favorite part of this blog – discipleship. If you know anything about me, then you know that I have a heart for discipleship! I might say some things here concerning discipleship that might not be widely accepted, but after 18 years of serving in the church I am confident when I say that discipleship has become an afterthought in so many of our churches across the world. However, what if I said that discipleship doesn’t start at church? What if it starts on the pickleball court?

Obviously I do not mean that every disciple needs to play pickleball, although I am pretty sure that Jesus would be really good at it and I am most certain that Peter would have been the one to throw a paddle right after he missed it going right down the middle! I am right there with you Peter!

What if we have made discipleship about what the church can get out of someone? Discipleship is not training the next person to serve the church or fill a position, even though a true disciple will always be willing to do those things, it should not be the focus. The reason that I used the pickleball analogy is because every single time I have walked onto a pickleball court I have witnessed a multigenerational group of people that are challenging one another to get better, while looking to the best player to lead the way and teach technique, but that is not discipleship, it’s the way in which it was done with care and finesse to meet the player where they were, and encourage them on each and every serve! I have watched players in their 20’s bump paddles with players in their 80’s because they served a good serve. I have looked around and watched men and women working together to score while being encouraged by the ones they are playing against! So what makes this discipleship? The desire that I have to go back and do it again makes it discipleship!

I realized that I was being discipled in pickleball when despite the sweat, the heat, the gnats, gasping for air as I run across the court and the after burn of those pickle ball legs the next day (it’s a real thing), I wanted to do it again, and again! You see, when someone is growing within themselves, the external circumstances does not diminish the internal drive. It becomes about more than just the present moment but about all of the moments of growth that will continue to come. We were created with an internal drive to grow and develop! Discipleship is about growth and development into who we were created to be in Christ!

Discipleship is when we have stopped making it about serving the church and started making it about living as a disciple should live, full of kindness, encouragement, authenticity, and love! Nobody had to ask me to come back to the pickleball court, I made sure to find out when they were meeting again so that I could join them. What if the church would adopt this mentality?

Being a disciple is not about serving in the church! If you serve in the church, that is awesome, and you are supposed to, so keep doing what you are doing! However, if you want to be a true disciple, you have to understand that a disciple makes more disciples! In Matthew 28:18-20, we are given a commission to GO INTO the entire world and MAKE DISCIPLES! All I did was go to the pickleball court, and found myself being made into a pickleball player because someone decided to become intentional and teach me! Disciples have to be teachable.

Discipleship is what is going to transform our world. It was the disciples themselves, being filled with the Holy Spirit who turned their world upside down and became the church! (Acts 17:6) What if we became more intentional about taking the church to the pickleball court instead of trying to bring the pickleball player to church? Why has it become the primary goal of many church people to just invite people to church and that’s all? One reason is because discipleship requires intentionality and for one to be un-selfish. In order for me to be discipled on the pickleball court, the one who is far more experienced and skilled in their craft has to be willing to leave their level and come join me on mine to show me the ropes. They have to be willing to chase the ball more than than they hit it, and stop their game for questions time and time again. They have to be willing to stop playing at the level I would love to be at, so that they can show me how they got there. Doesn’t that model sound familiar? John 1:14 “So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.”

I believe that somehow over the years we have made discipleship more about bringing more people to church and training them up to the level in which they are needed to serve, but neglecting the truth which is that the goal is to be more than the position, it is to become like Christ. I want to challenge you to take discipleship to heart in the way you serve in your life. The way you lead your family, interact with your colleagues, and even on the pickleball court. Every single one of us have a calling on our life to make disciples in this world around us, and many of us are good at doing the things that disciples find themselves doing, but have not made any ourselves. It’s time for that to change!

There is a pickleball court somewhere near you with someone out there who was willing to show up and give it a shot so what are you going to do about it? Do you expect someone else to teach them until they reach your level? Or do you only prefer to interact with those who play like you? This is your moment to do as Christ would do, and love them where they are at! I believe if we would bring that mindset into every aspect of our lives, we wouldn’t have to invite anyone to church ever again, we would see just how dinking and discipleship invite them for us.

With Love,

P.S: To my pickleball family, thank you for being the inspiration for this blog, your kindness and intentionality challenges me to become better in more ways than one!