I first played pickleball in gym class in '80 or '81 and thought it was an awesome big version of ping pong. We had an old table at home up on our 3rd floor and my buds and I spent lots of time up there, so getting enough English on a pickleball to make it hop back over the net before the opponent could swing at it seemed easy. Must be different now. Not too interested in finding out at my age. I remember being kinda high on mushrooms during a racketball class in college gym once, that was pretty fun...

Ping pong

Badminton might be the single most underrated sport. Have always loved it.

I like that you can do it on any large enough patch of cut grass, regardless of how closely cropped it is. You could play it indoors too or on asphalt, if you could get the posts to stand up.

I like that the shuttlecock doesn't stray far away if someone misses it; there's no need to expend a lot of time/energy chasing it down.

Tennis and racquetball are higher impact and would give you a much better workout, but if you're playing against a skilled enough opponent, you can get in some good cardio with badminton. You could probably also play it while smoking or after having a beer (or two).

We played pickleball in high school gym glass. Didn't hate it. But thinking about it now, it's definitely dorkier than other racket sports.

Ping-pong is all right for recreational purposes; I'd imagine playing it competitively is a whole 'nother world. Like the difference between thumb wrestling and sumo wrestling.


Badminton.

Tennis is by far my favourite sport. You're playing against yourself as much as your opponent.

Real tennis...just learned about this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1RK9fuGZgI

Pickleball seems great for retirees to get moderate exercise and a social outlet. On a similar note, I'd like to introduce candlepin bowling to Florida, I think it would really take off.