We spoke to pickleball champion Mike Pollard who shares some inspiring advice about taking up sports in later life. Taking up the sport in 2020, he won the Jersey Autumn League Division at 72 years old and is preparing to compete at a national level in England.
Tell us about your journey into sports later in life…What inspired you to start, and how did you choose which sports to engage in?
When Covid came, I judged that we would all be in it for the long haul, and it was therefore a time when I could, and really should, take a long hard look at myself. Work out what I wanted to do when the restrictions were lifted and start learning some of the skills I would need for the future.
Increasing my fitness levels and reducing my body weight were two key aims which I identified as helping me manage older age. I was successful in these aims. I completed the NHS Couch to 5K course, and so learnt to run again after many years of just thinking about it. I also dropped my weight quite significantly.
I had ‘dabbled’ with physical activity from my university days and pursued the usual gamut of running, weight (gym) training and squash (the latter being the only racquet sport I tried). It was all a bit hit and miss. I did try my hand at squash again just prior to the Covid outbreak. Then the imposed restrictions on indoor sport made me look outside for a sports pursuit.
Cutting a long story short, I took up padel tennis and my coach suggested I also try my hand at pickleball, as he was a coach of both activities. I took to both outdoor sports with a vengeance and so began my journey into a new and very different life.
You’ve competed against individuals of various ages, including someone older than yourself. What have these interactions taught you about competition and camaraderie in sports?
I haven’t played padel or pickleball with anyone older than me. I will though - as I am partnering with a 75+ champion pickleball player in the Pickleball England Mixed Doubles championships, taking place in Telford in August. Given her achievements and her national reputation, I am quite daunted by it.
I play with many 60+ players (I am 73) of both genders, and players of all ages (the youngest being 15.) Many of the players have migrated from playing other racquet sports while others rejoice in the fact that they have never picked up a racquet or a padel bat in their lives before. Like anyone, I love to ace a shot, help rescue victory from the jaws of defeat, and demonstrate a high level of technical skill. But in truth the great benefit and richness of playing my sports is the camaraderie of being with likeminded folk, adhering to the code of ‘sportsmanship’, and the sheer sociability of it all.
How have sports impacted your physical and mental health?
I am an extremely fit person for my age. I suffer from osteoarthritis, but I can manage this through constant motion, cycling everywhere and playing sports. I have sought to optimise my physique at my age, but I know that I will continue to decline physically as nature takes its course, which I will manage.
As to my mental health, all the clinical evidence suggests that the key to it is leading a healthy lifestyle, learning new skills and taking on new challenges. Also, by learning from what the younger people are thinking and doing. My sports allow me to do these life enhancing activities and they help keep an older person ‘connected’.
Have you noticed any unexpected benefits or changes in other aspects of your life since starting?
One of the very real and dangerous threats facing older people is society’s willingness to give them a free pass in later life, letting them off the hook, letting them ‘take it easy’ on the last lap of life. My sports put me under pressure to perform well, not to let my partner down and to be accountable to my sports community for my own performance. Naturally, I don’t like to lose or play poorly - and I get frustrated and upset when I do. But this is part of sport. If it was over easy and required no accountability, it wouldn’t be worth doing.
My sport is my real connection to our fast-moving, ever-changing world. It keeps me in the game - both literally and metaphorically.
Do you believe there are unique advantages to starting a sport later in life?
No matter what age a person takes up a sport (of any kind), such an activity can be daunting. By definition, it involves the acquisition of new skills, some (modest) financial outlay on basic equipment and clothing and presenting oneself to a group of people who you do not know and usually have more skills in this area than you. However, in these present times, all sports now have well developed ‘pathways’ which enable new entrants to get off to a good start. They loan equipment and undertake group coaching all of abilities which significantly lowers the barriers to entry. I learnt to swim when I was thrown in at the deep end. The world of sport has moved on so far from this.
What advice would you offer other people who might be considering taking up a new sport or activity later in life, but feel hesitant about starting?
I am the assistant pickleball coach in my community and my sphere of responsibility is to introduce new entrants to the game. One of my first messages to them is that in coming along for the very first time they have already done the hard bit. From now on it will be exciting and fun. And, for most of them, it really is.
The best form of preparedness is to approach the coach of the sport in question. He/she will guide a new entrant in to the sport - usually be forming a small group of fellow new entrants and then taking the group along the pathway together. All sports want others to join and are therefore incentivised to buddy and mentor newcomers.
Sports can be a great way to build and maintain social connections. Could you elaborate on how your sports activities have helped you connect with others?
I am a member of my sporting ‘community’. It comprises quiet people, funny people, highly skilled people, raucous people, and people from every possible walk of life. We are bonded by our sport. We share funny stories about what has happened on court, we discuss developments and controversial rule changes, and we gossip about life. We all respect each other whatever our disabilities and our weaknesses, and we respect the efforts and skills which others possess. This is why it is a ‘community’.
Have there been any significant setbacks or obstacles in your sports journey, and how did you overcome them?
I am not a gifted nor natural athlete. I am not an elite player. I am just an ordinary family man who is now approaching his mid-70s. I must work hard to get things right and up to standard and like most folk I make mistakes and errors. Two steps forward and one step back as the saying goes.
As I get older, I must be crafty and more skilled when playing. Crucially, I cannot afford to get out of the correct position on court, because if I am adrift and an opponent seeks to take advantage of my error, then I am not always fast enough to retrieve the situation. So, more brains, less brawn.
I feel the most pressure on court when there is an expectation from all others that my team will win. I find the pressure quite burdensome, particularly if we get off to a bad start. Best to be the underdog. Then there is absolutely nothing to lose!
What have been some of the most memorable moments or achievements you’ve experienced since starting?
My partner Steven and I won the Jersey Pickleball First Division championship last Autumn. The pressure was enormous, and there was just one point between us and the runners up. This was the first and only time I have ever won anything in sport.
As someone who took up sports later in life and found great joy and success, what message do you have for our homeowners at Wallacea Living about the benefits of staying active?
It takes but a little courage to contemplate stepping outside the ‘comfort zone’. And it is easy to exaggerate the difficulties of trying new things. After all, isn’t old age the time when you can just rest up? But the world is fast changing and moving on, and the danger is being left behind. Older people have skills and experience and self-worth. Not giving up, managing the future, and simply having great fun is the way to a magical life. It is never, ever too late to make a start.
While there are other pathways to engagement and comradeship, skills acquisition, and keeping fit, - sport has been my pathway and I am so grateful that so many wonderful people have allowed me to become a member of their community. A community where I can be rewarded by the benefits of fellowship and inclusion and have the opportunity to give something back by training and encouraging others.
Looking ahead, do you have any specific goals or aspirations in sports?
I intend to train formally and become a Pickleball England accredited coach. My future role will be to migrate from being a player of tournaments and leagues to a player who coaches others and works to build and expand our local pickleball community. To be perfectly honest, I am finding the contemplation of this change quite uncomfortable, but I will do my best to make it a success, for my benefit and for the benefit of others.
COMING SOON!
Join us at Wallacea Living for a conversation about life in and beyond sport with former gold medal champion Tessa Sanderson CBE. She’ll join us at the Showsuite for an interactive Q&A and talk about her life in sport, her drive to compete in every summer Olympics between 1976 to 1996 and living her best life after retirement.
