SC Grand resident relishes game of pickleball

Defeat turned Pat Kane into a champion.

The retired firefighter began playing pickleball in 1986, learning the racket sport in Washington, the place of its origin and still a hotbed of enthusiasm for the game.

"I had always played a lot of sports, from softball to flag football and tennis," Kane said. "Sports are like anything else — you like playing what you’re good at."

Pickleball seemed like a perfect match for Kane.

At 6-feet-2, he could tower over the net against the opposition. He also figured his tennis experience would be invaluable in his new sport.

Kane quickly displayed promise in pickleball and began playing tournament doubles with another male partner. One of their first matches came against a pair of women, who appeared overmatched against their brawny counterparts.

"We were out there hitting the ball as hard as we could and those women just used that against us," Kane said. "They slowed the game down and started hitting finesse shots.

"They beat us. I vowed that would never happen again."

The battle of the sexes had forced Kane to swallow a slice of humble pie.

Fortunately, Kane also learned from the experience, transforming his game to include finesse and power, brawn and subtlety.

Kane moved to Sun City Grand in 2003 and now stands as one of the top pickleball players in the country.

Kane won six doubles titles at last month’s United States Pickleball National Tournament, an event in Buckeye that featured the top players from around the country.

Kane also will be one of the favorites at the fourth annual Sun City Grand Senior Games Skill Level Invitational, scheduled Dec. 9-11 at Cimarron Recreation Center. There are 234 players scheduled to play in mixed, men’s and women’s doubles at the three-day event.

The 63-year-old Kane is still riding high from his six tournament wins at the national tournament. Two of those victories came in open men’s doubles and open mixed doubles, a category which features competition against all age groups.

"Those were the two wins that stood out the most," said Kane, who joined forces with Mark Friedenberg to win the men’s doubles and played with Sjouke Lehman to capture the mixed title.

Kane also exacted bragging rights against a number of Seattle players, who expected to sweep the competition.

"It was all good-natured, but the guys from Seattle bragged about how much better they were than the players from Arizona," Kane recalled. "We showed them we have some good players in this state."

Kane said the key to his doubles success is finding a partner who plays a similar style.

"It doesn’t work if you play a power game and your partner is a finesse player," Kane said. "You’ve got to both be playing the same type of game."

Mixed doubles produces a different kind of challenge.

"In mixed doubles, 99 percent of the shots go to the women, because the other teams always perceive the women as the weaker player," he said. "I look for a partner who doesn’t mind me poaching on her side of the court."

One player who refuses to be his mixed doubles partner is his wife, Rock Kane.

She also is an accomplished player, who finished third in the open mixed doubles portion of the national tournament.

"We will play recreational pickleball here in Sun City Grand, but never in tournaments," Mrs. Kane said. "He talks so much out there and offers so much advice that it’s hard to be his partner.

"It came down to our marriage or pickleball — better to be partners for life than partners for pickleball."

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