Yeah, ok – well, I am kinda obsessed with my new-found sporting love, but I’ve still not lost my passion for football (soccer) and athletics (track and cross country, especially.)

In my younger years, I competed in both to a reasonably high level. And that was the trouble – I was equally (quite) good at both – not so much as to gain any national recognition or anything like that, but decent enough. I always said I’d eventually chose one over the other and concentrate on that (it would probably have been running as there was more chance of ‘making it’ than in football at that time.) However, I never got the chance as at the age of twenty-two I had to give up both through injury.

I was told my knees were in such a state, I’d be in a wheelchair by the time I was thirty if I carried on!

Well, you don’t really argue with that assessment do you? So I did give up – for a couple of years. But then I was asked if I’d become player / manager of a local football team, playing at a lower level than I had previously.

My knees held out for a couple of years, but I then moved away from Scotland, to Manchester, England and my attention turned to baseball! Yup – we do play competitive baseball in the UK … and we’re getting better at it too.

This was in the mid-late Eighties though, and I continued in the sport when I moved back north again some years later.

I later took up tennis so I could play with my young boys. But they hated it, and gave up quite quickly! However, I persisted and ended up playing lower league competition for many years. I still do.

I also decided at the age of sixty-four to give running another try, reasoning I’d not need my knees for as long I did when I was twenty-two. 😉 After a couple of months, my 5k time was down to twenty-two minutes and getting faster.

Then, quite unrelated, I suffered an idiopathic cardiac arrest in late April 2023! (The consultants have stated that rather being the cause of my SCA and being ‘brought back’ by ten minutes CPR and four zaps of a defibrillator, had I not been so fit, the chances are I wouldn’t have made it.)

And so here we are. Though I’m allowed to run / work out, I felt it best not to push my luck, but with the need to compete and exercise on a regular basis, I found PICKLEBALL about a year ago.

Social play has now graduated to competition, having convinced my tennis club to enter two teams in the newly formed Scottish League.

It’s great being part of the ‘fastest growing sport in the world’ and I’m currently taking the first steps towards certification as a Club Coach.

I know the sport has its detractors, but it is anything but a ‘lame game’ for old people. Yeah, it is accessible to all ages and does indeed suit some older players. And that’s the beauty – anyone can join in as it lends itself to both social and competitive play.

It’s dynamic, requires some quick thinking and even faster reactions! It can be ‘aggressive’ yet also played very tactically. It’s sociable, and here in Scotland is played indoors, therefore offering all-year-round game-play.

Yeah – my name’s CeeTee – and I’m a Pickleball addict.