Echuca’s Stephen Hope and Barmah resident and advocate of the sport in the region, Wayne Muschialli, coming home with a combined three medals at the event.
The championships were held over March 6-9, with 40 courts in action at the Hume Tennis and Community Centre.
Hope made a run to the final in the 60+ 3.5 and above rating men’s skinny singles, coming away with silver, while also pairing with Port Macquarie’s Lesley White to win gold in the 4.0 to 4.49 60+ mixed doubles.
Muschialli, known as ‘‘Roo’’ was also successful in skinny singles, taking silver in the 60+, 3.49 and below event.
Skinny singles is an alternate game format that sees players on a half court, with both down the line and cross court rallies played during the match.
The two locals train regularly at the marked courts at the Echuca East Reserve, practising for several hours three days a week.
“We're actually training each other,” Muschialli said.
“I'll probably go into coaching more specifically, because at the end of the day, one rule doesn't fit everyone.
“I coached football, and I'll tell you what pickleball's a lot harder because it's got that many little variables, and it's very hard when its so quick because people can't compute.
“The better you can slow down, just wait for that last second the better you get to be, but adrenaline's telling you to (go for it).”
Hope and White rolled to the mixed doubles in straight sets, winning more convincingly as the rounds wore on.
The achievement is even more impressive given the pair had never played together, linking up through a partner request system.
“She came down (from Port Macquarie) and we just met there, had a little hit, got along well,” Hope said.
“We had similar game styles and we could both think on the way through.
“As we kept playing we got better and better because we played together and we could talk about it and work it out.”
An experienced tennis player, Hope is no stranger to racquet sports but is a relative newcomer to pickleball, getting hooked after attending one of Muschialli’s sessions in Echuca.
“I had one of the friends at tennis, she said come along and have a hit,” Hope said.
“I wasn't too sure the first time I said I don't know if I like it or not because it's a bit hard on your back bent all the time, but as I got into it's got all the things of tennis for me, but even more.
“Every sport I think it's about consistency, but pickleball if you want to get better they say you’ve got to make less errors, not hit more winners.
“There's so many different shots, you just never can stop learning.”
Through the Pickleball Power brand, Muschialli introduced Hope and many others in the region to the sport through sessions held in Echuca-Moama, Picola, Nathalia, Bamawm, Rochester, Tongala, Cobram and Kyabram.
Sessions run in Echuca Moama at the Echuca Stadium on Monday’s from 1.30pm.
He hopes to grow the community and establish an inter-town league in the future for competitive and social players.
“I also want to include the social people,” Muschialli said.
“People that they're not actually interested in winning, but they still want to go to different towns and join the same experience.
“Most of the people, Pickleball Victoria, I believe they forget about, they're more interested in the medals and to me, the most important thing is always going to be the social people because it just makes you feel good seeing them enjoying themselves.”
Whether its pickleball or another sport, Hope says its important to stay active in your later years.
“I think as you get older, movement's very important so as long as people are playing some sort of sport or doing something, I think it's a great thing,” he said.
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