May Fives Have a Second Life as a Pickleball Various?

The rise of pickleball has been one of many extra intriguing leisure tales of latest years — even with the attendant accidents and noise complaints. However its improve in recognition has additionally sparked curiosity in sports activities in the identical household because it and tennis, with some individuals discovering that padel is the leisure exercise they’d waited their entire lives to play. However there’s one other sport that appears ripe for rediscovery: fives.

In a brand new article for Air Mail, Trevor Jones explored the game’s historical past, variations and present standing. As Jones factors out, there aren’t too many locations the place you possibly can play fives right now; the Union Boat Membership in Boston is one among them. And sure, the game does resemble handball at occasions, albeit with specially-made gloves and a variety of guidelines variations.

In 2006, journalist Timothy Dowling wrote about his expertise enjoying Eton fives — one of many aforementioned variations — for The Guardian, the place he in contrast the expertise to tennis, in a fashion of talking. “I encounter issues I recognise from tennis,” wrote Dowling. “I by no means know the place I’m supposed to face, or when it’s my flip to serve or minimize. I can’t even see the little gray ball except it’s standing nonetheless.”

At the moment, there aren’t too many fives lovers on the market. Jones writes that there are solely about 6,000 gamers all over the world — largely discovered within the U.Ok. and in international locations that the U.Ok. colonized in some unspecified time in the future in historical past. There may be an intriguing tie-in to American historical past there, nonetheless — Abraham Lincoln had a passion for the game.

On the plus facet, the necessity for gear to play fives appears comparatively low-key — and gloves will be purchased on-line for below $50, whereas the Eton Fives affiliation sells balls straight. Is the game of the long run one which’s endured below the radar for over a century? It simply is likely to be.