It wasn't love at first play, but eventually Winkler's Linda Hiebert did fall for the sport of pickleball, and as she's dominated on the court, she's earned the opportunity to compete at upcoming nationals.
For Hiebert, it might have been a touch of fate discovering pickleball, even if she admits she didn't appreciate it at the time. "I was going for a walk with a couple of friends, and they wanted to try this sport that we saw some seniors playing on the lot where Buhler Hall actually is now. We picked up some paddles, learned the rules, and I found it very frustrating. There were too many rules, so I put down the paddles, hoping to never play again. Couple of months later, I decided I needed to do something for cardio, because I was in my 20's and getting a little soft, and something clicked after a couple weeks of playing. After a year or so, I started to get pretty good and developed a real passion for it."
"It was a slow burn," Hiebert says with a smile. "Most of the people that play pickleball get bit by the bug really early, and really enjoy it right off the bat. That wasn't my experience, because I didn't come from other sports. But, I've grown to love it more every year."
Many around Manitoba have picked up the sport, and for Hiebert, she loves seeing the growth across ages. "It's really exciting to see the sport grow, especially at the younger age level. A few years ago, before COVID, it was pretty rare to find anybody under the age of 40 that was playing. Now, you go to the city, and you're seeing people as young as 18 playing, even younger. Seeing people come from other sports with all their skillsets, it's actually changing the sport a lot. It used to be very consistent, don't hit a ball that's attackable, where as now, if you're not the one attacking first, you're the one that will be attacked, because there are too many skills out there. Between deceptive shots and immense power."
Playing pickleball is one thing, but getting into bigger events is something Hiebert had to work up to, and continues to battle. "I definitely have struggled with a lot of anxiety, performance anxiety, specifically," the star athlete says candidly. "Coming from no sports, and these people who have played a lot longer than me, people who spend a lot more time in the sport than I do, it makes me nervous every time I go into a tournament. It's a bit of imposter-syndrome, like I don't belong in the sport. But sometimes, it actually pushes me to my limits, and makes me prove to myself that I can do it. It actually drives me to get better every time."
Being selected to join Team Manitoba as part of the upcoming nationals is something Hiebert only dreamed about, but it's now a realty. "I had somebody reach out to me, who played with me in the past and they figured I'd be a good contender to tryout for the team. I kind of told them I haven't been playing much in the last couple of years, and to not expect too much. There was a tryout a couple of weeks ago that we had to head to head, all of us girls, and see who had the best chemistry, the most wins, the best rating overall, who got the most points. So, it took a couple of weeks to hear back, but I got paired up with Carman, and I'm looking forward to playing with her. We're going to work on our team chemistry, get some games in together, because it's always an adjustment playing with new people, but I think we have some great chemistry off the court, and if we can bring it on the court, we're going to do great."
Preparing for a couple of intense days of pickleball ahead, Hiebert says she's gearing up both physically and mentally. "There's a lot of physical preparation. I'm at the courts, I'll drill with a partner, working on my resets, my speed ups, making sure I have everything consistent. You have to have the foundation before the pretty stuff that looks good on the court, there are a lot of building blocks that need to be in place. Beyond that, I do mental toughness training, a lot of mindfulness, you have to keep focused, you can't let you mind wonder on the court especially when there are nerves, because you can defeat yourself very easily that way."
Representing Winkler and the Pembina Valley means a lot to Hiebert, and it means the world that the community will be cheering her on. "I feel really honoured to have been chosen. It's been very humbling to have this opportunity, and to have the support from people that have seen me grow over time, and seen my game develop. The friendships I've made outside Manitoba, they've spanned across a lot of stages of my life. This sport means a lot more to me than just a ball and a paddle."
Linda Hiebert heads to nationals starting on August 20th.