Everyday Encounters: A former tennis player finds new passion for pickleball

Tiburon resident Robert Moore, 83, visits the Lagoon Road tennis courts twice a week to practice his pickleball serves. A longtime recreational tennis player, Moore says pickleball has been a great alternative for him because he can’t do overhead shots following rotator-cuff surgery. (Francisco Martinez / The Ark)

Robert Moore visits the Lagoon Road tennis courts twice a week to practice his pickleball serve and exercise.

The 83-year-old Tiburon resident, a longtime former recreational tennis player, took up pickleball several years ago for a second chance on the courts after rotator-cuff surgery limited his ability to make overhand shots.

“Very rarely does the ball come up high as opposed to tennis,” Moore says during a July 23 practice session. The plastic ball used for pickleball has less of a bounce than a tennis ball, he says.

Moore moved to Tiburon in 2010 after spending most of his life in southern New Jersey, where he worked 35 years as a social studies teacher. He and his wife came to California because they were tired of flying west four or five times a year to visit their two children.

While he misses the South Jersey coast — “you can always go on the water from about June to October” — Moore says Tiburon has the weather advantage the rest of the year.

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