In tennis, love means a score of zero. In the meetup group called Pickleball Singles Mingle!, love, sometimes, means love.
Pickleball Singles Mingle! is a group of singles who love pickleball. In less than three years 16,600 members have joined PSM. Some have fallen in love with each other. Some have gotten married.
Sue Tarkin and Peter Beckel got married six months after meeting through the group Pickleball Singles Mingle!
Sue Tarkin and Peter Beckel of Niceville, Florida, met through the group in January 2023 (Sue says Niceville, “Really is a nice place to live!”). Sue is a former court reporter who now volunteers for several organizations. The 73-year-old native of Hamilton, Ohio, had been widowed and says she decided to join Pickleball Singles Mingle! because, “It sounded fun to meet more single people who played pickleball. It is a way to meet active people in a healthy, safe environment.”
Peter, 65, has been divorced for 25 years. The former Minnesota resident says he’s “done a little bit of everything, from salesman, to teacher, to septic system installation,” and now is an options trader, volunteer and, yes, pickleball player.
“This is a great group of pickleballers who want to have fun,” Peter says. “We are older and we all have baggage from previous relationships, but while playing pickleball you are gentle and kind to individuals who are weaker than you, many times helping them improve.”
Six months after they met, Sue and Peter not only improved, they got married.