The game of Beach Tennis as played by the “Nighties” on Cedar Avenue Beach
(Charlie is the shirtless man facing the camera and Sam is off to the side wearing a black shirt.)

BEACH TENNIS
By David Barrett

During the summer of 2022 I was greatly disappointed as I walked the shoreline of the Wildwoods. I observed various games being played including bean bag toss, something that involved miniature bolas, and other simple amusements. If it were legal, they were all games that could be played with a beer can in hand. If it wasn’t for the few whiffle ball games and the football catches, I would have thought that I was in Ventnor or Margate. Nowhere did I see the great game of Beach Tennis being played.

Beach Tennis was ubiquitous in the 50’s and lived on in the decades that followed it. The game was played on a court that was usually eight paces long by 4 paces wide for singles, and roughly twice that width for doubles. A centerline divided the court into two halves. (Resulting in two 4 by 4 squares for singles.) The boundaries - the backlines and sidelines - and the centerline, were drawn with a shell or a popsicle stick. The courts were always oriented parallel to the ocean as this unbiased the impact of slope. A pimple ball was the ball of choice, but many other kinds of balls sufficed. Palms and fingers served as paddles. The ideal time to play was during the hours after low tide.
A volley started with the server standing behind the backline and delivering the ball with an underhand stroke. The server could then enter the court. The ball had to land inside the opponent’s half to be fair. The opponent then returned the ball, with the ball again landing somewhere in the server’s half to be fair. Play then proceed in alternating returns. At any time, players had the option to charge the centerline and return a ball before it landed in their half. A missed ball, or a ball returned outside of the opponent’s half scored a point for the opponent. Two bad serves also resulted in the award of a point. Players would serve until a total of five points was scored, and then the serve would switch to the other player for the next five points. This switching of the serve continued until a player won with a score of twenty-one points, subject to the additional rule that games had to be won by two points.

Since in most volleys the ball does not rise far from the ground, underhand returns are the norm. It is rarely possible to slam the ball. Thus, Beach Tennis is mostly a game of maneuver, which in my opinion is the basis for the fun.
Especially as an adult, playing on a sand court involved battle damage. After each volley, players needed to pat out scrapes on the court with their feet. This was easy to do when the sand had the right amount of water content. An odd bounce off of a damaged court was no excuse for losing a volley.
Although games were played with speed, agility and stamina, well-matched players without these qualities could enjoy a good game. Beach Tennis was the pickle ball of yesteryear.

Cedar Avenue was the hottest beach for Beach Tennis. That’s because it was the beach of choice for the bartenders, showgirls and other folks that worked Wildwood’s nightclub district. The game was played daily by the “Nighties” with much energy and hoopla. They favored a ball that was roughly twice the diameter of a pimple ball, and sometimes they built courts that supported a game of “three against three”. As kids we greatly admired their style of play;
especially that of Sam and Charlie.

We once experimented with a game of beach tennis that involved no backlines and outwardly angled sidelines. The ball was allowed to bounce twice before it had to be returned. This made for frantic and wide-ranging play. It was a challenging young man’s game, and could only be played when the beach was relatively deserted.

So, here’s my plea to all you kids, young bucks, and fit middle-agers. Bag the toys, grab a ball and a shell, and play something that is worth watching. Put the Wildwoods back on the map for Beach Tennis.