Margaret Hollister

Margaret Hollister, 67, is The Pickle Post's senior columnist and principal correspondent covering the senior pickleball circuit, a beat she accepted despite maintaining publicly and consistently that pickleball is "not, in the strictest sense, a sport."

Her weekly column From The Baseline examines recreational pickleball, senior tournament culture, and what she frequently describes as "the institutional consequences of lowering the net and everyone's expectations simultaneously."

Hollister played Division II tennis at Midwestern State University, a fact she includes in full whenever introduced publicly, often alongside her 1979 singles record and conference ranking "for context."

She competed on the United States Senior Tennis Association circuit until 2019 and began playing pickleball in March 2021 only after her local recreation center converted two tennis courts into what she later referred to in print as "a brightly colored surrender."

She has blamed pickleball repeatedly and by name.

Though openly dismissive of the sport's athletic legitimacy, Hollister currently ranks third in women's singles at the Greenwood Community Recreation Center, a standing she has held continuously for three years and described as "deeply confusing for everyone involved."

She refers to pickleball players in print as "participants," senior tournaments as "gatherings," and third shot drops as "essentially a coping mechanism."

Hollister's senior circuit coverage is widely respected for its technical detail, emotional restraint, and willingness to describe tournament environments using phrases such as "medically eventful."

At the 2025 Southwest Senior Open, Hollister filed a 2,700-word dispatch criticizing what she called "the creeping social-club atmosphere surrounding competitive play," while simultaneously advancing to the quarterfinals in women's doubles.

Tournament officials later asked her to leave following what was formally documented as "sustained nonverbal expressions of disapproval" directed toward mixed doubles strategy.

Hollister disputes both the characterization and the authority of the officials who made it.

According to staff, she routinely arrives at pickleball facilities carrying a tennis racquet "in case standards return."

She can be reached at margaret@thepicklepost.com.

She does not respond to emails containing the phrase "actually pickleball requires a lot of skill."