Pickleball: A Passtime In Manhasset

win by two, creating a fast-paced, energetic environment.

Despite the smaller court size and relatively simple rules, injuries are still common, especially among older crowds.

With more than 36 million players nationwide, pickleball has raced across the U.S., quickly becoming its fastest growing sport. In Manhasset, the sport can be played at Whitney Pond Park.

The game, which is a combination of badminton, tennis and ping pong, is uniquely accessible for people of all ages and skill levels. The small dimensions of a pickleball court — one-fourth the size of a tennis court — are appealing to older crowds.

“See the beauty of pickleball, people can pick it up quickly. Now certain people aren’t so good and some people are better, but there’s always people to play at your level. As opposed to tennis, you know, tennis physically, big court, it’s about power,” said David Radisch, the Director of Pickleball at SPORTIME Port Washington. “Pickleball is almost more like ping pong. And it’s more about angles and strategies, not necessarily about how hard you can hit the ball. So that’s why older people can play competitively against some younger people because they understand the angling and everything.”

In addition, paddles are affordable — the cheapest wooden options are $10 — and wiffle balls can be used, furthering the game’s inclusivity. The most expensive professional paddles can sell for more than $150. The sport can be enjoyed in a singles or doubles format.

The social aspects of the sport are especially appealing.

“You can go to any public court, basically by yourself, and you can just put your paddle into what they have the waiting bucket, it’s called the Bucket and when people come off, the next four people go,” said Radisch. “The culture of pickleball as opposed to tennis is you can just go and you mix in and play with people, as opposed to tennis where you go with your four people and you play your game with the four people and leave… You can go down to the courts for an hour and a half and literally play with 12, 13 different people of all different ages.”

At Whitney Pond Park, located off of Community Drive, there are lines taped over existing tennis courts to allow for pickleball play. This site is free to use by the public.

Pickleball was invented by congressman Joel Pritchard and businessman Bill Bell in Bainbridge Island, Washington in 1965. Following a summer golf outing, the two men returned to Pritchard’s house, only to find their families with nothing to do. There was an old badminton court on the property, but with no available badminton equipment, they instead played with ping pong paddles and a perforated plastic ball. They initially played with the net at the standard badminton height of 60 inches. However, the net was lowered to 36 inches, with the ball bouncing nicely over it on the asphalt. The following weekend, Barney McCallum was introduced to pickleball at Pritchard’s house, and the three men created the rules for the game.

Since then, pickleball has exploded in popularity. Membership in USA Pickleball, the governing body for the sport founded in 2013, grew to 70,000 people in only 10 years.

“I watched this sport originally, it was known as the senior citizens sport and was basically played in retirement communities. As other younger people started playing, it started to catch on,” said Radisch. “But over [the] years, as people started playing it, everyone that plays it almost becomes addicted to it… The last two and a half years, I have never seen a demand and an explosion in almost anything like this.”

The rules are fairly simple, making the game easy to learn for beginners and very exciting at high levels. On each side of the court, there is a non-volley zone — known as the kitchen — which is closest to the net. The remaining parts of the court are divided vertically into a left and right service area — known as the odd and even courts.

To start each point, the ball is served diagonally into the opponent’s service court. The serve must be underhand. Here, the first major rule comes into play: the double bounce rule — following a serve, each side must hit one groundstroke before volleying the ball. As the point plays out, the other notable rule becomes important: balls cannot be vollied — hit out of the air without bouncing on the ground — when the player is standing in the non-volley zone.

Points can only be won by the serving player or team and are earned when the opposing side fails to return a ball or hits it out of play. After each point won on serve, the server switches between the odd and even courts. Pickleball matches are played to 11,

“Pickleball is an easy game to pick up, and people just take it for granted. People just get out of the car and they start playing and if you’re not in good shape and you’re running around on the court, it’s very easy to strain a muscle,” said Roger Gerland, the Senior Director of Rehabilitation Services at Northwell Health STARS across their outpatient network and the team physical therapist at Hofstra University.

Gerland has seen injuries ranging from calf and hamstring pulls to wrist and hip fractures as a result of the sport. In fact, pickleball injuries are expected to cost Americans between $250 million and $500 million this year.

“One of the things that we do as a health system is identify needs in the community. One of the needs that we have just recently seen over the last couple years is an influx of pickleball injuries, not just in our physical therapy offices, but in our emergency rooms, as well as our physician offices,” said Gerland. “And as a result of this initiative, we felt the need to increase awareness of pickleball injury prevention, proper warm-up, proper training and conditioning.”

A full-body, active warm-up is important. To begin, Gerland recommends jogging around the court several times. Next, partaking in a series of active stretches, such as squats, leg swings, walking lunges with rotations and overhead arm movements, may help to reduce injury.

Nonetheless, pickleball offers certain advantages over other racket sports.

“From a physical standpoint, I think it’s less physically challenging on your joints if we’re comparing it to racquetball… And if I’m comparing it to tennis, I think it’s less demanding on the shoulder than tennis is,” said Gerland.

As pickleball continues to explode — and shows no signs of stopping, remember to stretch before playing and to have fun.