Pickleball is Serving Up Excitement to All Ages

It was just supposed to be a game their families could play together. The year was 1965 and there wasn’t much to do at their summer home on Bainbridge, Island, WA, so Joel Pritchard, congressman from Washington state, got together with two neighbors to come up with something. Little did they know then, that an old badminton court on his property, ping-pong paddles and a perforated plastic ball would become the phenomenon now known as pickleball.

Fortunately, they were smart enough to form a corporation to protect their creation of this new sport. The Sports & Fitness Industry Association or SFIA named pickleball the fastest-growing sport in America for the third year in a row. According to the report, pickleball enthusiasts now total 8.9 million in the United States, with players starting at age 6. Also popular around the world, the sport is rumored to potentially enter the 2028 or 2032 Olympic games.

Much has been written about how pickleball got its name. Many surmise it was named after the Pritchard family dog, but research has shown that Pickles was not yet a part of the family. It was actually Joel’s wife, Joan, who named the sport. Having rowed crew in college, she thought the weaker, mismatched crew boat teams known as “pickle boats” were similar to their new game that combined bits of unrelated games.

Pickleball Basics

Pickleball can be best described as a combination of tennis, racquetball, ping-pong, and badminton. Played on a badminton-sized court with the net lowered to 34 inches at its center, players use a perforated plastic ball - similar to a whiffle ball and a wood or composite paddle.

Proper court shoes are a requirement. Since tennis and pickleball are both played on the same court surface and require lateral, side to side motion, tennis shoes will suffice. Pickleball shoes tend to be a bit lighter and are thought to be beneficial for the games’ short, quick movements.

The Game

The basic objective of pickleball is for a singles player or a doubles team to whack a ball over the net in order to win a point when the opponent can’t return it. The five main rules of pickleball are:

• Ball must stay in bounds

• Only one bounce per side

• Serve at the baseline

• Serve must land beyond the kitchen (no-volley zone)

• Game ends at 11 or 15 points

• Pickleball requires minimal instruction, it’s easy to learn and it offers a level of camaraderie that other sports don’t. More clubs and schools — including colleges — are adding pickleball to their programs.

Pickleball requires minimal instruction, it’s easy to learn and it offers a level of camaraderie that other sports don’t. More clubs and schools — including colleges — are adding pickleball to their programs.

Though Joel Pritchard was Washington State’s lieutenant governor from 1988 to 1996, he is probably best known for his connection to the birth of pickleball.

TIPS FOR BEGINNERS

Always be in the ready position, train until it becomes an automatic reflex:

• Feet, shoulder-width apart and keep knees slightly bent

• Weight on the balls of your feet, not your heels

• Shoulders and upper body relaxed

• Arms and pickleball paddle out in front of your body, pointed slightly up

NOT JUST A SENIOR SPORT

Juniors Pickleball, for players 18 and under, has emerged as a major force within the sport. The 2022 Sports & Fitness Industry Association’s Single Sport Report on Pickleball found that players age 6-17 make up 21.2% of all pickleball players.

The inclusion of pickleball in school’s athletic curricula and at summer camps is part of the reason for its fast growth. Recently, USA Pickleball, the sport’s national governing body, launched a teaching curriculum designed to introduce the game to young players. Sponsored by The Association of Pickleball Professionals (APP) Tour, the Next Gen program trains players ages 16-23 in the hope of turning out professionals.

“The beauty of this sport is that it crosses multiple generations kids can play with their parents and their grandparents,” says Hope Tolley, the managing director of recreational programs at USA Pickleball. “Outside of tournaments, players are largely paired up by skill, rather than age or gender; on a local court, it’s not uncommon to see a 14-year old competing, and often winning, against a 40year old.” That was just what Joel Pritchard had in mind.