Pickleball has emerged as the fastest-growing sport in America

BleedGopher

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per Front Row Sports:


Pickleball has emerged as the fastest-growing sport in America, with more than 3.5 million players across the country.

Birthed in the 1960s, the game combines elements of ping-pong, badminton, and tennis. It’s become a trendy way to get exercise as people seek alternatives to closed gyms.

From 2016-2019, pickleball’s participation rate increased by 9.7%, with people 65 and older accounting for one-fifth of all players. Numbers from 2020 are not yet released.

Pickleball has gained enough momentum to attract endorsers and broadcasting contracts.

  • Last year, the Professional Pickleball Association announced an agreement with ESPN, which will see the network air all of the league’s 2021 tournaments.
  • In 2018, racquet maker Selkirk Sport signed Tyson McGuffin, the world’s top-ranked pickleball player, to an endorsement deal. Terms were not disclosed.
The accessibility of pickleball has made it attractive to a broad swath of the public.

“Pickleball still has that backyard, beer-drinking sports feel,” said McGuffin. “Coming from playing college tennis and pro tennis, it is so much more enjoyable.”

The final match of the World Pickleball Championship aired on CBS Sports on Sunday. It was the first pickleball tournament with $100,000 in cash prizes and generated an estimated $1 million for the local Punta Gorda, Fla. economy.

Go Gophers!!
 

per Axios Sports:

At a time when safe, outdoor recreation options are at a premium, pickleball is going increasingly mainstream — as are related noise complaints, Axios' Jennifer A. Kingson writes.

What's happening: A cross between tennis, badminton and ping-pong, pickleball is played with a paddle and a plastic ball with holes on what looks like a miniature tennis court (how to play).
  • USA Pickleball says it has 40,000 members who play in all 50 states. There's also a growing roster of tournaments and corporate sponsors.
  • "If you ever slung any sort of a racquet before, you can become competent in an hour," Stu Upson, CEO of USA Pickleball, tells Axios. "It's so social, it's almost a lifestyle for so many folks."
Driving the news: While the Sunbelt states are the biggest pickleball hotbeds, demand for public courts is exploding everywhere.
  • According to my colleagues at Axios Charlotte, "every park update and new 55+ community has a pickleball team/designated space."
  • In San Luis Obispo, California — where there's typically a 20-minute wait for a court — the city is spending $120,00o to build its first permanent pickleball courts, per the SLO Tribune.
  • New England's first dedicated indoor pickleball complex is about to open in Hanover, Massachusetts, with six tournament-sized courts.
The other side: The thwack of a wiffleball against a paddle is resonant, and condo and homeowner associations are being flooded with pickleball-related noise complaints.
  • "I can't live with this constant 'pong, pong, pong' every morning," one resident of a South Florida retirement community laments.
  • USA Pickleball has a task force on the noise issue, Upson says: "We're doing some research on sound barriers, and looking at equipment" that's less loud.
Flashback: The sport was invented in 1965 on Bainbridge Island (near Seattle) by three dads — including future U.S. congressman Joel Pritchard — "whose kids were bored with their usual summertime activities."
  • By one account, Pritchard's wife coined the name because the sport reminded her of "the pickle boat in crew where oarsmen were chosen from the leftovers of other boats.”
  • By another: "The game was officially named after the Pritchards' dog Pickles who would chase the ball and run off with it."
Go Gophers!!
 

It's generally been known as kind of an older folks game but it's gaining steam fast. The wife had never heard of it, watched it for about 15 minutes, and then went on to win the gold medal in her division at Corporate Challenge the year before. But she was a state champion in tennis in HS and can kind of kick most people's tail in most racket games, even now in her early-mid 50's! Yikes!

She's looking forward to playing more and more now, they have a few courts at the Club we joined last year. I remember playing in HS gym class and it was pretty fun. Hadn't seen it from the mid-late 80's until just a couple years ago
 

It's generally been known as kind of an older folks game but it's gaining steam fast. The wife had never heard of it, watched it for about 15 minutes, and then went on to win the gold medal in her division at Corporate Challenge the year before. But she was a state champion in tennis in HS and can kind of kick most people's tail in most racket games, even now in her early-mid 50's! Yikes!

She's looking forward to playing more and more now, they have a few courts at the Club we joined last year. I remember playing in HS gym class and it was pretty fun. Hadn't seen it from the mid-late 80's until just a couple years ago

Good stuff. I've talked to a number of competitive tennis players who said there are some aspects from tennis that help them in Pickle Ball but it's much faster paced and obviously smaller courts.

I can't get over how fast it's growing. As a tennis purist, I embrace it as a positive because any racket sport gaining in popularity can only help the others.

Go Gophers!!
 



I have friends who are obsessed and play in a league at Minneapolis Cider Co. Its fun, easy to play, low impact, and conducive to imbibing booze. I see more and more ice rinks (with boards) getting paved and painted for pickle ball. I suppose If I lived near a court it would be more noisy than tennis and frustrating to live with.
 

So ... are they wanting to grow this as a competitive sport? Or a beer league sport, like bocce ball?
 

So ... are they wanting to grow this as a competitive sport? Or a beer league sport, like bocce ball?

I see mostly older people playing by setting up nets on half of park tennis courts. I can't see beer league taking off because you need pavement.
 

Baby boomers who can't run a tennis court anymore and can't stand shuffleboard...
 



I have friends who are obsessed and play in a league at Minneapolis Cider Co. Its fun, easy to play, low impact, and conducive to imbibing booze. I see more and more ice rinks (with boards) getting paved and painted for pickle ball.

That sounds like fun. Our park has a paved Ice rink, maybe I should see if they would paint pickle ball lines on it or if they will let me do it. I am on the parks and rec board after all....

Only problem for me is finding a partner or people to play with, I have been thinking about getting back into tennis but same problem. I used to play with a buddy in middle school and high school but haven't since then.
 

That sounds like fun. Our park has a paved Ice rink, maybe I should see if they would paint pickle ball lines on it or if they will let me do it. I am on the parks and rec board after all....

Only problem for me is finding a partner or people to play with, I have been thinking about getting back into tennis but same problem. I used to play with a buddy in middle school and high school but haven't since then.
Same issue for me. Used to play tennis all the time and then it just stopped. Mainly because my tennis friends stopped wanting to. I don't think I've played in 20 years at least. Pickleball sounds awesome on a real court.
 

re: Tennis, doesn't Lifetime have leagues for that? There's also a tennis dome in S Mpls.
 

That sounds like fun. Our park has a paved Ice rink, maybe I should see if they would paint pickle ball lines on it or if they will let me do it. I am on the parks and rec board after all....

Only problem for me is finding a partner or people to play with, I have been thinking about getting back into tennis but same problem. I used to play with a buddy in middle school and high school but haven't since then.
Marie Park in Mendota Height has 4 pickleball courts in the hockey rink.
 



Richfield has a dedicated pickle court that looks pretty awesome.
Marie Park in Mendota Height has 4 pickleball courts in the hockey rink.
My parents live right by that park.

I think you can show up to nearly any tennis court around 8 or 9 am and there is a mob of seniors playing. Now the older people cant quite run as much but they got good hands. All the fun parts of tennis with 50% the effort. Ping pong on a tennis court.
 


re: Tennis, doesn't Lifetime have leagues for that? There's also a tennis dome in S Mpls.

Yes, there are many USTA, LifeTime and UTR options for adult tennis leagues, ladders and tournaments. The one thing with tennis though, it's no fun for either player if the players aren't around the same level.

Go Tennis!!
 

Yes, there are many USTA, LifeTime and UTR options for adult tennis leagues, ladders and tournaments. The one thing with tennis though, it's no fun for either player if the players aren't around the same level.

Go Tennis!!
Very well put, Bleed! I'm not much of a player (although athleticism and good hand-eye coordination can get you quite a ways in a lot of sports) but I've often said, tennis between two relatively evenly matched people is really, really hard to beat. I remember skipping class in college to play with a really good friend of mine at my apartment complex. Some of the most fun, and some of the most hotly contested sports I've ever had.

I'll have to pick up pickleball and see how that goes!
 

Interesting. I know this old timer and he was telling me he played pickleball a couple of times a week. Said he had to get to the place early because there's always a wait. Seemed like he really enjoyed it.
 




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