About Pickleball

From its casual roots on Bainbridge Island near Seattle, where Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell, and Barney McCallum invented the game to entertain their bored kids during the summer of 1965, there are now nearly 21,000 pickleball courts throughout America and 85 new pickleball courts opening each week through early 2020. The spread of the sport is attributed to its popularity within community centers, PE classes, YMCA facilities, and retirement communities. It attributes much of its popularity to America’s aging and retiring baby-boomers, which needed an active competitive sport that had lower physical demands compared to tennis, squash, and racquetball.

Pickleball is played on a smaller version of a tennis court using a paddleball type racket and a plastic ball. The sport requires less running, overall strength, and less strain on aging joints. It is a game that requires skill over strength, but with enough physicality to make it exciting for players at all levels. Over 75% of the current players are baby-boomers and retirees; however, the sport is growing rapidly among younger players. The sport is most often played as doubles, with four players on the court at a time. The sport continues to grow worldwide as well with many new international clubs forming and national governing bodies now established in Canada and India.