Why do 2,000,000 Americans play Pickleball?
Why do 2,000,000 Americans play pickleball? That’s the question I asked myself every time I walked past the tennis and pickleball courts at my new housing complex on Arbor Creek in Southport, North Carolina. The first few weeks I was too busy unpacking boxes to join in the fun, but a friend (who plays twice a week) said, “Joe, you’re going to love the game because you already love tennis, racquetball, and ping-pong.” She was right.
The game is a combination of all four activities. The paddle, made of graphite or wood, is larger than a ping-pong paddle and shorter than a racquetball racket. It is lighter than a badminton racket.
The court is rectangular, 20 feet wide and 44 feet long. The “kitchen” is seven 7 feet long from the grid and twenty feet wide. The kitchen is a security where you can’t hit the ball in someone’s face. If the ball lands in the kitchen, you must let the ball bounce once for the volleyball to continue. Save face, pickleball. (pun intended).
The official pickleball court is a rectangle with dimensions equal to 20 feet wide by 44 feet long (including lines) for both singles and doubles. The non-volley line is the line on each side of the net between the side lines and parallel to the net. These lines are located 7 feet from the net.
You must serve the ball past the kitchen and land within the bounds of the rectangle to continue play. The server only gets a serve if the ball goes out of play. Then the second player of the same team serves. You can’t score unless you have the serve. We play to win 7 or 11 points, and you have to win by 2 points.
Wiffle balls come in four colors, from yellow to white. The lightweight paddles allow you to spin the plastic ball by cutting it. The ball bounces reasonably high and cannot be hit in flight the first time it is served during a round of play. A word of caution: don’t back up when a ball hits you overhead. Turn around quickly, run to the ball in short steps and hit it or just drop it. It’s never worth hitting a ball against green asphalt. I fell on the ground 5 times before I learned to play with the ball more safely and to wear the right shoes for me. I haven’t fallen in many months, I touch a scale board.
The beauty of pickleball is not that it is called “pickleball” and supposedly the name of a dog named “Pickle”. According to legend, Congressman Joel Pritchard invented the game in 1965 on Bainbridge Island just to keep the kids busy on a summer day. Actually, the name of the dog is because the game was invented. It is now the most popular game in the entire United States, played indoors or out by more than 2,000,000 players at retirement community centers, physical education classes and YMCA groups.
Why is it sweeping the country beyond the good cheer it brings to its members? Many retirees are stepping out of their comfort zone—the recliner in the living room or the rocking chair on the porch—to play outside with their friends and neighbors in a challenging game of skill and wits in the sun. Do you want to crush your opponents? Are you looking for blood? No. They just want to play their best, listen to friends chatter, get some sun, exercise, and one exceptional paddle stroke to remember.
“Good shot!” is music to the ears of these gamers.