Pickleball is the most rapidly growing sport in the United States. It is a fast-paced game that is similar to tennis and badminton but has its own unique characteristics.
People play pickleball on a level court that is 20 feet by 44 feet. At the center is a net, similar to a tennis net, that is 36 inches high. Extending 7 feet on either side of the net is a designated non-volley zone known as the kitchen. Beyond the kitchen are service areas where players station themselves.
In a game, players serve and exchange a lightweight ball back and forth using paddles made of wood or composite materials. Players earn points when the opposing team member commits a fault, such as failing to return the ball, hitting it into the net, or letting it bounce more than once.
Even though the game has exploded in popularity over the last decade, pickleball has a long history that began in 1965 on the island of Bainbridge, near Seattle, Washington. Congressman Joel Pritchard and his friend Bill Bell, a businessman, were coming back home after playing golf. They first stopped at Pritchard’s home, where they found their families bored.
Pritchard’s son Frank complained that there was nothing to do on the sleepy island of Bainbridge, and his father told him that when they were young, they used to invent games. Frank challenged his 40-year-old dad to do it. So the congressman did.
Pritchard and Bell went to the house’s back shed, picked up a plastic ball, found a pair of table tennis paddles, set up a badminton net, and played the first game of pickleball. They came up with rules for the game as they played and refined them as they went along. For example, they originally set the net at a height of 60 inches but later lowered it to 36 inches.
Later on, they called their friend Barney McCallum to help make pickleball equipment like paddles. McCallum became an instrumental figure in the development of the game. The three named the game in reference to the local pickle boat crews that raced in boat competitions for fun.
In 1967, Joel Pritchard’s neighbor Bob O’Brian constructed the first pickleball court in his backyard. In 1972, the founders started Pickle-ball Inc. to sell pickleball starter kits from McCallum’s house for $29.50.
In 1975, both the National Observer and Tennis magazine ran stories on pickleball. In 1976, the first pickleball tournament was played at the Southcenter Athletic Club in Tukwila, Washington. Six years later, pickleball pioneer Sid Williams started playing the sport. He enjoyed it so much that he began organizing tournaments all over Washington.
In 1984, the sport’s pioneers formed a national governing body, the USA Pickleball Association (USAPA), and tasked it with promoting the sport across the country. Williams was its first executive director.
USAPA was successful in promoting pickleball in the United States. By the 1990s, there were pickleball players in all 50 states. However, it was after 2000 that the game really picked up. In 2003, there were 150 pickleball courts strewn across 39 locations in the United States and Canada. Five years later, there were 1,500 courts in 420 locations in North America.
In 2009, USAPA held the first national tournament in Buckeye, Arizona, drawing in about 400 athletes. A year later, USAPA formed the International Federation of Pickleball to promote the game beyond North America.
In 2014, the Pickleball Channel, the first dedicated TV station for pickleball, launched. In 2015, USAPA surpassed 10,000 members and the number of pickleball courts grew to 12,800. At the time, the Sports and Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) estimated that over 2 million people played pickleball. Seven years later, in 2022, SFIA named pickleball the fastest-growing sport in America, with 4.8 million players.
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