What is Pickleball?
Pickleball is an indoor or outdoor racket/paddle sport where two players (singles), or four players (doubles), hit a perforated hollow polymer ball over a 36-inch-high (0.91 m) net using solid-faced paddles. Opponents on either side of the net hit the ball back and forth until one side commits a rule infraction. Pickleball was invented in 1965 as a children’s backyard game on Bainbridge Island, Washington, USA. In 2022, pickleball was adopted as the official state sport of Washington.
The appearance of a pickleball court, and the manner of play, resemble tennis, but the court is the size of a doubles badminton court, less than a third the size of a tennis court. Court lines and rules are specific to pickleball and include two 7-foot areas (2.1 m) on either side of the net known as the non-volley zones, where the ball cannot be hit with the paddle unless the ball bounces first. The official rules specify side-out scoring, where only the serving team can score a point. All serves are made with an underhand stroke. The hard polymer ball used in pickleball produces significantly less bounce than softer flexible balls, such as a tennis ball.
The minimal bounce combined with the non-volley zone and underhand serve resulted in a dynamic pace and strategy ranging from soft dink shots that stay within the two non-volley zones to powerful drive shots and overhead smash shots. To minimize any advantage the serving or receiving side might have at the beginning of the game, the ball must bounce once on each side of the net before either team may volley the ball, which is to hit the ball in the air before it bounces.
Between 1965 and 2023, it became a popular sport in the US Pacific Northwest, and in the meantime began to grow elsewhere. In 2021 and 2022, the sport was named the fastest-growing sport in the United States by the Sports and Fitness Industry Association, with over 5 million players. A growing interest in the sport is attributed to several factors, including a short learning curve, appeal to a wide range of ages and fitness levels, and low startup costs. There are now thousands of pickleball tournaments throughout the United States, including the US National Championships and the U.S. Open Tournament, along with two professional tours and one professional league. Pickleball is also experiencing growth outside the United States with several other national and international competitions.
Pickleball Beginnings
According to Joan Pritchard, Joel Pritchard’s wife, “The name of the game became Pickle Ball after I said it reminded me of the pickle boat in crew where oarsmen were chosen from the leftovers of other boats.” Other sources state that the name “pickleball” was derived from the name of the Pritchard’s family dog, Pickles. The Pritchards stated that the dog came along after the game had already been named, and it was the dog that was named for the game of pickleball. They said the confusion arose when a reporter interviewing the Pritchards in the early 1970s decided it would be easier for readers to relate to the dog rather than a pickle boat.
