Originating back in the mid-1900s, pickleball now brings joy and competitiveness to children and adults. Inventors Joel Pritchard, Barney McCallum and Bill Bell never expected the fame that pickleball eventually gained as they originally invented the sport as a summertime game for their kids. Over time, the sport grew and gained awareness in the early 2000s, but in recent years, it has quickly become one of the fastest-growing sports in the world, with over 36.5 million Americans playing in summer 2024.
“My favorite thing about pickleball is being able to play for a long time without getting tired. Over the summer, I played almost three hours a day five times a week. Also, pickleball is an easy sport to learn made it really easy to learn fast, getting me excited to play every time,” magnet junior Shiv Tanti said.
Pickleball combines elements of tennis, badminton and table tennis through similar court styles and similar shapes of paddles in these sports. Pickleball courts, present in neighborhoods, parks, community centers and other facilities, frequently share spaces with tennis courts, with added pickleball lines painted on the ground. Furthermore, the materials needed for pickleball include only the paddles and balls, which players can find in common stores such as Walmart, as well as sports gear websites. With these materials, competitors can successfully play the game.
Pickleball’s rules can seem confusing at first, but the court’s design influences a majority of the regulations that allow for simple calls. Pickleball involves four players split into even teams of two. The teams separate to different sides of the court and each player obtains their own “service box” that they take responsibility for during the game.
After the players choose their boxes on the court, they must decide which team will serve first and the player in the “right service area” begins. Serves need to bounce in the box diagonal to them in order to count, but they can not hit the kitchen area, a special section in the middle of the court. Players should not stand in this area unless the ball hits in the kitchen. If a player misses the ball or hits the ball into the kitchen during a serve, the other player on the team obtains an attempt.
Once both players miss the ball on a team, the other team begins to serve, and only the team that serves can attain points. After, a rally continues until a player misses the ball or the ball hits outside of the line. This match continues until a team reaches eleven points and obtains a score difference of two, which allows them to win the game.
NC students enjoy playing pickleball in their free time as a way to spend time away from schoolwork. Young adults and the elderly also relish pickleball and frequently play with their families, or even in a league. The quick matches and easy accessibility of the courts and materials allow a variety of ages to play the sport and take a break from their daily lives. The rise of pickleball permits players to increase social interactions and physical activity.
“Pickleball got me through a very difficult time in my life. I was struggling in school and was stressed 24/7. At first, I never really got the pickleball hype. I would see people playing on TikTok after the movie ‘Challengers’ came out. But when my friends invited me to play with them during their weekly pickleball games, I felt it was a way to escape from the stress. Even though I’m pretty bad at pickleball, I always looked forward to playing with my friends because we would always have fun and laugh together, “ magnet junior Mia Diaz said.
