Did you ever wonder what Pickleball is?

By David McClelland

Pickleball is the fastest growing sport in the Nation !!!

Three years ago, most people hadn't even heard of Pickleball. Today, there are more than 40,000 players and that number is growing every month according Bill Booth, President of the USA Pickleball Association (USAPA). It is a favorite sport of seniors nationwide.

What is Pickleball? It is a game a lot like tennis and is played indoors on gym floors and outdoors on tennis courts. The ball is a wiffle ball (a plastic, poly baseball with holes) and short-handled, solid wooden paddles are used. The court is a downsized tennis court and is 20 feet wide by 44 feet deep, with colored tape to define the court, the serving box and the "kitchen", which is an area 7 feet deep on each side of the net.

The serve must be underhand with the paddle below the wrist. The ball must bounce once on receiver's side of the net (beyond the kitchen) and the server or the receiving team, in the case of doubles, must also let the ball bounce once before hitting it back. After that, the players may move to the net (but not encroach into the kitchen) and the speed of the game increases dramatically. Points are awarded only to the serving team. Games are played to 11, 15 or 21 depending on the event. It is great fun to play.

Why is it called Pickleball? The creator of the game had a dog named Pickles which kept stealing the ball during play. Pickleball was created during the summer of 1965 on Bainbridge Island, a short ferry ride from Seattle, Washington. Its creators were U.S. Congressmen Joel Pritchard, William Bell and Barney McCallum. Initially, families played Pickleball in their backyards on a hard surface, on driveways and on residential, dead end streets. Since the mid-70's, the sport has expanded and is now played in thousands of educational institutions, parks and recreation centers.

Where can you learn more about the game and begin to play? We in Oakland County are in very fortunate because there are several venues. For example, we can learn about the game and play it at the Auburn Hills Community Center (AHCC) every Monday and Wednesday morning beginning at 9:30. Instruction is available. You can also log onto www/usapa.org to learn much more about Pickleball and see videos of the action.