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Explained: How Pickleball, An American Invention, Is Fast Capturing The Imagination Of Sport Lovers
Pickleball is a mixture of tennis, badminton and table tennis that is played both indoors and outdoors on a court that is about one-fourth the size of a tennis court. The net is also placed much lower than in tennis. It is a fairly new sport, invented only in 1965 in Seattle.
Updated Oct 16, 2023 , 06:19 PM IST
People play Pickleball at a public court in Brooklyn.
Photo : AFP
In the US, American football is the most popular sport. It is followed by basketball, baseball, and soccer (football, as we know it in India) among others. While most sports played in that part of the world are commonly known, there is one sport that is slowly making its place amongst a large set of the American population. The sport is called pickleball and not just in the US, people across the world are gradually taking to it.
What is Pickleball?
If there is ever a cross between tennis, badminton, and table tennis, that is pickleball. It is played both indoors and outdoors, on a court that is about a quarter of a tennis court. A net, that is much lower than in tennis, is placed in the middle.
How was Pickleball invented?
It is a fairly new invention orchestrated by Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell, and Barney McCallum on Bainbridge Island near Seattle back in 1965 for their children as a vacation sport.
Why was the sport named Pickleball?
The story goes that it came to be named pickleball since the family dog of one of the inventors was called Pickles. Another theory behind the name is that Joan Pritchard, wife of Joel, named the sport after pickle boat, a rowing crew that is made from available rowers since pickleball was a culmination of several rules 'thrown together'.
The first pickleball court was made two years later in 1967 and by 1990, the sport was being played across the United States. The US Pickleball Association came into existence in 2005.
While the sport took quite some time to spread over its initial years, it became immensely popular during the pandemic. Not just common people, some big names including the likes of the Kardashian sisters, Melinda and Bill Gates, Matthew Perry, and Leonardo DiCaprio were also seen playing pickleball.
At the beginning of the year, the sport found its popularity in the United Kingdom as well. According to a report in The Guardian, Pickleball England is looking to have 25,000 members by 2025.
The sport is played in singles or doubles with paddles and a plastic ball with holes. What makes it different from tennis or badminton is that the weight and speed of the ball are much less than in the other sports.
People of all ages are playing this sport, from kids to the older generations.
Pickleball in India
Sunil Valvalkar, who currently works as a director of a telecommunications company in Mumbai, is considered to have introduced pickleball in India. He played the sport in Canada in 1999 and then in 2006 he brought the equipment back to India in an attempt to make it popular in the country.
Pickleball is now played across 16 states in India, with the All India Pickleball Association controlling the affairs. Around 3,000 registered players play the sport in the country.
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