More, more, more
Pickleball has more to it than just being a 'big table tennis game'. Frighteningly addictive with it being easy for a novice to get into - Pickleball has huge health benefits with it being lower impact than tennis. Also not as expensive to play as tennis or indeed padel.
It's just bigger table tennis really.....
Pickleball is played on a court with the same overall dimensions as a badminton doubles court. The exception to this is the 'kitchen' line which is drawn 6 inches further away from the net on both sides. The players use paddles rather than racquets and the ball is a perforated hard plastic ball (not a pressurised rubber ball used for tennis and padel). The ball is served underarm and then returned - with the serving team having to remember they are not allowed to play a volley on the next (the 3rd) shot in the rally. The ball has to have bounced on both sides of the net for play to continue. Points are usually only scored on serve only. Players are not allowed to have any part of their foot enter the kitchen when playing a volley (including any follow-through).
Born In The USA
Pickleball was invented in the USA in 1965. Why the sport got its name remains a mystery with such stories that the founders of the game used left over equipment from other sports just as pickle boat crews were formed of left over oarsmen off of other boats or perhaps you prefer the story that the founders dog was called Pickles (we prefer this due to sharing a name with the heroic dog who recovered the stolen Jules Rimet Trophy when the World Cup was held in England in 1966!) The sport has grown in popularity to be the highest growth sport in the USA with a forecast 48 million participants in 2023. There are now many professional players vying for large prize purses and many ex-professional tennis players have moved across to Pickleball.
Into The Future
The US governing bodies for Pickleball would have loved to have gotten the sport included in their home Olympic Games in Los Angeles 2028 even if only as a demonstration sport. Sadly this is looking unlikely. The IOC has guidelines for the participation numbers across its global membership for any sport to be considered for inclusion within Summer or Winter Games and Pickleball just is not there yet. Dedicated playing space in the UK and further afield will only help to increase take up. Can you believe that at the moment Pickleball is not even recognised as a sport by Sport England? Pickleball England has been working for many months to rectify this and hopefully this official recognition is not too far away.... And talking of Pickleball England - do check out their website for details of news and tournaments and other locations where you can play Pickleball currently in the UK. You can find a link to their site at the foot of our Tell Us page.