Pickleball is a racquet sport that combines elements of tennis, badminton, and ping-pong using a paddle and a hollow, perforated plastic ball. Pickleball can be enjoyed by players of all genders, ages, and skill levels.
Rules for pickleball are simple, making it a great introductory sport and easy to learn. At a competitive level, the game has the same prerequisites as any other top-level sport - athleticism, speed, agility, focus, and stamina.
Joel Pritchard, a congressman from Washington State, and Bill Bell, a successful businessman, returned to Pritchard’s home on Bainbridge Island, WA (near Seattle) to find their families sitting around with nothing to do. The property had an old badminton court so Pritchard and Bell looked for some badminton equipment and could not find a full set of rackets. They improvised and started playing with ping-pong paddles and a perforated plastic ball.
The game of pickleball was introduced for the first time in the Arizona Senior Olympics through the efforts of Earl Hill. The tournament was played at Happy Trails RV Resort in Surprise, AZ and drew 100 players. It was the largest event ever played to that point. Over the next few years the event grew to nearly 300 players.
In January, Justin Maloof joined USAPA as its first full-time Executive Director. USAPA starts the year off with a record 4,071 members. USAPA re-brands with a new logo and red, white, and blue color scheme that is more consistent with other US national sports governing bodies.
Pickleball experienced an unprecedented surge in popularity during and post-pandemic.
Pickleball has become the most popular and fastest-growing sport in the US for 4 years in a row.
The sport is professionalized and taken to te next level as a main-stream sport.