How did this game come to be? Answer, according to what I read, three Washington fathers, around the mid-1960s, grew tired of hearing their children complain about, “I’m BORED!” So, the dads invented a tennis, badminton, table tennis mixture game to stop the complaints! There are theories and stories about the origination of the name, but I cannot find definitive proof of the veracity of any story!
It does seem to be agreed upon that in 2022, the official “state sport” of Washington, U. S. A., became Pickleball! And the “sport” has grown to having hundreds, maybe thousands, of tournaments each year, a U. S. Pickleball National Championship, a U. S. Open Pickleball Championship, Major League Pickleball, and many International Championships.
The International Federation of Pickleball is the highest authority, and the game is played as singles, doubles, and mixed doubles.
There are types of serves, returns, bounce rules, boundary rules, and specific ways of scoring for singles and doubles. Only the server or serving team may score, and only the server has a dedicated rule of where to stand. If you are interested enough, go out and play with folks who know the rules and pick them up rather quickly, I have been told!
First of all, I found out that it is a game, played with a paddle and implementing a combination of “pingpong” and tennis. And, reports in various publications say that it only takes about 2 or 3 minutes to learn to play and that nearly everyone at least likes (if not loves) it in less than ½ hour of playing.
And, I have been told that people are seeing more and more tennis courts in the country being converted to those for pickleball. And…. one article notes that skeptical people should “just listen for the plink-plonk, plink-plonk sound of oversized whiffle (alternative spelling) balls bouncing off of composite paddles.” Another quote by a participant has him saying that he seems to be standing upon the table while playing ping-pong.
My source says that just about anybody can play this game/sport which is on a 20’ by 44’ court and necessitates very little “real athleticism.”
Again, a ball like a wiffleball, a court like a badminton court, a net like a tennis court, a paddle like a pingpong paddle. Good points: There are tournaments. All ages can play. It can be as competitive or as “laid back” as desired. It helps youngsters with eye/hand coordination. Women are not really at a disadvantage against men, who are usually larger and stronger.
And, pickleball has been credited with getting lazy people up off their “hindends” and exercising, grumpy people laughing and joking around, bashful people meeting others (Most games are “doubles.”), inventive thinkers thinking even more as they help expand and polish the game, and “too serious” folks becoming a little more “laid back.”
I don’t know whether I want to play “sweet pickleball, bread-and-butter pickleball, sour pickleball, or dill pickleball” (just joking), but I do think I would like to try it some day if my boys and wife agree to take it easy on this old man!
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