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Bill Bell and then-Washington State congressman Joel Pritchard created the game as a way to entertain their bored children. They grabbed items they had on hand, using ping pong paddles to hit a wiffle ball over a hip-height badminton net.
In this video, That Pickleball Guy walks you through the serve and two-bounce rules, what is “the kitchen,” and teaches five ways to win a rally.
Pickleball has seen rapid growth in the US, with around 50 million Americans playing in 2022. It doesn't appear to be slowing any time soon.
The outdoor game experienced a surge in popularity during the 2020 pandemic because it could be set up in driveways, be played by all ages, and allowed for safe social interactions. That social aspect has helped pickleball’s popularity continue to rise post-pandemic. A March 2023 APP report showed 48.3 million American adults played the sport in the last 12 months.
In 2023, the global pickleball market was $1.5B. By 2023, it's expected to grow by a compound annual growth rate of 11.3%.
Bill Bell and then-Washington State congressman Joel Pritchard created the game as a way to entertain their bored children. They grabbed items they had on hand, using ping pong paddles to hit a wiffle ball over a hip-height badminton net.
Bell and Pritchard only created the game to occupy their children's attention on vacation. As they continued playing the game, they began developing rules as-needed.
How pickleball got its name has been a point of contention for decades. The McCallums claim the family dog, Pickles, used to snatch the balls as they played and named it for him. Joan Pritchard, though, says Pickles didn’t join the family until after the game was invented.
When Steve Paranto kept losing in the finals of his Pickleball tournaments, he told his dad Arlen the wooden paddles were holding him back. Then-Boeing engineer Arlen used spare composite floor panels to make the first fiberglass Pickleball paddle.
That's about the same level as a hammer striking a nail. Luckily, it's not quite as loud for a player on the receiving side of the net, at about 80 decibels, though that's still quite loud—it's equivalent to heavy traffic.
Pickleball has always been a game for all ages, but it has been particularly popular among seniors, in part because of its many health benefits, including enhancing hand-eye coordination and burning more calories than walking.
Art, music, sports, entertainment, movies, and many other subjects—these elements define who we are as a society and how we express ourselves as a culture. Take a deep dive into the topics shaping our shared norms, values, institutions, and more.