by ANDREA DOWNING PECK

When Costco member Denise Jagoda first swapped her tennis racket for a pickleball paddle, she quickly discovered why nearly 5.8 million people in the United States and Canada have made pickleball one of the world’s fastest-growing sports.

Pickleball is played on a court roughly one-fourth the size of a tennis court. As with tennis, players serve, volley and hit ground strokes, but pickleballers use a solid-surface paddle and a perforated plastic ball. Serves must be underhanded, making pickleball easier for beginners. Games are played to 11 points and must be won by two points; points are won only while serving.

Professional pickleball champion Tyson McGuffin of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, the sport’s No. 2 ranked men’s singles player, describes pickleball as the likely outcome if “pingpong, badminton and tennis had a baby and that baby was extremely social, super embracing and there was a lot of camaraderie.”

The small court creates fast-paced fun and built-in socializing, attributes that made Jagoda an enthusiastic convert to the sport. “I’ve never gotten so much joy playing something,” the Temecula, California, resident says. “I love this game.”

Pickleball was cobbled together in 1965 by three dads on a backyard badminton court on Bainbridge Island, Washington. Nearly 60 years later, the game has rocketed from obscurity to rock-star status.

USA Pickleball chief marketing officer Chuck Menke says the pandemic served as a “hyper accelerator” for the sport by providing a social and recreational outlet for quarantine-fatigued people of all ages who could reconnect at safe distances on a pickleball court.

McGuffin credits pickleball’s exploding popularity to the fact that new players, no matter their age or ability, can step onto a court and quickly have a 10-ball rally even if scoring points is a challenge. “It’s easy to get good,” he explains. “It’s very difficult to get great.”

Tom Keane, president and co-founder of the East Toronto Pickleball Association, maintains that pickleball’s unpretentious and welcoming atmosphere is the secret of its success. “I firmly believe I could travel anywhere in the world to a pickleball court and somebody would say, ‘Here’s a paddle to borrow, buddy. Jump on a court.’ I don’t think that would happen in many other sports,” says Keane, who started playing pickleball in 2021. “It’s just a different breed of people.”

The truth about how pickleball got its name debunks a tail-wagging tale. Jeff Pritchard, nephew of pickleball co-inventor Joel Pritchard, notes that his aunt Joan Pritchard borrowed the term “pickle” from collegiate crew, where the “pickle boat” is filled by random rowers not selected for competitive races. Pickleball became a fitting name for a game combining pieces of other games.

While an often-repeated tale maintains pickleball was named after the Pritchards’ family dog, Pritchard explains that the cocker spaniel arrived later and was named after the game. “[Pickles] is a fun story, but it isn’t accurate. The boat story is the true origin of the name,” the Costco member says.

Dick Johnson of Boise, Idaho, and Mesa, Arizona, discovered the game a decade ago after elbow and spinal fusion surgery curtailed a successful amateur tennis career, which led to weight gain and diabetes. The Costco member praises pickleball for helping to restore his health.

“I came to Arizona, found this great diabetic program, lost weight, got off the meds and concurrently discovered pickleball,” says Johnson, a multi-champion senior player. “Those things together saved my life.”