The benefits of joining a pickleball club are the same as joining any club, with the added health benefits of being involved in a fun and rewarding sport. Pickleball is an exciting game that is a cross between tennis, badminton, and ping pong. It can be played by all ages, and is played on a court instead of a table.
The game has not been around as long as many other sports however, having been around since the 1960s when invented by a former member of the United States Congress. Today, it is a sport enjoyed all over the world by many pickleball clubs and players. Learn more about the joys of pickleball and why joining a pickleball club may be the best choice for you.
The history of pickleball traces back to one bored Saturday afternoon in Washington State.
The game of pickleball was inspired by an unused badminton court
It was a boring Saturday afternoon in 1965 in Washington State when some golf buddies Barney McCallum, Bill Bell, and Joel Pritchard returned home from a game of golf and found their families bored. It was at the home of Joel Pritchard, whose family wanted to use their backyard badminton court but had lost some of the equipment for it around the house. The badminton shuttlecock was missing, and nobody could play.
The golf buddies put their minds together and made a game with what they had, some table tennis paddles, and different kinds of balls from around the house. They used the badminton court to play, lowering the net a little bit to accommodate the different kinds of balls such as a wiffle ball, and rackets used on the court. The game pickleball was born.
The game caught on with neighbors and friends of the Pritchards. The Pritchards would develop different balls and rackets to play. By 1968, the game became a company called Pickle Ball Inc. By 1972, Pickle Ball Inc. would be filing annual reports and making their own paddles and pickleball kits. Demand for the products grew with interest in the sport that was catching on in Florida, Hawaii, Arizona, and California.
Now, the game of pickleball has official rules and requirements to play. One tennis court can hold up to four pickleball courts. This will allow for up to 16 players to consume the use of one tennis court.
Some locations will put only two pickleball courts in the space of one tennis court and it all depends on the individual choice of the organization. In 1976, the first pickleball tournament was launched and the sport began receiving nods by media outlets and magazines all over the world. Today, the sport has clubs and organizations all over the world.
It is a sport that is beloved by many of all ages who play in local, state, national, and world championships every year.
Pickleball is a growing sport beloved by millions who enjoy its many benefits all over the world
Pickleball is a sport that is loved by many who enjoy being part of a club, team, or organization that contributes to its play. After the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the Sports and Fitness Industry Association named it the fastest growing sport in America. In America alone there are over 4.8 million people that play pickleball, millions of which are members of a pickleball club near them.
There are many experts that predict that the number of pickleball players that America could see by the end of the decade could be in the tens of millions. There are many reasons for this, with a key reason being there are many benefits to being part of a pickleball club. The sport itself however is also conducive to promoting many personal, social, and health benefits, for almost anyone.
It is even recommended to concussion patients who find it an easy sport with lightweight equipment that helps them to get back on their feet with activity that they can enjoy. This is not a sport or game that requires in-depth training, and all ages can and do play and enjoy it. The social element of the game contributes both to its fun and its competitive nature.
Anyone that has experience in any other racket sport will enjoy the game of pickleball. At the same time, it is a very affordable sport to play. Membership costs in a club can be very low, and building a court that is one-quarter the size of a tennis court is more affordable than adding other formal games to your home.
It simply involves the cost of some asphalt and some netting if you want your own pickleball court and have the space for it. Recreation departments across the world receive requests all of the time from members of the community wanting a local place to play. Many driveways can even be used as makeshift space for this sport.
The affordability factor is a key benefit to many municipalities across the world as well, whose recreation departments find it a cost effective sport to implement for the community. Many public schools find it a very easy way to add a sport to their curriculum and extracurricular activities. The average high school gym can hold as many as 8 pickleball courts.
This is a growing sport that is enjoyed by many amateur and professional athletes alike, including PGA winner Michael Putnam.
There are many benefits to playing pickleball and joining a pickleball club
There are many benefits to enjoying pickleball which is what has made it so popular in the world today. A key benefit is that anybody can play. This is not a sport where people will feel left out when it is introduced as a past time for the family or at a group picnic.
It can be a challenging game to play, but it is fun, with a paddle and a pickleball and the mindset to have fun. The ease of playing this game is what has made it so popular. People like to win, and the sport of pickleball and its tournaments all over the world give people the opportunity to do that.
It’s easy to play and easy to learn. If ping pong is easy to understand, you will learn pickleball quickly. One reason people like a game like that is that it allows them to just focus on the skill and their own strategy, and not on learning how to play the game.
The easiest way to be a part of that is by joining a club that can help anyone to enhance those skills. A club like the United States Pickleball Association, one of the largest in the world, offers members rewards and benefits that go beyond developing this love of pickleball and making new friends for life. You might be able to access rewards such a discounts on hotels and rental cars or local restaurants.
You can also get discounts on pickleball merchandise and equipment to make the game even more affordable for you and your family at home. At the same time, being member of a local club or a national club like USA Pickleball will present an opportunity for you to be a member of an international club, like the International Federation of Pickleball (IFP). The IFP currently has over 60 countries as part of its membership, and has the mission to promote interest and growth in the sport around the world.
If you join a club that is a part of the IFP, then you gain access to international competitions and additional global membership benefits.
Why is the sport called pickleball?
It has been said that the sport was named after the Pritchard family dog, Pickles, but this is not the case. The family did not have a dog named Pickles. Instead, the name of the game came from the concept of the pickleboat in the sport of rowing.
A pickleboat is the boat that holds all of the leftover oarsmen from other crews. The name of the sport was developed by one of the original three players from that golf game many years ago, although it is unclear who named the sport today. The name pickleball, as an adaptation of the name pickleboat, is a play on how the sport is really meant for anybody who wants to play, a key benefit of the sport today.
Is it a pickleball paddle or a pickleball racket?
It really depends on who you are playing with. If you are playing in your driveway with friends it won’t matter but if you are playing officially to win something it will usually be called a paddle.
Can anyone afford to play pickleball?
A key benefit to playing pickleball and being a member of a club is that it is a low cost sport to play. Memberships are relatively inexpensive, as are the rackets/paddles and equipment to play. If you want to play pickleball, the upfront investment is minimal compared to other sports like hockey, football, and even basketball.