By Michael Laches
P
ickleball is the fastest growing sport in America with more than 36.5 million active players. Some of those 36.5 million players live right here in Holly Springs. As such, we thought it made great sense to provide some pickleball insight, both high level and specific to Holly Springs.
Brandon Mackie, co-founder of Pickleheads, a local organization dedicated to spreading the word about pickleball, was kind enough to answer our questions about pickleball. You must visit their website at www.pickleheads.com which contains a bounty of information about the sport.
Whether you are a curious reader compelled by the name and this sport’s soaring popularity or an intrigued athlete who is already on board or looking for a new challenge, this story is for you.
First of all, pickleball is a cross between tennis, ping pong and badminton and was invented in 1965 by Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell and Barney McCallum on Bainbridge Island, Washington. The story goes that Pritchard’s son, Frank, who was 13 at the time, complained that there was nothing to do on the island. After some back and forth with his dad, Frank challenged his father to invent a game and that’s precisely what he did. Pritchard and his friends grabbed a wiffle ball and a few table tennis rackets they found in the vacation home shed and headed to the backyard’s paved badminton court. There, they played the first pickleball match.
Not long after, during this same vacation stay, they were sitting around and made the decision to come up with a name for their newfangled game. Pritchard’s wife, Joan, suggested “pickleball.” She explained that the reference was to the leftover rowers who would race for fun in local “pickle boat” crew race competitions. No one argued and the name stuck—pickleball was born.
Fast forward to today when pickleball is played on a miniature court, about a third the size of a tennis court. Players use a plastic paddle and a perforated ball that resembles the aforementioned wiffle ball. The game play is similar to tennis, but the scoring is quite different. An expansive look at how to play and the nine simple rules for beginners (a must read) can be found on the Pickleheads website (www.pickleheads.com/blog/how-to-play-pickleball). Though the game is more commonly played as doubles, singles is possible, too.
According to Mackie, what makes this sport so appealing is that anyone from ages 5 to 95 can play and have fun. The learning curve is much gentler than other sports like golf and tennis, so beginners who try it for the first time are quick to want to play again. And, from an equipment perspective, it is easy to get started. You can find a decent paddle and pickleballs for around $40 either online or at your favorite local sporting goods retailer. And, like any sport with a lot of movement, wearing the right footwear is important, too. Just about any court shoe is ideal with tennis shoes being a great fit (pun intended) because of their built-in stability that minimizes the risks associated with lateral movement.
Mackie suggested that Holly Springs residents look for local Facebook groups and/or other pickleball organizations that host open play sessions. He also pointed to his Pickleheads website as a great resource for finding local courts and open play in the area. In open play, anyone is free to join, and players typically rotate courts and partners. It’s a great way to get started, join the local pickleball community and find other players at your skill level.
Information about classes, clinics, courts and open play can be found on the Town of Holly Springs’ Parks and Recreation page: www.hollyspringsnc.us/283/Tennis-Pickleball. Though there likely will be plans in the works to expand the number of available local courts, the current slate of pickleball courts in Holly Springs is:
Ting Park Sports Club, with four outdoor public courts
Twelve Oaks (subdivision), with three outdoor courts
Womble Park, with two outdoor public courts
W.E. Hunt Recreation Center, with three indoor public courts
Mackie shared a few other great website links, one related to tournaments (www.pickleballtournaments.com), and the other a more nationally focused site (www.usapickleball.org) that is a great complement to the Picklehead site.
So, if you are interested in joining the 36.5 million pickleballers nationwide, Holly Springs has a host of options to make your pickleball journey easy and fun.
Brandon Mackie can be reached at brandonmackie@pickleheads.com.
