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I must confess, until a few years ago I had never heard of the sport of pickleball. During my youth and occasionally during my middle years I tried playing some tennis, but my knees wouldn’t cooperate, so I gave it up. Nobody I knew played the weird-sounding game of pickleball. The first pickleball court I saw constructed was around 2018, but never stuck around long enough to see how it was played.
History. So where did this strange court game originate and why is it so popular and spreading like wildfire?
If you are not familiar with this neighborhood or backyard sport, it has the elements of tennis, badminton and ping pong merged together. Sort of! However, before I get into the specifics of the sport, let us take a quick look at its history.
Pickleball, first of all, as you might surmise, has nothing to do with pickles or a real ball that is typical of sports like baseball, basketball, soccer or tennis. Apparently, no one really knows where the name came from, but it has survived. The “ball” used in pickleball is a wiffle ball like the one that made its appearance in the mid-1950s as part of a backyard baseball game.
The pickleball claim-to-fame inventor goes to Joel Pritchard (1925-1997). Pritchard was a well-known Washington State politician and served in the U.S. congress as well. As the story goes, he and two of his buddies, Bill Bell and Barney McCallum and their families were trying to have a friendly game of badminton in 1965 but could not find any shuttlecocks (Those strange looking white plastic feathered object in the shape of a funnel with a small, weighted ball at the end of the funnel. Got it?).
Not finding any shuttlecocks and not wanting to disappoint the children, they sought out alternatives. They found a whiffle ball, and decided to lower the badminton net and then refashioned the ping pong paddle concept and design by making larger paddles out of plywood and the game was on.
The Court. The court for pickleball is considerably smaller than a tennis court and therefore more suitable for those who tend to get the “wheezers.” For a singles game, a tennis court is 27 feet wide by 78 feet long. For pickleball the court is only 20 feet by 44 feet, meaning that by the time you get moving forward you have to stop, which meets the number one criterion for most senior adults.
Unlike tennis, the pickleball court has a more liberal area for serving. Likely due to a whiffle ball’s lower travel velocity and the required underhand serve. There is a determined “no volley” zone on each side of the net and seven feet back from the net. The net height of 36 inches is the same as tennis.
Pickleball Court
Tennis Court
The Equipment. The rules? Yes, there are rules. You want to keep your friends, don’t you?
First, the balls. There are actually indoor and outdoor plastic balls. The outdoor balls have 40 holes and are firmer, while the indoor ones have 26 holes and are softer.
Indoor and outdoor pickleballs.
Paddles, to be regulation are made from graphite, composite or wood with grip handles. They are typically 7-8.25 inches wide and 15.5-17 inches long, with a thickness of 14-16 mm. The total of paddle width plus length cannot exceed 24 inches.
Playing the Game. Perhaps pickleball can be considered a “low impact” sport. However, that does not mean you should not warm up before a vigorous match. Here’s an exercise video that will help you get prepared.
The rules are fairly simple and a game, just like tennis, can be played as a singles match or doubles match.
To start a match, the server from one side stands behind the baseline and serves the ball over the net by hitting the ball underhand with the paddle, but below the waistline (the navel). Like tennis or volleyball, points are only scored for the server during his/her term of serving. Like tennis, serves are made from the right or left to the opponent’s diagonal left or right court. Matches are played until one person/team reaches 11 points (one point per won serve) but must win by a two-point margin.
Serves must be inside the opponents’ boundaries and return volleys must be allowed to bounce once in the opposite court before a return swing is made. Points are won if the non-serving player hits a ball out of bounds, into the net or allows a ball to bounce twice on his/her side of the net.
When the non-serving player wins the serve, they do not score a point but get to serve the next volley. Players can only score points during their serve.
Now, enjoy this popular, low impact game with friends and family and select your very own unique pickleball paddles from JGB Products.
Check out all of JGB Product offerings or view all our pickleball paddle kit designs here.
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