Techies to politicians: How Pickleball has become favorite pastime to unwind

Hyderabad: What brings lawyers, IT professionals, doctors, politicians, event managers, engineers, businessmen, and others under one roof? The answer is simple Pickleball! Originally invented as a children’s backyard game in 1965, the sport became wildly popular from 2021 onwards. Today, pickleball is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world, with more and more people playing it.

Once upon a time, golf was the designated corporate sport with participants using it to network to grow their portfolios and businesses. However, golf has many limitations. It is elitist, expensive, slow-paced, vulnerable to weather changes, inaccessible to many, and demands a lot of space. Enter pickleball inexpensive, easily accessible, pace variable, not subject to changes in weather, and can be played anywhere on a rooftop, on the ground, or even on a cruise liner. More and more corporate professionals are using pickleball, instead of golf, not only to network but also to just have “some plain old fun”.

Here is a root cause analysis to understand why pickleball is so popular. If one can think of one single reason to explain the appeal of the sport, it would have to be its “universality”. Apart from the standard meaning of the term, the “universality” of pickleball is also a portmanteau of “unique” and “versatility,” which are apt descriptions for pickleball.

Pickleball is universal in the sense that it is so easy to learn and play that anyone at all can play it any age, any gender, any profession, any athletic level. The sport is designed such that one does not require a high skill level, brute power, or loads of stamina to play it at a reasonably good level. At most levels, it is a cerebral sport.

Pickleball is a combination of tennis, badminton, and table tennis mixed in different proportions to form a unique, standalone sport that is a true ‘pickle'.

Pickleball is extremely versatile as it can be played at different levels by different groups without losing out on the competitive edge. It is the only sport today that has regular professional championships for different age groups, so there are championships for 50-plus, 60-plus, and even 70-plus age groups.

Pickleball is a very safe sport. It is non-contact, not very intense, and not taxing on the body. This is because the dimensions of the court are minimal. The court is 20 by 44 feet, of which the “kitchen” area (or non-volley zone) is 7 by 20 feet. During a game, the kitchen is mostly out of bounds. So in a doubles game (which is mostly what is played), with four players on court, each player has to cover an area of just 5 by 7.5 feet.

One hears of knee or ankle injuries during pickleball games, but this is more because elderly people and otherwise sedentary individuals are playing the game, and not because of the intensity of the sport itself.

So what are you waiting for? Get your paddles, get your buddies, and bond and network over a game of pickleball – the new golf.