Surely the three fathers who, back in 1965, invented the pickleball So that their children would not get bored, they did not imagine that it would end up being the fastest growing sport in the United States in recent years. It all started on Bainbridge Island, near Seattle, when, faced with the children’s complaints about not having anything to do, they decided to refurbish an old badminton court by putting the net lower, rescuing some wooden paddles and using a hard plastic ball with holes, which is also often used in baseball. Thus they created this discipline, a bit of a mix of tennis, paddle tennis and badminton.
Nor did they imagine that the son of a friend of Joel Pritchard, one of the creators, would years later be one of the richest men in the world, Bill Gates, who has been playing this game for 50 years. She is not the only familiar face who is fond of this sport, which is already played in the United States by almost five million people and which has grown by 40% in the last two years, according to the sports and fitness industry association. A few days ago it was made public that Lebron James has bought a team of pickleball, along with his business partner, Maverick Carter, and with other NBA stars such as Draymond Green and Kevin Love. For now, neither the name under which he will play in the American league nor in which city he will be based is known.
In Spain, more than a thousand people already practice this sport, although since Spanish Association of Pickleballcreated in 2012They assure that the figure will triple in less than a year. “They are calling us directors of sports centers to take advantage of their facilities, tennis and paddle tennis teachers. Now the Madrid City Council has it within its sports offer and has included it in some of its centers”, explains Roberto Pérez, president of the association, who, in addition, assures that they have already organized 11 instructor courses and there are more and more demand.
A greater interest that they have also noticed in Vila Pickleball, a club from Sabadell, founded a year ago, to which about 60 people come every week to participate in the four competitions they have. This club was one of those that participated last September in the Spanish Open, an international competition organized by the Spanish association since 2015 and which brings together players from up to 15 countries.
In Spain, the pickleball It is not yet so established that there are professional players who can dedicate themselves exclusively to its practice, although there are some who are paid for the material and travel to competitions. This is what Zcebra does, by way of sponsorship, the leading Spanish equipment and clothing company for pickleball, created in January 2021. “A lot of the news I saw from the United States talked about this sport and I started to investigate. I saw that there were American brands selling in Europe, but there was no European one, so I decided to create it. Now we sponsor 15 players; I have invested about 170,000 euros, part of which is what I have been earning from sales, which have quadrupled from one year to the next”, says Xiana López, founder of the firm. She assures López that the necessary equipment is cheaper than that of paddle tennis or tennis. “We sell a quality padel racket for 47.99 euros, although there are also non-regulatory lower prices. And the most expensive that exists in the market is about 200 dollars (198 euros)”.
The sources consulted agree that one, if not the main, of the reasons for the success that the pickleball is that they can practice it from children to the elderly. “We have had a 92-year-old player in one of our competitions,” says Pérez. In fact, you don’t need to be in great physical shape to hit the ball, and it’s a good option for lifelong fans of racket sports who no longer feel like, or feel like, continuing to play tennis. It also has a social component to have fun while practicing without having to be very competitive.
