IS a sport with ball and racket, and is presented as less complex and more affordable than tennis. Is called pickleball and it is the American answer to padel. She has a rather strange name (translated into Italian it means “Pickle ball”) and special rules. In Italy it is not yet very well knownbut it seems to be destined to grow: compared to padel, in fact, for building a field takes little timeif desired, using any gym or tennis court with a concrete surface.
If it hasn’t exploded in our country yet, in the United States it is having great success. Invented in 1965 by US Congressman, Joel Pritchardand his friend Bill Bellthe aim was not to create a new sport, but simply to entertain bored children during the summer. So the two decided to use a badminton courta small network and a wiffle ball (sport similar to baseball) and began to enjoy it with children.
The field measures 13.41 meters long by 6.10 meters wide. It’s the equivalent of a badminton court, making it significantly smaller (and less tiring) than a tennis court. Close to the net, about 91 cm high at the ends and 86 cm in the center, there is the so-called kitchenan area of 2.13 meters defined as “non volley zone”that is an area of the field in which it is it is forbidden to hit the ball on the fly. The racket (or more correctly paddle) is made up of a solid plate and the ball is plastic with a weight ranging from 21 to 29 grams and a diameter of around 7 and a half centimetres.
You can play one-on-one or doubles. Usually the game is won by whoever gets to 11 points, even if over time there are those who have “stretched” it by bringing the score to 15 or 21. What matters is that on reaching the established quota there are at least two lengths to distance the opponents. Yes, but when does it take place? The rules are similar to tennis: se the ball bounces twice in the opponent’s court without being rejected, if the answer ends up on the net or off the field, or – and this is the difference with other racket sports – if the opponent volleys the ball in the “non volley zone”. Nel pickleball the ball change is foreseenso you score only when you’re serving, a bit like it happened in volleyball until a few years ago.
As mentioned, if in Italy it is still a new gamein the United States has exploded in recent years. Secondo la Sports & Fitness Industry Association, in 2020, the year of the Covid pandemic, as many as 4 million Americans played pickleball, a 21 percent increase over the previous year. It’s easy to imagine why: you only need two rackets, one ball and a relatively small space to play.
A sport born as a simple family game which, however, it has also conquered many VIPs. He is among the “unsuspected” pickleball enthusiasts Bill Gates. In a video from a few months ago posted on his YouTube channelthe founder of Microsoft told of been practicing it for over 50 years thanks to his fatherwho was a friend of the aforementioned “inventors” and which allowed him to know their history and rules from the very beginning.
And there are so many stars who, taking advantage of the wave, seem to have decided to approach pickleball. Recently two important names in tennis such as Naomi Osaka and Nick Kyrgios have invested millionaires in Major League Pickleball, league for professional players. With them, other important names in sport such as the basketball star LeBron James and football quarterback Patrick Mahomes, plus Eva Longoria from Heidi Klum.
However, there are detractors, a bit like padel. Among them is the tennis legend Martina Navratilovawho a few days ago announced that he had to fight cancer once again. The 9-time Wimbledon champion was tranchant on Twitter: «The biggest reason pickleball is so popular? In my not so humble opinion, it’s because people can get good much faster. As opposed to tennis where, in the words of my old friend Joel Drucker, it takes years to not suck».
And he may not be entirely wrong: after all, it is a relatively simple sportwhich is played at lower rhythms compared to the very popular padel and that allows for good physical activity. According to the aforementioned Sports & Fitness Industry Association the most avid pickleball players are over 65 years oldbut they are growing too fans between 8 and 34 years old, which has lowered the average age of all participants, now just under 40 years old. In short, whether it is a passing fad or another sport on the rise, it is still too early to say. But it’s certainly a good excuse to get some exercise and have fun with friends.
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