Posted on 01/03/2018 8:55:13 AM PST by SandRat
SAHUARITA — Sahuarita and a handful of other Arizona communities, including Sierra Vista, have or are considering whether to invest in what’s billed as America’s fastest-growing sport — Pickleball.
Some would call it forward thinking. Others would suggest they’re already light-years behind other communities busy building Pickleball courts and hosting tournaments.
From the beginning
Pickleball is a cross between tennis, ping pong and badminton. It’s played with a paddle and plastic ball on a surface roughly a fourth the size of a tennis court.
The game has less running and slower ball speed than tennis, so has attracted a strong following among older players. It’s not unusual to see people in their 80s and 90s playing.
The game was invented in the 1960s, and has come on strong in the past decade, growing in popularity among younger players, according to the USA Pickleball Association in Surprise.
“We're answering quite a few questions from parks and rec boards who are trying to get a handle on it,” said Justin Maloof, executive director of the USAPA. “They're just making sure that Pickleball is not a fad sport. We're proving that it's not just on the sustainability of the growth we've seen in just the last 10 years. We haven’t seen a slowdown.”
Maloof said there’s plenty of evidence of explosive growth, including more than 70 paddle manufacturers, 90 new sites added to their “Places2Play” online database every month, and a huge uptick in the number of courts going in nationwide. Another good sign — big-box retailers are stocking Pickleball equipment, something Maloof said wasn’t happening just a couple of years ago.
“We're seeing growth all over the United States, it's not just growing here in Arizona,” he said. “Florida, Michigan — as a whole, it's not like it's just an East Coast thing or a West Coast thing or a Sun Belt thing.”
But while the sport is dominated by the 55-plus crowd — with RV resorts and retirement communities as early adopters — Maloof said the average age of their membership has dropped over the past two or three years.
“I think that is attributed to a greater accessibility to courts for younger players, and schools are offering it in PE programs, which is great,” he said. An increase in tournaments offering prize money also drives younger players, he said.
“Whenever there's cash on the line, it draws younger players from other racket or paddle sports,” Maloof said.
The Sports Fitness International Association, a 110-year-old trade association for top brands, manufacturers, retailers and marketers, estimates there were 2.5 million Pickleball players in 2015-2016. In 2010, there were 100,000.
Down south
Pickleball has stormed Arizona all the way to the Mexico border, and Chuck Borozinski of Sahuarita is a big reason.
Borozinski heads up the Southern Arizona Pickleball Association — essentially a one-man show — and is a member of Sahuarita’s Parks & Rec Commission.
Borozinski picked up the game about six years ago and is an at-large ambassador for the USAPA. That takes him mostly around the southern part of the state giving clinics and pushing for an audience with anybody who can get courts built. He was in Douglas in October and will be returning this spring.
Borozinski has also given clinics and championed efforts in Sierra Vista, where he’s had a lot of help from Tammy Ward, a Colorado transplant who fell in love with the game.
Ward started a loose-knit Pickleball group that has 100 on its email list and 40 who play regularly four days a week.
A public tennis court has been converted to four permanent Pickleball courts and they’re pushing for another to be converted.
“We're just happy to have a place to play,” Ward said, adding the community has no private courts other than one in somebody’s backyard.
“Right now, our four courts work pretty good, but if we get anymore players, we'll need to convert the other court.”
Borozinski calls the city a success story.
“Sierra Vista is just one place where the town has jumped in and backed them right away,” he said.
You’ve got a bad link for the Sierra Vista Herald. Now that’s a pickle.
Cornhole swept the nation,might as well move on to pickleball.
I know a girl, she’s from Salina
Always fascinated with regional sports & games, especially those that can get the blood pumping and offer an opportunity to get out in the fresh air!
Grew up playing “Platform Tennis” in the fall/winter, sneakers with duct tape galore. Learned Windsurfing with some friends from West Germany in my younger days.
Now, if we could just get BaseketBall up and running, the world would be a shiny and happy place. s/
Figures. Just when I perfect my shuffleboard game, Del Boca Vista will likely install Pickleball courts. Probably have a Mandelbaum as a trainer.
I just hope it doesn’t lead to picklehole.
It needs a better name.
Let’s bring team Jarts back!
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