Pickleball has been around since 1965, but to many it seems like a new sport due to its explosion in popularity in the last five years. Pickleball was invented Bainbridge Island, WA, in the summer of 1965 by a family looking for something to cure their boredom. Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell, and Barney McCallum combined elements of badminton, table tennis, and wiffle ball to create the game we know as pickleball.
Why is it called pickleball? There are some differing theories on this, but the prevailing idea is that it is named after a “pickle boat” in the sport of rowing. Pickle boat refers to a team of mixed crew members or “non-starters” from other teams. The founders probably named it pickleball due to the several sports it combines. Many people think the game was named after the founders’ dog, Pickles, but it is believed it was likely the other way around.
Although pickleball has been around for 60 years, the last 5 years have been monumental for its growth. Pickleball is now the fastest-growing sport in America, with outdoor parks and retail stores scrambling to keep up with the demand. The pandemic accelerated its growth because people were looking for ways to get out of the house and be active. While the APP (Association of Pickleball Professionals) and the PPA (Professional Pickleball Association) were formed in 2019, MLP (Major League Pickleball) was formed in 2021. MLP is a team-based league that solidified pickleball’s place in the pro sports arena.
Washington state, where pickleball was invented, made pickleball its official sport in 2022. Now there are collegiate-level pickleball teams, but those have yet to be NCAA-sanctioned.
