Thursday, October 28, 2010

History of Pickleball

A couple of snowbirds told me that they have played pickleball in Arizona for 12 years. I googled the internet to discover that pickleball is not a new game and has been around for a few decades:

Pickleball was created during the summer of 1965 on Bainbridge Island, a short ferry ride from Seattle, WA. The original purpose of the game was to provide a sport for the entire family, co-inventors U.S. Congressman Joel Pritchard, William Bell, and Barney McCallum.

Pickles was the family dog that would chase after the errant balls and then hide in the bushes, Pickle's ball was later shortened to the namesake of Pickleball. Initially, families played Pickleball in their backyards on a hard surface, driveways, and residential dead-end streets. Since the mid-1970's, Pickleball has grown and expanded from a family activity game to a paddle court sport with formalized rules.

Pickleball is a sport described as "a combination of ping-pong, tennis, and badminton", played in schools, parks and recreation centers, correctional facilities, camps, and retirement communities mostly in North America. It uses a simplified combination of tennis rules and strategies.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.