The Fast Growing Sport of Pickleball is Now in Tupelo

Joshua Ballard

December 28, 2018

Pickleball is a fun, active paddle sport created for all ages and skill levels that combines elements of tennis, badminton and ping-pong. It’s played both indoors and outdoors on a badminton-sized court with a slightly modified tennis net. Pickleball uses a paddle and a plastic ball with holes, and is played as both singles and doubles.

According to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, the sport has surged in participation over the last five years, with more than 3.2 million players as of 2017, placing pickleball among the fastest growing sports in the U.S.

“Pickleball is just exploding with players and interest,” says USAPA Executive Director Justin Maloof.

Tupelo Area Pickleball wishes to boost all areas of the sport, from bringing more people into the game, to helping by promoting programs and leagues, to making the public, parks and recreation, and Tupelo’s city officials aware of the interest in pickleball in this community.

In Tupelo, pickleball is played at several locations. First Baptist Church on Mondays starting at 5:30 Pm, and Tuesdays and Thursday evenings 6P-8P it is played at the First United Methodist Church. For other times and places contact NMpickleball@outlook.com.

Of course, Tupelo Area Pickleball would love to see the city or some entity develop more programs and courts. Now is a great time to get out the word to mainstream consumers about the health, fitness and social benefits of the sport.

Tupelo Ambassador for the USAPA, Martin Herman, added , “Pickleball is really a terrific lifelong sport, it can be played by young and old, healthy and infirmed”. I find it great for exercise, weight control, and especially good for clearing my head”,

For sports facilities, schools and communities, pickleball courts are easy to create. A pickleball court is 44 feet long by 20 feet wide, and many courts are lined on existing sports surfaces, such as tennis, volleyball and basketball courts, in addition to being built as “standalone” courts. The USAPA estimates that each month, 300 pickleball courts are created in the U.S., either by adding lines to existing courts or building standalone courts.
Basics: Pickleball is a sport that combines elements of tennis, badminton, and ping pong. The ball is served underhand starting from the right-hand side of the court and is served diagonally to the opponent’s service zone. The service return must bounce first. Points are scored by the serving side only and occur when the opponent faults (fails to return the ball, hits the ball out of bounds or steps into the non-volley zone while in the act of volleying the ball). A player may enter the non-volley zone anytime to play a ball that has bounced. However, the player must exit the non-volleyzone before playing a volley. The return of service must be allowed to bounce by the server (and partner in doubles play); i.e. cannot be volleyed. Consequently, the server or server and partner usually stay at the baseline until the first return has been hit back and bounced once. The first side scoring eleven points and is leading by at least two points wins.

Background: Created in 1965, pickleball began in Washington State in the backyard of former U.S. Rep. Joel Pritchard. After a day of golf, Pritchard returned home in search of a more family -friendly game. With makeshift paddles in hand he and a friend began batting around a perforated plastic ball. Rules were set and, after a few weeks, “pickleball” was born. Today, the number of places to play on the USAPA website has more than quadrupled since 2010 to nearly 5,000 locations in North America. Popularity of the sport also continues to grow world-wide with many new international clubs forming and national governing bodies now established in Canada, Spain and India, England, France and others.