Pickleball, the fastest growing sport: but why?

Between 2021 and 2024, pickleball grew 223.5%, making it the fastest-growing sport in the U.S. But what is behind this rapid growth?

Pickleball was created in 1965 in Washington state when Joel Pritchard and his family couldn’t find their badminton equipment, so their kids challenged the parents to create a new game. They experimented with different balls and rackets, and eventually decided to lower the height of the badminton net and use cosom fun balls and table tennis rackets. In 1976, the first pickleball tournament was created, and it was a big success.

But in the past decade, it has become more than just fun; it’s a craze! As a tennis player myself who has hardly played pickleball, I wanted to see what all the excitement was about. 

I interviewed seniors Colin Glennon and Tri Nguyen, as well as ARHS Assistant Principal Miki Gromacki, to get a better understanding of pickleball from both a student and staff perspective. 

Starting to play pickleball

Glennon started playing pickleball in 2019 while on a cruise ship with pickleball courts. “I played all week with my family,” he said. Although he enjoyed playing while on the ship, he didn’t play again until he was a freshman in high school, when he played it in gym class. “I realized how fun it was,” he said. 

Similar to Glennon, Nguyen started playing in a gym class. “I was pretty good at it,” he said. Nguyen also mentioned that having an athletic background made it easier for him to be good at pickleball. 

Unlike Glennon and Nguyen, Gromacki started with tennis before pickleball. She started playing tennis in sixth grade because her best friend played tennis. She continued playing tennis and ended up on her high school’s team. 

In the past year, Gromacki started playing pickleball. “I was finding so many tennis players had switched to pickleball, and there were so many more opportunities to play [it] in the area,” she said. 

Comparison to Tennis

Neither Glennon nor Nguyen has played tennis before, but they found that pickleball was very easy to pick up.

For Gromacki, she finds pickleball easier and more social when compared to tennis.

“I have to run much more in tennis and exert more effort and power to hit the ball,” she said. However, Gromacki finds that quick reactions in pickleball are more important and have ultimately translated to a better tennis net game.

“[Pickleball is] much more reflexive, where quick hands are beneficial,” she said. 

Community

Both Glennon and Nguyen usually play with friends at school during gym class. “A pickleball club could be cool,” said Glennon. “It could help form a bigger community at the school.” Although there isn’t a huge pickleball community in Amherst, Nguyen believes that there is a significantly bigger one in the Chicopee area. 

Although Glennon and Nguyen typically play with people their age, they mostly see people much older playing it. 

Glennon wishes he could play outdoors, “but until there is a court that is easily available, it’s kind of hard,” he said. 

Gromacki particularly likes that pickleball has a “paddle system” around here that allows anyone to join in and play. “[Unlike pickleball], tennis doesn’t have a culture here where you can reliably go to the courts and easily find games,” said Gromacki. 

Gromacki has played pickleball with people from the age of 14 all the way to 80. “It’s a sport that appeals to all ages and brings people together, unlike some sports where a senior citizen couldn’t compete with someone much younger,” she said. 

She tends to play more in the summer when outdoor courts are accessible, but there are still many courts indoors, such as in local elementary schools and churches. “It’s great that standard, expensive tennis facilities aren’t the only places pickleball courts can be set up,” she said. 

Rapid Growth

Because pickleball is the sport growing the most rapidly in the US, I wanted to see why pickleball players think this is the case. 

Glennon believes that the ease of learning the sport and its low-impact nature are factors in its growth. “It’s easier for the older generations to play since you’re not constantly running and it’s much less physically demanding,” he said. 

Glennon also believes that pickleball is an activity that gives people a reason to leave their houses without being too intense. “It’s always good for people to get out of the house and do an activity with other people,” he said. 

Nguyen believes its growth is primarily because of the community aspect. “It’s a good sport and lets people build a community around something they all enjoy,” he said. 

Gromacki mentioned that right now, junior tennis is more organized up north compared to junior pickleball being more common in southern areas such as Florida.

However, she believes that the growth in these southern locations will also start to happen up north because of the growing competitive structure for the sport. 

Future

With construction having started on new pickleball courts in Groff Park, renovations to the courts at Mill River, more people discovering the courts at Hampshire College, and pay-to-play indoor facilities being built (a new one is about to open in Hatfield), it seems likely that pickleball will only continue to grow in popularity.

And if you’ve never watched a pickleball game, this weekend, the 2025 Friends of the Jones Library System Pickleball Tournament Annual Fundraiser will be held at the courts at Hampshire College from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.