Pickleball seems to be having a moment and the CRRC in Niverville is a great place to fall in love with the sport—or, if you’re already in love, hone your skills.
This Saturday, May 13, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., the CRRC will hosting its first pickleball tournament, and everyone is invited. Participants over 18 can register for the event. There is a $50 fee if you bring your own racket, and a $60 fee if you need to use one from the CRRC.
The tournament will last five rounds and have a round robin format with a 30-minute lunch break. Mixed doubles as well as same-gender pairs are welcome.
Jared Funk, recreation programmer for Niverville Recreation, points out that while this may be the first pickleball tournament held at the CRRC, the sport is already tremendously popular at the facility.
“Every day we have close to 20 or 30 people playing during our 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. drop-in time,” Funk says. “And there is also an adult pickleball league that meets on Sundays.”
So what exactly is pickleball? It’s often considered a combination of tennis, badminton, and ping pong and was created in 1965 in the United States by a trio of dads trying to find a way to occupy their kids.
The sport became moderately popular over the decades but was never particularly well known.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, its popularity exploded. Between quarantines and cohorts, traditional team sports became impossible. Many people tried pickleball, which allows some social distancing but is also often considered somewhat more friendly to beginners than other racket sports.
The rapid growth of pickleball may have started during the pandemic, but there are many reasons why its popularity persists. The game is played on a fairly small court, allowing for a significant amount of chatter and banter between players. As well, the sport can be learned quite quickly and requires minimal equipment: just a racket/paddle, a wiffle-style ball, and some comfortable sneakers.
Funk hopes that the upcoming pickleball tournament will lead, with the help of the community’s many drop-in pickleballers, to the formation of a pickleball association in Niverville.
“Tennis is out!” he says with a laugh. “Pickleball is in!”
