It sometimes feels as though there can’t possibly be any new sports left to be invented, then someone comes along and changes the game.
The reality is that not many of the ‘new’ sports that hit the scene are actually that new, having been invented sometimes decades before but then hitting the scene over the last few years and becoming popular as a result.
Padel, for example, is all the rage now, but was actually created in Mexico in 1969. Pickleball actually dates back even further, having been invented in 1965, but is now becoming popular in the UK.
What is Pickleball?
Let’s start with the basics, such as what the sport is actually about. It was created in 1965 by Joel Pritchard and his friends Barney McCallum and Bill Bell, who returned from playing golf one afternoon to find their families bored and looking for something to do.
They had tried to play badminton but couldn’t find the shuttlecock, so the adults and kids used a badminton court and used different balls and rackets to find a game that worked. The net was lowered to hip level, with a Wiffle ball initially used and hit with table tennis paddles.
@juan_duran05 Discover the fascinating origins of pickleball! ✨ This fast-growing sport was invented in 1965 on Bainbridge Island, Washington, by three dads—Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell, and Barney McCallum—who wanted to entertain their families. Using a wiffle ball, paddles, and a lowered badminton net, they created the game we now know and love. Fun fact: it was named after the Pritchard family’s dog, Pickles, who loved chasing stray balls! 🐕💚 #pickleball #pickleballtiktok #funfacts #sportshistory #pickleballislife #sports #pickleballcommunity #tiktoksports #learnsomethingnew #history #fyp #fypシ ♬ original sound – JD
The Wiffle ball was replaced by a Cosom Fun Ball, whilst plywood paddles were created in order to replace the table tennis bats. The game proved to be a hit, with the three friends spending the summer refining the rules before contracting an outdoor court for the game in 1967.
Neighbours and relatives began to get involved and pickleball’s popularity grew, so in 1968 Pickle Ball Inc. was created to promote it further afield. The Southcenter Athletic Club in Washington is credited as holding the first official pickleball tournament, which took place for the first time in 1967.
Rules of the Game
In 1984, USA Pickleball published the first official rulebook for pickleball, although at the time the organisation was known as the United States Amateur Pickleball Association. Ever since then, the rulebook has been updated and amended in order to keep it up to date, whilst in 2023 a separate document was published that looked more specifically at things such as the equipment used, like the correct nets and balls.
The court is 20 feet by 40 feet, which is the same size as a doubles court in the sport of badminton.
Got to play singles in pickleball for the first time this morning. Now _that’s_ the workout I’ve been looking for.
I get why most pickleball is doubles, but that was a lot of fun.
— Kyle Shevlin (he/him) (@kyleshevl.in) 5 May 2025 at 18:06
Around seven feet from the net is the non-volley line, whilst the baseline stands at about 22 feet from the net. The area that sits between the two lines is the service court, whilst a centre line runs through the middle of that in order to divide the court up into two halves.
The net stands 36 inches off the ground at the ends and 34 inches in the centre, with the two net posts being 22 feet from one another. The serve has to land in the opposite service court area and the receiver has to allow the ball to bounce once before returning it.
The server also needs to allow the ball to bounce once before returning it, which is known as the ‘two-bounce rule’. After that, either side may volley the ball, but the ball itself can never bounce more than once before being returned. The service team continues until their team commits a fault, at which point the service changes to the other team.
Obviously, the rules are slightly different in doubles. Only the serving side can score a point, which means that a foul from the server results in no points scored. The winner is the first to 11 by two clear points.
Pickleball in the United Kingdom
It is fair to say that the United States of America leads the way when it comes to pickleball, but Canada and Australia are working hard to catch up with the country of the sport’s birth. In the UK, meanwhile, pickleball is one of the fastest-growing sports around, which follows on from how it’s going across the rest of Europe.
In 2020, for example, there were about 12,000 players across the continent. By 2025, England alone had an estimated 40,000 players, showing just how quickly the sport is catching on around the country.
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A big part of the reason behind the sport’s growing popularity is that it is a sport for people of all ages. The chair of Pickleball England, Karen Mitchell, said, “Anyone who picks up a paddle and has a play knows the joy; that inner child just comes out playing this game”.
Similarly, players of varying abilities are able to get involved with playing pickleball, with Denny Vettom choosing to swap wheelchair basketball for the game in spite of the fact that every other player at his club is able-bodied. If you haven’t played yet, there’s a good chance you will soon.
