•August 21, 2024•

Pickleball is an American original. The popularity of pickleball has risen sharply in recent years, and a recent report from the Association of Pickleball Professionals indicated more than 36 million people played the sport across the United States in 2022. But pickleball is much older than its recent participation boom suggests. According to USA Pickleball, the sport is the brainchild of U.S. congressman Joel Pritchard and businessman Bill Bell. In 1965, Prichard and Bell arrived at the former’s home on Bainbridge Island in Washington to find their families lounging around. Pritchard’s property had an old badminton court, but no equipment. So the players improvised, using ping pong paddles and a perforated plastic ball. The net, initially around 60 inches high, was lowered once the players realized how well the ball bounced on the asphalt playing surface. The following weekend Pritchard introduced the game to another friend, Barney McCallum, and the two men and Bell soon created rules for the game that is now known as pickleball.