I should perhaps start by saying that I’ve never been much of a tennis player — and when I tell you that I spent most of my tennis matches chasing mis-hit balls (chiefly mine), you’ll get a sense of how dreadful I always was and why I was never keen on the sport. I preferred racquetball, because at least there the ball stayed in the same room with you!

I’m now in my sixties (yikes! — it stings to see that in writing) and it’s been years since I played either tennis or racquetball, but when our neighbor Ann asked if I wanted to take a pickleball lesson with her, I surprised myself by agreeing. I had seen the lively games at our local park and been curious. I was up for trying something new, I thought, and I’m always looking for ways to get more exercise. Plus, my knees were feeling pretty strong; the park is only a five-minute walk from our house; Ann already had a set of paddles and balls; and the lesson, sponsored by the Alameda Recreation & Parks Department, was free. What was not to like?

A pickleball lesson

Quite a few would-be picklers were milling about when we arrived on Saturday afternoon. The organizer divided us into groups of four and matched each group with a pair of experienced players. Then onto the courts we went. We practiced dinks, volleys, ground strokes, and serves, and we learned when to stay out of the kitchen (the zone next to the net where you’re not allowed to volley). Then we played a game, and Ann and I won. I was liking this!

The play is rather like tennis or ping-pong: you hit the ball over a net and into the opposite court, trying to make it difficult for your opponent to hit it back to you. A pickleball court is much smaller than a tennis court, so you can cover it without a lot of serious running. At least at the beginning levels, the sport gives you a workout but is easy on the body:

Playing pickleball allows you to work on your balance, agility, reflexes, and hand-eye coordination without putting excessive strains on your body. Pickleball is a wonderful alternative for older players who used to play tennis, but have physical limitations such as hip, shoulder, knee, or other joint problems. (from Sports Imports: Why is Pickleball so Popular?)

These days, when I have to work harder than ever to keep moving and stay fit, I’m grateful to find a new form of exercise that is fun but doesn’t make me sorry the next day. 

Like the wiffle balls used in softball practice, pickleballs are hollow, made of hard plastic, and pierced with holes that create drag and make them move slowly through the air. This means that you spend a lot less time chasing after errant balls. (Yay!) And in contrast with tennis (at least, the way I played it), you usually have time to get into position and set up your next shot. Which is not to say that we didn’t also do our share of scrambling after zippy shots (and then, mostly, returning them into the net or out of the court). The paddles, which resemble oversize ping-pong racquets, are light and easy to handle. Best of all, you don’t have to practice for years to have a good time playing pickleball: after just one lesson, we were having fun.

So first thing this morning Ann and I went out again. We warmed up with some easy volleys, then played a game and a half, before running out of time. It was a great way to get a little enjoyable exercise at the start of the day — and I wasn’t even sore afterwards! Now I’ve ordered my own set of paddles and plan to be back on the court soon… Wanna play?

Whence the game?

Pickleball’s origins are well-documented. The game was invented in the summer of 1963 (or, more likely, 1965 — accounts vary) by Joel Pritchard and Bill Bell. Pritchard served as Congressman and Lieutenant Governor for the State of Washington, and his life stories were documented in an oral history produced by the Washington State Oral History Program. Bill Bell’s posthumous remembrance is included in the oral history, which also devotes an entire appendix to pickleball. Here is Bell’s recollection. (I especially liked the fact that the creators wanted to make a game that all could play.)

[Joel] was a master of games. His first love was probably tennis, but the game he will be most remembered for was “Pickle-Ball.” It was invented and first played on the Pritchard badminton court on Bainbridge Island during the summer of 1963. Our kids, Joel’s and mine, had complained one day that there was nothing to do, they were bored. Joel was quick to tell the kids that when we were young we invented things to do. He explained that we would all, then and there, invent a new game. So we experimented with different rackets and balls on the Pritchard badminton court. When Joel spotted one of the kids bouncing a Wiffle Ball, he borrowed it and we came up with a modified version of paddleball. After awhile the kids lost interest and wandered off, but Joel and I kept hitting the ball over the net. Joel felt that our goal was to come up with a game that kids and adults could all play to the level of their individual abilities.

Whence its name?

What everyone really wants to know is where the game got its funny name. To this question, there are two answers — the cute one (with a puppy) and the true one. The cute story is that the game was named after the Pritchards’ cockapoo puppy, Pickles, who made a habit of grabbing the wiffle ball during the game and running off with it. However, this story was debunked by Pritchard and others, who explained that the dog was named for the game, rather than the other way around, and that they didn’t even get the dog until several years after they’d invented the game.

In reality, it was Pritchard’s wife Joan who came up with the name. She grew up in Marietta, Ohio, and attended Marietta College, which had a strong crew program. Joan was an enthusiastic fan, both as a student and as an alum. After a college regatta,

[T]he non- starters would participate in a separate competition. Since at least 1938, the leftover “spares” from multiple universities competed in a just-for-fun “pickle boat” race.

Frank [Pritchard] recalled, “To hear my mother tell it, they sort of threw the leftover non-starter oarsmen into these particular pickle boats. She thought pickleball sort of threw bits of other games into the mix (badminton, table tennis, wiffle ball) and decided that ‘Pickle Ball’ was an appropriate name.”  (How Pickleball Really Got Its Name!)

So there you have it: pickleball was named for its mix-and-match elements, a name inspired by boats with mix-and-match crews. This story needs a bit of explaining, which is probably why people told Pritchard to stick with the puppy origin story, since it was funnier and more memorable. And that version has, in fact, been widely retold. As to the origins of the term “pickle boat,” that’s a question for another day and another researcher!

• • Sports Imports: Why is Pickleball so Popular? Understanding the Rising Popularity of America’s Fastest-Growing Sport
  • Jane O’Brien: Pickleball: The racquet sport experiencing a pandemic boom (BBC News, 15 March 2021)
  • Joel M. Pritchard: An Oral History (Washington State Oral History Program, 2000). Included in this oral history:
    • Pritchard’s obituary from The Seattle Times (9 October 1997), which includes the above photo of Pritchard playing pickleball.
    • A remembrance of Pritchard by his friend and pickleball co-creator, Bill Bell, which includes the above-quoted history of the origins of pickleball (pp. 391-3)
  • HistoryLink.org: Joel Pritchard and several friends incorporate Pickle Ball Inc., to promote the new sport they invented in 1965 at Pritchard’s Bainbridge Island cabin, on February 13, 1968.
  • How Pickleball Really Got Its Name! (Pickleball Magazine, January 2021)
  • Pickleball Portal: Why is it called pickleball? How did pickleball get its name?
  • Long Cove Club: The History of Pickleball
  • Okay, of course I couldn’t resist! Check it out: Jo Murray: ON THE WATER: In A Pickle Explaining Pickle Boats (The Grunion: Grunion Sports; accessed 23 October 2021)