Pickleball: It's a big dill
Aug. 20—SOUTH ABINGTON TWP. — It's hardly the picture-perfect summer night. A battleship-gray cloud cover holds the sun hostage. Humidity sticks like a bad reputation. The occasional spritz of rain is almost welcomed. But on the basketball courts at South Abington Community Park, there's a pickleball party. And, it's
raging.
A steady diet of '70s funk and '90s dance music blares from a Bluetooth speaker, but Earth, Wind & Fire's beats struggle to overcome the pitter-patter of a hard plastic ball banging off flat-faced paddles. The sounds come so frequently, it's difficult to forget you're not trapped in a popcorn machine.
Six days per week for three hours per day in the heart of summer, the park's two full-length basketball courts are reserved to accommodate aficionados of what the nonprofit Sports and Fitness Industry Association called "the fastest-growing sport in the United States" each of the last three years.
On five pickleball courts surrounded by lonely basketball hoops, 10 teams of two face off against each other in a game that resembles a hybrid of tennis, badminton and ping-pong. Along the sidelines, there are at least a half dozen others waiting their turn to get in on the action. If the weather was better, players insist, there'd be more.
The South Abington gathering is fairly evenly split along gender lines. Retirees play against twentysomethings fresh out of their own athletic careers. Doubles partners sometimes meet for the first time in between serves. One player, from Colorado, is in town visiting family and couldn't bear going a week without a game.
The reason for the fervor in a sport SFIA estimates boasts nearly 4.6 million players has been debated everywhere from The New York Times to National Pubic Radio, but on those courts, it's no mystery.
"Did you hear one fight since you've been here? One person have a temper tantrum? Too much testosterone? Too much rah-rah?" pickleballer Pat Corby, 52, of Spring Brook Township, smiled. "Everyone is kind of even-keel, chill, very relaxed. And, you get a workout. Look at me, I'm covered in sweat.
"We're just like-minded people who were dying all winter for the summer to come, so we can play outside."
Professional pickleball tours are so popular, ESPN broadcasts their championships. The average pro member of the PPA Tour makes about $96,000 per year. It boasts a $65 billion equipment industry. There are magazines devoted to promoting the sport. In the Midwest, the culinary landscape is dotted with pickleball-themed restaurants.
The craze ballooned around Northeast Pennsylvania only in recent years, but those who participate in games like the one at South Abington Park in Lackawanna County insist it's starting to catch up to the larger cities. Abrianna Killino, the youth sport and family program coordinator at the Greater Pittston YMCA, said questions about pickleball availability at the facility are constant, calling participation for their Monday evening beginners classes and Saturday and Sunday open court times "insane."
Their pickleball availabilities are as popular, she insisted, as the YMCA's men's basketball leagues.
In Hegins, Schuylkill County, Darin and Tina Torrey fell in love with the sport when so many others got around to it. During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, with governments mandating social distancing, pickleball was one of the few outdoor activities deemed safe enough to play in groups.
So, the Torreys built a makeshift court inside a shop they owned. They received so much interest, they started the Hegins Park Pickleball Club in early July. At first, only they showed up to play. In short order, though, membership blew up. Now, it boasts 70 members who gather at least four times per week to play.
"What we're passionate about is ... the community equity we create as a result of people coming out to play," Darin Torrey said. "Our members, the youngest one is 13 and the oldest is 85. They play side-by-side. They play competitively. You have a 13-year-old hanging out with an 85-year-old, having a good conversation, and there are very few other sports that bring that dynamic."
It's a dynamic that has hooked many on the sport, once they give it a try.
Dunmore native Chris Mathewson started playing about five years ago and got so hooked that, within six months, he and a friend started a Facebook page devoted to pickleball around the region, hoping to make it the hub for players looking for places to play, lessons or clinics.
NEPA Pickleball didn't see much traffic, Mathewson said, until 2022, when the page's membership skyrocketed from about 200 members to more than 1,000, with most jumping on the page to ask the same question: Where can we get started?
"Honestly, I did expect it to grow like this; Maybe sooner, because I figured there'd be more places to play in NEPA by now," Mathewson said. "The thing is, we're so far behind the curve in NEPA. Drive two hours south, and there are people building pickleball complexes north of Philadelphia. Just between Luzerne and Lackawanna counties, we have 540,000 people, and I can count on one hand how many places there are to play pickleball around here. We're really struggling to get places to play, public courts."
More and more, government officials and private businesses alike are coming around to Mathewson's line of thinking, not just as a boon to public park usage and a nod to promoting physical fitness, but as a potential economic driver for communities.
This summer, Hazleton opened six pickleball courts at St. Stanislaus Park on East 17th Street, hoping to fulfill some of the space demands for which interested pickleballers in the city clamored; Hour-long rentals for court time fill up fast, said Frank Stish, the city's Parks and Recreation Department's athletic director said. The courts get "packed" by dozens of regulars, some of whom play six days per week, he said.
Wilkes-Barre also is looking to capitalize on the craze.
Mayor George Brown said two pickleball courts are being built at Barney Farms Park near the Nathan Gray Memorial Playground in South Wilkes-Barre, with designs on scattering more courts in the future around the city's 18 public parks.
"I've actually had people in my office saying, 'Mayor, if you build it, we'll actually be able to oversee tournaments and bring people into the area from all over the state to play in pickleball tournaments," Brown said. "That's one of the things we want to do, promote the tourism and actually get people to come to Wilkes-Barre to see how nice it is."
Dropshots Pickleball in White Mills, Wayne County, is the area's lone pickleball-only indoor facility. It has three courts and is adding six more this fall. Meanwhile, one of the region's preeminent tennis hubs, Birchwood Racquet Club in Clarks Summit, Lackawanna County, underwent several major renovations that ultimately resulted in eight permanent pickleball courts being installed at the indoor facility, which also houses seven tennis courts.
Birchwood employs three pickleball professionals and is the host site for several clinics, tournaments and even local fundraisers, managing partner Elizabeth Karam said, noting the club could claim more than 100 members this summer strictly for pickleball.
"And summer is our slow time, because that's when people can go outside," Karam added. "For indoor facilities, depending on the weather, our busy time is October through April.
"Pickleball is fun and it's social, and it's far less-intimidating than tennis. So, the entry point of pickleball is far more appealing for people."
The influx of facilities in the area could wind up helping the sport grow. But it also may help avoid some of the issues it has run into in other areas.
Pickleball players have been accused in larger metropolitan areas like New York City of overtaking public parks for their own purposes. The noise from pickleball courts in residential areas have brought homeowners to anger and their local governments for relief, according to a story published last year in the Wall Street Journal.
Outside of the occasional group of basketball players disappointed their planned shootaround got nixed because it conflicted with designated pickleball time, pickleball players have avoided those kinds of headlines here, though.
"It was a little rough with that when it was new," Killino said. "But now, everybody knows Monday from 6:30 through 8 p.m. (at the YMCA) is pickleball. It's definitely a lot easier now, because people know the routine."
As pickleball becomes more a part of the daily and weekly routines for so many Northeast Pennsylvania residents, it leaves a question in the minds of community developers: What new ways can be mined to make this an even bigger part of the region?
While many see it as a ping pong and tennis hybrid, others believe it possesses the potential to transcend sport.
Stish likened it to golf, where young and old can compete alongside each other. Torrey said pickleball is not like a sport at all in that sense, but more a church picnic in the way it brings communities together. The goal in many communities around the area will be to expand beyond the middle-aged demographic and push its benefits to younger participants.
"This can build communities and, quite frankly, blur age lines," Stish said. "It has a real potential to level the playing field and reconnect with family members. I see a lot of opportunity with it."
Contact the writer:
570-348-9125;
@DonnieCollinsTT;
@PennStateTT
