Parade Magazine: What's All the Racket About Pickleball? Everything You Need to Know About the Growing Sport

Pickleball. Have you heard of it? It’s that incredibly popular tennis-and-Ping-Pong hybrid that everyone’s playing, from Ellen DeGeneres (“I’m obsessed with it”) to most of the residents of Naples, Florida, it seems. (One center with 60 courts calls itself “the Pickleball Capital of the World.”)

As if pickleball weren’t hot enough already, here’s something else to add to the buzz. America’s bounciest, most-talked-about game is also really good for rhyming.

So says Penn Holderness, co-creator with his wife, Kim, of a viral rap video called “the Pickleball Song.” The Holdernesses recently achieved fame as the winners of The Amazing Race on CBS. But before that they were simply a hilarious pair of YouTubers who mined their marriage and family life for comedy gold and a billion views.  Read More

Podcast: Pickleball Gaining Popularity One Dink at a Time

Pickleball Pros: JW Johnson, 19 (right) and Dylan Frazier, 20

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KQED (channel 9) is a PBS member television station licensed to San Francisco, California.
Listen: Podcast -  Pickleball Gaining Popularity One Dink at a Time

If you overheard someone shout, “nice dink in the kitchen!” you probably just walked by a pickleball court. Pickleball, the fastest growing sport in the United States, is taking over park and rec centers all over California as players clamor for more court time. Invented in 1965 by a Washington state congressman and his friend to entertain their bored kids, pickleball’s popularity took off during the pandemic, with an almost 40% increase in players. Across the country over four million people are playing pickleball, and its enthusiasts have formed a variety of professional organizations, leagues and tournaments with an eye to getting certified as an Olympic sport. We’ll look at how and why pickleball has become an American obsession. Have you picked up a paddle?

Guests:

• John Walters, sportswriter, Sports Illustrated; adjunct professor of Sports Media, Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Walters wrote the Sports Illustrated cover story about pickleball "Barbarians in the Kitchen"
• Rachel Simon, author, "Pickleball for All: Everything But the 'Kitchen' Sink" which comes out on August 30
• Jordan Brave Briones, pickleball professional and instructor; co-founder, Primetime Pickleball; creator, pickleball YouTube instruction channel: @brionespickleball.

How to Play Pickleball (THE BASICS)

 

Contents 0:00 Keep It Simple 0:10 Sections of the Court 0:18 Object of the game 0:23 Start a Point 0:40 Serve & Return Basics 0:55 2 Bounce Rule 1:13 Volleys & The Kitchen 1:29 Mistakes & Receiving Points 1:47 Keeping Track of Score (Singles) 2:08 Keeping Track of Score (Doubles) 2:51 Go Dominate!

The New Yorker: Can Pickleball Save America?

Listen to this story

Pickleball blurs the lines between sport and hobby, celebrity and mortal. Stars and athletes play (including Michael Phelps and Leonardo DiCaprio), and so do grandparents and children. Now a burgeoning professional scene is rocking the picklesphere. 

As in politics, a few famous families dominate pickleball, the fastest-growing sport in America. One is the Johnsons, of Florida. In January, on a breezy afternoon in Boca Raton, J. W. Johnson, a strapping nineteen-year-old with short brown bangs and a leather necklace, took to the court for a semifinal match at a tournament. Johnson is taciturn, with an often impenetrable expression. 

He was seeded second in the tournament; his opponent, Zane Navratil, a twenty-six-year-old former C.P.A. from Wisconsin, was seeded first. Pickleball, a tennis-like sport played on a smaller court, places a gentle strain on the body, and both men had the oxygenated flush of a long day of exercise. 

They began by dinking—softly bouncing the ball back and forth—before Navratil, with gazelle-like grace, executed two snazzy moves at once: an Erne (which involved a flying leap) and a body shot (which involved hitting Johnson in the gut). He chuckled with contentment. Then, as a storm front moved in, the tide began to turn. “Wow, what an inside-out dink there from J. W. Johnson!” a commentator at a nearby media booth said. Johnson, jaw slack with concentration, took control. (Read More)

Pickleball's popularity on the rise across the country l GMA

 

Good Morning America (GMA) 

What does Pickled Mean?
a) When each team scores over 30 points?
b) A volley with both teams at the net
c) When a team doesn't score at all

NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt Kids Edition

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Watch: Pickleball Craze 

USA PICKLEBALL - Unsurprisingly, the sport of Pickleball has continued to gain traction throughout the United States, this week most notably with a primetime feature on NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt: Kids Edition! USA Pickleball had the opportunity to represent the sport on national television by showcasing the active yet social environment that pickleball brings to communities throughout the country.

NBC Nightly News: Kids Edition is a segment on NBC digesting some of the top headlines, broken down for kids to best understand the world today. The topics range from cooking, weather, travel, sports, lifestyle, and more. (Read More)

NOW YOU CAN BORROW A PICKLEBALL KIT AT THE LIBRARY!

Posted By: Radio Pacific, Inc June 24, 2022 @ 4:00 pm Local News, News, News Daypop

CLALLAM COUNTY – Your North Olympic Library System has great a new way to get some exercise and have a fun time doing it.

Pickleball sets are now available for check-out at your local library.

Each two-player set contains two pickleball paddles, four balls, and information on basic game rules and where you can play in Clallam County.

Pickleball is a fun sport for all ages that combines many elements of tennis, badminton and ping-pong.

Patrons can borrow a set for up to seven days, but that’s subject to change based on demand.

NOLS would like to thank Jack Olmsted for generously donating the pickleball sets.

To place a hold on a set, search “pickleball” in the NOLS catalog at nols.org, call your local branch, or email Discover@nols.org. (Source)

• Peninsula Daily News - June 27, 2022 
• NOLS Gear – Outdoor Games
• NOLS Press Release