The people’s new sport
Ask any pickleball player about the game and they’ll tell you the same thing: Pickleball is unlike any other sport. It’s a combination of table tennis, traditional tennis and badminton. But, they say, that’s not what makes it special.
“It’s incredibly inclusive. It’s multi-generational. There’s really no other sport you can have an 80-year-old grandfather playing with their 8-year-old grandson, and you’re almost playing on the same level,” said Scott Mannetta, Mount Pleasant resident and a USA Pickleball ambassador.
Manetta, who is now a pickleball teaching pro and owns the pickleSTRONG brand, discovered the sport seven years ago when a friend invited him to play.
“I’ve been an athlete all of my life. I’ve played very competitive soccer, ice hockey, tennis, and I never had more fun than I had playing pickleball,” he said. “So I just dove in headfirst. I couldn’t get enough of it. I played every day.”
It’s addictive
This is a sentiment echoed by many players. Pickleball seems to draw people in from their very first game.
“It’s very friendly. It’s very welcoming,” Mannetta said. “We want you to come in. We want you to feel welcome.”
He’s right. From the moment I recently stepped onto a pickleball court for the first time, I was immediately greeted by strangers who wanted to chat and share tips.
Another player, “Pinky” Shin of Summerville, has played for eight years. She said a retired friend introduced her to the game, claiming to love it so much that she played eight hours a day.
“She said you won’t believe how much fun it is. So, I went out and we went to Seabrook Island … we got our first instruction on how to play. Oh my God, I said, ‘This is so fun. Wait a minute, can we play some more?’ And that is the same story with just about everybody who initially plays,” Shin said.
“That’s why people love it. What other game can you play with hardly anything?”
Pickleball requires nothing more than paddles, a light, hollow plastic ball and a court — which are available throughout the Charleston area. The simplicity of the game removes barriers like expensive equipment and years of training often required by other sports like tennis and golf.
Find your court
Brandon Mackie, a Savannah native who moved to the Mount Pleasant area five years ago, wanted to help newbies and pros access local, free pickleball courts. So, he co-founded the website Pickleheads. Users plug in their location anywhere in the U.S. and it generates a map of courts in the area. Currently, the website shows between 44 and 51 courts in the greater Charleston area. Mackie also plans to launch a scheduling tool in the near future.
“It’s geared towards finding places to play and finding people to play with, which really are the two biggest challenges to anyone who is new to the sport,” he said.
“Because pickleball has grown so fast and you can play it almost anywhere, it’s really hard to know exactly what a pickleball court is. We felt there was a real need to get this information in the hands of people that just started playing or are considering playing for the first time.”
Though pickleball was invented in 1965, its popularity has exploded in recent years. The Association of Pickleball Professionals estimates 36.5 million people played pickleball in the U.S. in 2022, though Mannetta said some estimates are as high as 65 million.
The South Atlantic region, which includes South Carolina, had the most players with 1,087,000 in 2022, according to USA Pickleball.
“I don’t think we’ve ever seen the sort of growth in any other sport that we’re seeing with pickleball,” Mannetta said. “There’s nobody who can’t play. No matter what.”
Easy exercise to pick up
For first-timers considering the sport, it is very simple and approachable. Within 10 minutes, I learned the basic rules and was scoring points against veteran players. Did they go easy on me? Perhaps. But even that speaks to the spirit of the game.
It’s not about competition. It’s about connection — physically connecting your paddle with the ball and emotionally connecting with other players who are there for a variety of reasons from exercise to socialization.
“It’s a very social sport. It’s a sport that almost anybody can pick up and learn,” Mackie said.
Pickleball sheds the stern semblance of tennis and welcomes new players with open arms.
“If you ever go to a pickleball court, we are laughing away. It’s a great environment,” Shin said. “I don’t remember laughing as much [playing tennis] as I do here.”
Manetta said, “So we reference tennis whites, you know, they’re very formal. Pickleball is the pickleball rainbows. The louder, the crazier the colors, the more colors of the rainbow — that’s what we’re all about.”
Accidental invention
Part of pickleball’s whimsical nature may stem from its origin.
Joe Pritchard, a former Washington congressman, and businessman Bill Bell invented the game in 1965 on Bainbridge Island, Wash., to entertain their bored kids during a family vacation. Gathering up random equipment, including a perforated plastic ball similar to a Wiffle ball, ping pong paddles and a net, they created the rules as they went along. A week later, they introduced the game to another friend Barney McCallum and the three men went on to make an official set of rules. Their original intention was to invent a game the whole family could play.
“I think that’s what’s fun about it,” Mackie said. “Pickleball is not this long established sport that’s played at country clubs. It’s a fun sport that was kind of invented by accident, and it can be played anywhere.”
Sometime soon this year, Charleston will welcome another way to experience pickleball at Crush Yard Pickleball Club and Restaurant in Mount Pleasant.
Pickleball Pro Dan Levine will be the bar/restaurant’s director of pickleball and head pro, facilitating leagues and tournaments, helping guests with equipment and offering lessons.
“Pickleball is the hottest trend in America right now.” Levine said. “Our concept is combining this trend with a restaurant, a lounge-like atmosphere and a club feeling. There’s nothing like it, and it’s coming to a community that craves new, fun places to dine, exercise and hang out.”
Though an official date hasn’t yet been set, Crush Yard is expected to open in early 2023.
With more ways to try out the sport, its popularity is only expected to grow further.
“I always say that pickleball is easy to learn, but hard to master,” Mackie said. “So anyone can go out, learn, have fun that first time, but even people that play day in and day out don’t get bored of it. You can keep playing very competitively, and I think that for beginners and advanced players, it just keeps people coming back for more.”
For more about the official rules of pickleball and additional information, visit usapickleball.org.
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