Pickleball

Three dads, Joel Pritchard, Barney McCallum, and Bill Bell, invented pickleball in 1965 on Bainbridge Island near Seattle. By 1990 it had spread to all 50 states, and now there are over four million players in the US.
 
Transcript: "So who invented pickleball 1965 Bainbridge Island, which is near Seattle Washington. There were three dads, Joel Pritchard, Barney McCallum, and build Bell. They're credited with inventing pickleball. I think they set out one summer to play some badminton. They didn't have the right equipment, so they used what they had. They had paddles that when football, they lowered the net down to 36 inches. They loved it. They wrote down the rules the next day. Yeah, and I think the stats are by 1990 pickleball had expanded to all 50 states and currently there are four million plus players in the US."

Pickleball is called pickleball because either it was named after the Pritchard family dog, Pickles, or because the mismatched equipment used to play the game reminded the inventors of a "pickle boat," which is a boat crewed by leftover oarsmen.
 
Transcript: "So why is it called pickleball? There's two origin story theories. The first is that the Pritchards, one of the families that invented the sport, had a family dog named Pickles, and that Pickles would go and retrieve the ball when it went out of play. The second is that the mish mash of equipment-- from a badminton net to a wiffle ball to a paddle-- reminded the inventors of a crew term-- a term that's used in crew-- of a pickle boat, which is where leftover oarsmen paddle a boat. And in this case, you're using leftover equipment to play a sport."

A pickleball court is 20 feet wide and 44 feet long, with a 7 foot no-volley zone on each side of the net.
 
Transcript: "How big is a pickleball court? Pickleball court is 20 feet wide. It is 44 feet long. Just like tennis there is a left service box and a right service box. The big difference is that on either side of the net, there is a line that is 7 feet from the net. And it goes straight, across both boxes and it is the no Vale Zone, meaning players as they approach. The net are not allowed to take the ball out of the air. If Are standing on the line or inside of that. No volley Zone that no volley zone is also called the kitchen."

In Pickleball, serving is done underhanded and you only get one serve. The return of serve must bounce. Scoring is usually done as side out scoring, meaning you must serve in order to win a point.
 
Transcript: "Hey there. So pickleball looks an awful lot. Like many tennis out there on the court, but there are actually a number of rules that are significantly different between the two. I'm only going to give you a couple now and then I'll leave in a bunch more. As I answer, the other questions out there, let's start right off with the serve in Pickleball, serving as done underhanded, and you only get one not to serve. So no double-faulted. Secondly, the return of serve must bounce. So tennis players, no serving and volleying and lastly, one of the more confusing aspects of the sport of pickleball scoring is done as side out scoring, which means you must serve in order to win a point kind of like volleyball before 1998, if you can. Remember that there's a few exceptions where rally scoring is played, but most of the time, it's side out scoring where you must serve in order to win a point. Aunt. Thanks Gregg for the question. I look forward to getting you out there on the pickleball court."

Tennis players coming to pickleball should take a minimal backswing and embrace the finesse elements of the sport, as it is difficult to impart enough spin with the rudimentary equipment and small court size to hit the ball hard and keep it in play.
 
Transcript: "There are a ton of tennis players coming in to pickleball which is a great background sport for the game. But however, many tennis players just simply hit the ball too hard take too much of a back swing. The problems with that have to do with the generally rudimentary equipment and the tiny court. The court is only 22 feet on the other side of the net, which is pretty tough to keep the ball in play. Combine that with the fact that the pickleball doesn't bounce very high. So often, we're hitting a ball 8, 10, 15 inches off the ground, which means you have to hit up over the net. And add to that, we're playing with a generally not very sophisticated paddle, especially, compared to a tennis racket with strings, felt on the ball, and all of those things. So it's difficult to impart enough spin to hit the ball hard and have that spin keep the ball in play. So my recommendation with tennis players is to take negligible minimal back swing and really embrace the soft game or the finesse elements of the sport. Thanks for asking the question, Wendy. I'll see you on the courts."

The amount of time a pickleball paddle lasts varies greatly, depending on the specific paddle and the player using it. Top players may go through a paddle every 1-2 tournaments, while others may have the same paddle for years. The core will eventually break down, producing dead spots, and the amount of friction used to produce spin may wear off quickly for some paddles.
 
Transcript: "There's a pretty huge range when it comes to how long, a pickleball paddle last. Depending upon the specific paddle and the player been John's. For example, the number one, male player in the world says that he goes through a paddle, every one or two tournaments. So that's only a couple of weeks. I've had players who have the same paddle in their hand for two plus years and only realize that it might be time for a new one when we give them a demo, you know, of a new paddle to try most paddles. These days come with a polypropylene Honeycomb Core, which is great for producing power and control some amount of sound deadening, but that core doesn't last forever. It'll start to break down, you'll get dead spots and you go to hit a ball and you think it will go over the net and it doesn't because you're just not getting the response from the battle in the core that you had previously, that would be a, you know, a good time to go ahead and get a new pal, another rather new Tell when it comes to paddle longevity, is the amount of friction or grit or how much the paddle service can grab a ball in order to impart spin. Some paddles. That's amount of friction last for quite a while. Other paddle manufacturers, that is only a short-term application on the surface of the paddle and wears off rather quickly. If you like that, feeling of a producing spin, you might go through paddles a little bit more quickly, if that's not a Big deal. Then you'd probably enjoy the use of the paddle until you reach the end of the life cycle of the core. Thanks for your question. Brett, look, forward to seeing you out there on the court."