For old people? Not any more!
According to the USA Pickleball Association, pickleball is the fastest growing sport in America, growing more than 650% across the past six years. Titans have joined in the pickleball craze – playing outside of their physical education classes, where it started. It has grown to have Facebook community groups to play every week. Even professional pickleball players earn money for winning tournaments. Pickleball has had such a growth because anyone can play from the elderly to little kids.
Fort Branch and Haubstadt both have community pickleball courts in their parks.
“They are the nicest courts around,” sophomore Cooper Wahl said.
Sophomore Collin Higginbotham plays once a week with his friends.
“We just go play for fun or we will do a tournament,” Higginbotham said. “I just started playing a month ago, but I have already gotten so much better.”
Gibson Southern High School has hosted its own pickleball tournament to raise money for the boys and girls tennis teams. People from all over Indiana came to the high school for the tournament that weekend. Princeton has also hosted tournaments and weekly leagues in which people play.
Sophomore Cooper Townsend has also picked up the game.
“Pickleball is such a popular sport because it is a low effort sport and the smaller court lets older people or people with knee or leg pain get around the court easier and move less and not put as much stress on your body,” Townsend said. “It is also very easy to pick up and learn the rules too.”
The rules of the game are very simple. A person can only score if he or she is serving. One must serve to the opposite square from where they are standing on the baseline. The ball has to bounce before it can be hit in the kitchen, the small rectangular area next to the net. A person serves until they lose two rallies.
Pickleball has a player rating system that goes to five. A five is a perfect player, one of the best players in the world. An above average rating for a player is two and a half, meaning the person is better than 50% of players who play the sport. The number one rated pickleball player in the world is Collin Johns. Johns has won more than 14 pro titles in his career. His little brother is the second best rated player in the world; he is also Johns’ doubles partner.
While Gibson County does not have any five-rated players, it is certainly a sport that has entertained people of all ages. As the popularity of the sport continues to grow, expect to see communities build more courts and more players picking up paddles.
