It’s all the craze in Cranberry Township, where on any given day, you’ll find dozens, if not hundreds of players, packing the courts at Graham Park.
Pickleball is gaining a reputation as the fastest growing sport in America.
Pickleball player Janet Harding explains it’s a cross between “tennis and badminton and ping pong.” The sport is played with a plastic ball on a half court, so there’s not as much running.
That may explain why the sport has mostly been popular among seniors until a few years ago when it started to catch on with a younger, more competitive crowd.
Bruce Mazzoni, with the Cranberry Township Pickleball Association, says most players in the organization are in their 40s. The group has more than 1,000 members with a waitlist of a couple hundred more hoping to join.
Cranberry Township Parks and Recreation Director Pete Geis was watched the sport grow during his time in the position.
“I was here about a month on the job and the first group that came into my office was a bunch of passionate pickleball players and they wanted to retrofit some tennis courts or put lines out in parking lots and they wanted to start playing pickleball. It just took off from there.”
Graham Park is now home to 13 courts with plans for 6 more and new lighting, which will help accommodate more players and more games.
So, what’s the appeal of the sport? Peg Burress says “You get a lot of exercise, but it’s so much fun that it doesn’t feel like you’re pushing yourself.”
Several players also told NewsRadio KDKA that they particularly enjoy the social aspect of the sport, through which they have made dozens of new friends with a common bond on the court.
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