ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - You may think pickleball is just recreational but there's a professional league for the fastest-growing sport in the country.
Major League Pickleball has been around since 2021 and St. Louis has a team in the league with the St. Louis Shock, which is owned by the Chaifetz family.
On Wednesday night, the Shock faced off against the Chicago Slice in an exhibition match at the Missouri Pickleball Club in Fenton, Missouri.
"We are proud to say that here in St. Louis, we are currently operating the number one professional team in Major League Pickleball," said St. Louis Shock owner and GM Ross Chaifetz on Total Information A.M. Wednesday. "So St. Louis is not only the sixth-most popular market for pickleball in the US, it can claim fame to the number one team in the world, it's exciting."
Chaifetz says what's exciting about pickleball is it has a more enjoyable fan experience compared to tennis.
"You're sitting 10-15 feet away from the players," said Chaifetz. "What's exciting about pickleball is that the volleys and exchanges can be anywhere between a couple seconds to a couple minutes. You may see a series of lobs or what we call dink exchanges in the kitchen, you may see what we call firefights, which are lightning quick exchanges where players are 5-6 feet away from each other and the balls is flying at you 70-80 mph. It's an incredible fan experience and if you have not seen it at the pro level specifically, I encourage to come and check us out."
Chaifetz thinks that there is a future for the sport of pickleball and that Major League Pickleball can succeed, especially with the amount of young talent that are already coming to the league.
"You have pros that are literally as young as 15-years-old," said Chaifetz. "Some on tour are in their late 30s to early 40s. You have kids making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year and many cases millions and they are deciding to forgo college to play professional pickleball."