It's been called the fastest growing sport in America: pickleball. It's a sport that was once given a day or two in middle school physical education classes or played in retirement communities around the country. Since the pandemic, the sport's growth has skyrocketed 21.3%. Many parks and health clubs have either replaced or modified tennis courts to fit the needs of pickleball players.
What exactly is the sport? Pickleball coach Tim Laurent says it's a ton of fun to learn.
"Pickleball is kind of a cross between badminton, tennis and table tennis...and dodgeball. Really, it's kind of a chess match. It's a great family sport."
In Minneapolis, the park board is looking into building courts at three different sites. At Life Time, they have converted tennis courts at their St. Louis Park, Eden Prairie, Lakeville and White Bear Lake locations to fill the demand for the sport. They are also revolutionizing their model by remodeling their Bloomington North location to become an all-pickleball location. Ajay Pant, Life Time's Senior Director of Racquet Sports, told Lake Night host Henry Lake why the club is investing into the sport.
"Pickleball is a huge part of our permanent dedicated space in our offering. So, we are committed to pickleball. We have a responsibility. We're big. We get programming right. We believe the way to grow this beautiful sport and get the whole country not to lose momentum and giving more and more dedicated places to play pickleball."
Why has pickleball seen such a rise during the pandemic? Fitness is one. Pant says that you can burn 40% more calories than walking and that it's much easier on your joints. He also says the social aspect is important.
"There are a couple of important reasons. First, the ease of learning is incredible. It's almost like there is no learning curve so if I'm a very bad teacher, you are still playing in ten minutes. Two, tennis was arguably the most social sport in our country...and it is still very, very social, but pickleball is probably the most social sport I have ever seen."
So, what do you do if you want to learn how to play the sport? Pant says just show up to your local pickleball court and the players will welcome you.
"They don't care about your level, they don't care about cliques, they just want to play. You show up and you're going to be playing."