Pickleball has been taking the country by storm. Our family recently got into playing the sport and my husband recently played his first tournament hosted by the City of Homestead.
But what is pickleball you may ask?
Pickleball is almost like tennis meets ping pong but with a wiffleball. Three neighbors created it in 1965. They initially used ping pong paddles and a perforated ball on a badminton court.
How to play
Pickleball can be played individually (one vs. one) or with a partner (two vs. two). The serve is underhand and over the net diagonally. The ball is then hit back and forth like tennis until a player misses or it hits the net. The portion in the front is called the “kitchen” which is a no-volley zone.
A typical game goes up to 11 points and the player or team must win by two points. The point system can get a little tricky. However, once you get a couple games under your belt, the scoring isn’t too bad. One of the more interesting rules is that if a player or team is not able to score any points in a match, they must drink pickle juice at the end. This is called getting pickled and is most likely where the game got its peculiar name.
Fun for the whole family
It seems like pickleball courts are popping up everywhere nowadays. A lot of parks in Miami-Dade are adding pickleball courts or converting their seldomly used tennis courts into pickleball courts.
My husband started playing first and now we all go out and play. Paddles can range in price from $20 to almost $300 depending on the skill level and depth of one’s pocket. They can be found anywhere from Walmart to Amazon. So if you get the chance, try out, you might just get bit by the pickleball bug!
