Pickleball: A fun workout trend
A photo of global popstar Taylor Swift playing pickleball with a Kansas City Chiefs paddle went viral a few days ago. Many concluded it was PR seeding since she is the girlfriend of NFL player Travis Kelce, but what resonated with me more was the stage used—a pickleball court.
Pickleball, a combination of tennis, ping-pong, and badminton, is considered America’s fastest-growing sport. Some malls have already converted cinemas and expensive real estate into pickleball courts.
Pickleball was developed in the USA in 1965 by three fathers who wanted a game the whole family could play. Washington State congressman Joel Pritchard and his businessman friend Bill Bell used an old badminton court, ping-pong paddles (they had no badminton rackets), a perforated plastic ball, and a badminton net 60 inches high.
They made rules and played their game regularly on an asphalt court, eventually lowering the net to 36 inches. Another friend, Barney McCallum, helped formalize the rules after playing the game.
While the game was nationally recognized and featured as America’s newest racquet sport in 1975, phenomenal growth in the participation and awareness of the sport boomed during the pandemic.
COVID-19 prevented the playing and staging of traditional team sports, so people flocked to paddle sport as a socially distant way to be outdoors and stay active.
Part of the pickleball appeal is the fact that it is easier to learn than tennis, for example. The plastic ball is less bouncy, not as fast, and the paddle (shorter and lighter than a tennis racket) is easier to handle. Pickleball is slower and involves a smaller court (almost a fourth of one tennis court). Most games are also doubles.
Like any sport, there is the potential for injury, like sprains. These can be prevented by wearing shoes that are built for lateral movement, doing sufficient warmups, and conditioning your body for the sport through exercise.
Is it a better exercise than walking? As expected, researchers found that after 30 minutes of playing pickleball doubles, a person burns 36% more calories and has a 14% higher heart rate compared to walking.
A study from Western Colorado University found that pickleball players or picklers burn 354 calories with an average heart rate of 109 beats per minute. These numbers qualify the sport as a moderate-intensity workout, which the World Health Organization (WHO) prescribes a minimum of 150 minutes per week.
The sport develops hand-eye coordination as well as neuromuscular coordination and agility. Since rotation is involved, core strength is required together with upper and lower extremities.
A 2023 study revealed that 14% of Americans play pickleball with over 8.5 million playing at least almost once a month. Sports megastars LeBron James, Tom Brady, Kevin Durant, and Patrick Mahomes have recently invested in professional pickleball teams.
The largest pickleball event co-founder Terri Graham said in an interview that the enthusiasm is at an all-time high. Tournament applications grew by 30% and sponsorship increased by 25%.
The US Open Pickleball Championships held in Naples, Florida, was launched in 2016. In 2022, they attracted 3,000 players and 35,000 spectators (10,000 more than their goal). The 2024 edition was recently concluded with more than 3,250 players from 31 countries and over 50,000 spectators.
In the gym scene, Life Time was the first to join the boom. Its founder and CEO, Bahram Akradi, was a pickleball enthusiast early on. Hence, it didn’t surprise anyone when he added pickleball in 120 of its 160 locations.
Since 2022, Life Time has added indoor and outdoor pickleball courts at a rate of five new dedicated courts per week. Their goal was to have 700 pickleball courts in their athletic clubs by the end of 2023. Life Time offers pickleball lessons, social play, leagues, and tournaments to their members.
In an interview on CNBC, Akradi revealed that pickleball participation in his athletic club increased from 16,000 per month to 160,000. Both the Major League Pickleball and the Professional Pickleball Association have partnered up with Life Time for tournaments across the USA.
Here in the Philippines, Ayala Malls and Toby’s Sports are some of the many commercial entities promoting the sport. There is clear potential for Filipino athletes to excel in this sport and compete globally just like in billiards, boxing, and bowling.
There are many promising local athletes. For the male athletes, Christopher Encarnacion is the number one-ranked Men’s Singles player in the Philippines. This Cebuano is in his mid-20s. He is ranked eighth globally.
For the female athletes, a 22-year-old lass from Davao by the name of Winona Cabardo ranks number one in singles and number two in mixed doubles in the country.