Washington State senators are considering bill SB 5615, making pickleball the official state sport.
Pickleball was invented in Washington in 1965 by a few friends looking for something fun their kids could do while on vacation.
Almost 60 years later, pickleball is considered the fastest-growing sport in America, so you can see why so many support the bill.
According to the SFIA (Sports & Fitness Industry Association), there was a 21% increase in pickleball participants in 2020.
This is actually in the face of a DECREASE in racket sports overall!
So, why is pickleball getting so popular?
In general, there are two reasons.
First, pickleball is incredibly approachable. It takes minutes to “get” pickleball, and after an hour, most are in the flow of playing.
Second, there’s more depth to pickleball than meets the eye, both in the richness of gameplay and the people that play the game. This keeps people coming back to the game again and again.
People that haven’t played pickleball before think it’s just a game for kids or that the gimmick is why it’s interesting.
But once (most) people actually play pickleball, they realize they’re hooked.
Here are a few of the most surprising aspects of pickleball:
- Fun for the Whole Family – pickleball is a game that a family of two kids and two adults can actually play together. In fact, pickleball players can be of a huge age range and still enjoy the game, from six-year-olds to ninety-six-year-olds.
Kalindi Dinoffer is trained in multiple aspects of mindfulness in life and in sports, sharing on her blog MindfulKalindi.com. She is also certified to teach yoga, fitness, reiki, and MFR. Kalindi also serves as VP marketing at OnCourtOffCourt.com, a leading supplier of tennis, pickleball, fitness and yoga training aids and equipment and has been published in Tennis industry Magazine and Pickleball Magazine, and has conducted workshops at conferences around the world. In her spare time, Kalindi plays tennis, pickleball and table tennis and enjoys outdoor activities such as hiking and biking and cross country skiing in the winter.
