At recreation centers across the world, the sound is unmistakable – it’s the sharp pop of plastic ball meets paddle. What was once a quiet hobby for a few is now filling courts.
Even at the high school level.
What started as a friendly competition on Bainbridge Island near Seattle in 1965, pickleball is the fastest growing sport in the country for four consecutive years, according to a study by the Sports and Fitness Industry Association.
It does not discriminate by age, wealth or athletic skill level. It is why a sport often associated with the senior community is now popular among many, including among high school athletes.
“There are tons of high school clubs,” said Riley Palmer, director of pickleball at Dink and Dine Pickle Park in Mesa. “I’m a junior competitive club coach for Monster Athlete as well, and they had over 180 kids, 18 teams. It is picking up with a lot of speed, hopefully quickly becoming an Olympic sport.”
The facility is set to host the first high school pickleball state championships for more than 20 club teams Saturday and Sunday. Competition includes boys and girls singles, doubles and mixed doubles.
The event reflects pickleball’s growing popularity, although for some, it’s less about the product and more about the journey.
“Because we see if we can get kids off their phones and get them out here and encourage them to be social, making new friends, meeting new people,” Palmer said.
With pickleball growing so fast, is it destined to become a sanctioned Arizona Interscholastic Association high school sport?
If so, it is a multi-step process that will take time.
“So if the school’s been playing a sport for a certain while and they say, ‘We want to be part of the AIA oversight,’ the schools will make an application,” said Seth Polansky, the AIA’s director of media services. “We’ll send in an agenda item for an executive board meeting and our executive board will hear the case and see if they want to add it or not.”
If the board decides it wants to add the sport, it will go into “emerging status,” which means that it has no sanctioned championship in the beginning.
“Basically, they’ll be playing by the rules they play with and then the AIA would oversee it for typically two years,” Polansky said. “So after year one and seeing how things are going, AIA staff would send surveys out to the other member schools: ‘If we were to add this sport, would you add it, too?’”
Kenny Cail, commissioner and chairman of National High School Club Pickleball, would like to speed up the process.
“I write letters to schools,” Cail said. “I write to their student councils, their counselors, to their principals and I tell them about the benefits of pickleball. I tell them about how, at the collegiate level last year, there were around 41 teams in the national tournament, and this year they have 250-something teams.”
Cail, a former high school football and wrestling coach, knows firsthand the importance of sports in young kids’ lives and would love to see the popularity of the sport continue to grow.
“You could see the kids progress,” Cail said. “They had teammates that lasted a lifetime. They had purpose in their life. The problem with sports is that it’s not there for everybody. It’s generally for only the best. And you want to make kids count. And when they count, they get connected to their schools.
“So to make kids connect, let’s try to find a sport that doesn’t require you to be the strongest, the tallest, the biggest, a certain body type or anything like that. And pickleball is that sport.”
Cail, a big proponent of Title IX, the federal legislation that requires equal access and resources for women’s sports in schools that receive federal money, sees the value of pickleball as a coed sport.
“It’s a great Title IX sport because it’s not separate but equal, but you can have mixed doubles,” Cail said. “And your partner could be a girl. In eigth grade or junior high, you might want to learn how to speak to girls. So that’s a real benefit.
“When I was in college, I was a wrestler, but I was on NAU’s committee for Title IX. And they thought I’d stand up for men’s wrestling, but I stood up for Title IX instead. And I said, it’s important for everybody, and we need to have more equalization for women in our communities and in our lives.”
Cail acknowledges a wait is involved to make pickleball a Title IX sanctioned AIA sport but thinks “ it’s going to move fast. Not as fast as I want it to go. But when I talked to the AIA, they said it might take seven years until they make it a varsity sport, but I think it’s going to change immediately when the NCAA decides to make it a collegiate sport.”
Although the sport is not presently on the AIA’s radar, the organization has moved quickly in the past to add sports when participation numbers support it. Girls flag football, for example, was added only a few years after its inception because of widespread interest.
In late 2022, enough schools rallied to make girls flag football a sanctioned sport, bypassing the “emerging status” period.
“And the path that I think I see is that schools or kids can be taught pickleball just before the tournaments,” Cail said. “And then they’re told if you want to represent our school, have your mom and dad pay the entry fee, go to the tournament, drive you there. Then the school’s not involved, but it’ll develop.
“They’ll still be competing for their school, and that’s a big plus. And they won’t get AIA backing until the AIA sees value in that. And right now, I don’t think they do. We’re going to emphasize parents creating the sport in the school system, so they need to push for it.”
The interest from teenagers reflects the widespread popularity of the sport.
“I’ve been playing with my kids since they were 7, but I can also get out there and play with my dad, who’s almost 80,” Palmer said.
It is a way to exercise and stay active for both seniors and youth.
“Any time you take a population that is more sedentary and they come into a sport and they’re active, the benefits are good, overall,” Palmer said. “Cardio health, mental health, they’re looking at it going, ‘This is definitely something that we love to promote,’ and they want to see it grow, too.”
While a distinct youth movement has made the average age about 35, adults and seniors have been a major part of pickleball’s initial growth.
“I see the amount of players growing as the kids are getting very into it now and as they grow up with it and keep playing,” said Wendi Sobelman, an avid pickleball player. “I’m watching 12-year-olds play in tournaments.
“So I think a lot more people are going to get into it now that the ‘youngins’ are because they used to think it’s just for the older crowd.”
Pickleball enthusiasts will say that the game is easy to learn and play for anyone, regardless of age.
“Whether you are older or younger, you can actually play together because a lot of it has to do with where you’re placing the ball,” Palmer said. “So physically, it’s very engaging, and you can make of it how much you want. I could have a match where it’s a 2-mile match, or I could be playing a little bit more conservative.”
The level of strategy needed for the sport makes it easy to play. And it depends more on touch, reflexes and court positioning than pure athleticism.
“The game actually takes a lot of strategy because you’re playing on a much smaller court,” Palmer said. “It’s about a third of the size of a tennis court. So you have less time to react. You still have a ball that goes really fast. But if you can kind of see where the ball could go and place it away from somebody, then you have a good chance.”
Although the low difficulty of the sport is a major draw, other facets keep players come back for more.
“Creating a social group and getting to meet new people grows the sport,” said Caiden Hardy, who works for Center Court Pickleball Club. “It just gets you out on the court.”
Regardless of the timeline pickleball faces to become a sanctioned high school sport, most believe it will continue to grow at an exponential rate due to the community it has already built, and its uniqueness.
“I would just say, give it a try,” Palmer said. “I’ve never had anyone – and I’ve taught over 3,500 people – leave and say, ‘I didn’t like that.’”
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