(Not so much Mad Libs as mad … libs? Sorry, sorry.) Last week, for example, in the aforementioned West Village, city officials condemned some unofficial pickleball courts in Seravalli Playground after the hyperlocal press reported on ongoing territorial clashes between the racket enthusiasts and local kiddos trying to ride trikes or shoot hoops on the blacktop. Public space can be scarce, changes to it are expensive, and parks and rec departments have lately been tasked with finding ways to multiply accommodations for a surging pickleball interest-only to wind up sowing community division instead. New local courts have brought people together, but they’ve also torn town hall meetings apart. Shooting ranges and bike shops alike have made space to welcome pickleball-seeking brethren.Īnd all that popularity has also presented some growing pains.

Sprawling food/drink/dink concepts with names like Chicken N Pickle, Pickle & Chill, and Pints & Paddle (and nicknames like “ the Taj Mahal of pickleball”) have proliferated across the U.S.

And influencers and investors alike have taken notice, releasing opportunistic merch and scouting real estate. In 20, pickleball’s participation numbers increased by 39 percent, according to February data from the Sports & Fitness Industry Association. In March, Town and Country ran a feature with the headline “Move Over, Tennis: How Pickleball Became the Preferred Sport of The One Percent,” and the subheading “Brené Brown, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Larry David are all playing-are you?” In November, people ranging from Will Ferrell to Kelly Rowland played in a televised pickleball showcase hosted by Stephen Colbert.īut pickleball has piqued the interest of curious normies too, young and old, whether in places like Florida’s the Villages or Manhattan’s West Village. Spieth running around like a mad man, microphone in hand (That story also mentions John Mellencamp’s daughter Teddi, who is a real housewife of Beverly Hills and a pickleball cover girl.) Matthew Perry name-dropped Amanda Peet in a New York Times piece about the rise of the sport in and around Hollywood. (It yielded amateur magic.) LeBron James and Tom Brady have ownership stakes in professional pickleball teams, as does thirsty boy Gary Vaynerchuk.

Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Romo, and Jordan Spieth played in a charity match this fall. This year, the sport has generated steady headlines and captions (and texts from one’s mom) that sound as though they could be a sports and entertainment Mad Libs. My mom whooped some Steelers in pickleball today lol /FoHbGXCGtu- Nat June 12, 2022Īnd classic pickleball, too! The chatty and staccato racket sport that threads tenets of tennis, ping pong, wiffleball, badminton, speed dating, and Pro Kadima has proven adept at getting noteworthy folks together to say cheese-especially in 2022.

Pickle by kim baker