Megan Charity is asked to describe her sport so often that she has the answer down to a tee. She should wear it on a signboard.
Charity, a former tennis player from South Africa who is ranked 16th in the world, said that pickleball is like pingpong on steroids. Imagine standing on a pingpong table. That is what it feels like.
The fastest-growing recreational sport in the U.S. is called pickleball, which is played on a tiny court with little racquets called paddles, and a light ball that looks like a large lump of Swiss cheese.
Who plays it?
The average age of the nearly four million players in the U.S. is 43.5). And for children. For former U.S. soccer star Julie Foudy and others. Russell Wilson is the quarterback of the Denver Broncos.
Charity says that the game is so accessible to play that everyone can walk on the court and have a fun game regardless of age or athletic ability.
Most people feel like awesome athletes when they play a sport. It is easy to start playing.
The top team in the world right now is a mom and her daughter. That shows how easypickleball is. You can play with your grandchild on the same court and have a great time.
It is addictive. There is something about the game that just disappears once you start playing. It can feel like 30 minutes if you step on the court. It is an opportunity to forget about your worries and have fun with your friends.
Charity warns thatunderestimating the competitive nature of the rec centre grannies can be dangerous. She picked up the game when she was an elite tennis player on a scholarship to Campbellsville University in Kentucky, and even she had a hard time getting a point off Aunt Martha and Uncle Bob.
A lot of older people play a game. We were by far the youngest when we tried it one day. It was fun, but also frustrating, because we weren't able to win a game against these guys.
I thought I could come out there and dominate, but I couldn't get a game off them. It was frustrating, but it shows that the game is very tactical and you need to understand how the game is played in order to really win points.
How is the game played?
You serve from below the waist on the baseline court. The serve cannot bounce inside the net called the Kitchen and you can't volley the ball in that area.
The game is played behind the net if you are standing in the Kitchen area, and about 70% of the game is played at that line.
The no-volley zone requires a lot of drop shots because the ball must bounce before you can hit it. Either that, or the players are going to leather the ball as hard as they can at your face and hope you either paddle it back or get out the way.
The ball is similar to a wiffle ball, so you can hit it hard and it will land in. There are a lot of volley rallies just behind the Kitchen line, which is fun because you are at the net smacking the ball back and forth with your friends.
The key to winning the point is to get to the net quickly, says Charity, who recommends that emerging players practice their approach shot to the net. A shot from the baseline lands in the kitchen on the opposite side of the net. That shot allows you to come to the net quickly and establish your presence at the net.
The first team to 11 points wins the game. It can go up to 25 points per game in tournament play.
Meg Charity and her doubles partner demonstrate how to stay in the kitchen and win the point.
Is the money being shown to players?
Everyone can play this sport, but is there a tournament circuit? Is there a league? Can you win money?
Charity says there were two pro tours in 2019. The game has seen tremendous growth since the launch of the pro tours. There are more than 40 pro tournaments across the two pro tours, so there are a lot of tournaments around.
They are all in the U.S. There are one in Canada, one in England, and one in Spain. There is a tournament in Thailand, but I don't think it is connected to the two main pro tours.
Tom Dundon, the owner of the Carolina Hurricanes, invested more than $70 million into the Alliance of American Football.
It is getting so advanced that events are televised and players have proper coaches. Charity, who supplements her income by coaching the game herself, is mentored by a former tennis player and coach who speaks of her tactics and technique like a tennis pro.
Her patience has improved according to Grigg. She likes to attack and she likes to be aggressive on the piece, so I helped with being a little bit more patient and setting the plan up to work on some strategy.
We are definitely seeing her forehand wing improve. Her strength has always been her backhand. We have been working on being able to drive the ball a bit more on the forehand side.
South Africa's Meg Charity is ranked 16th in the world in pickleball singles.
The money is not on a par with tennis, and Charity needs to supplement her income through her Topgolf-style business called Rally, which hosts social events that combine beer and food.
She said that they have eight pickleball courts with a full restaurant, bar, beer garden and a full social environment experience. I work full-time and then I play pickleball to complement that.
The US Open has been the main tournament on the calendar for a long time, but will change as the sport develops.
The US Open used to be the tournament to really go all out, but since the launch of those two pro racquetball tours, thePPA and APP, they have gone above and beyond.
All the tennis facilities will be converted into dedicated pickle courts. That is not in this world. The US Open used to be the best. The Nationals tournament was held at Indian Wells.
They convert their tennis courts into 50-something pickleball courts every November or December. The tours have done an incredible job of making this a first class event.
It is an American thing, right?
Mostly, but not completely. Charity is the vice-president of Pickleball South Africa, which is in her home country of South Africa.
The World Pickleball Games are set to take place at the aptly named Pickle Ranch in Texas this May. They hope that the tournament provides a format for future Olympic inclusion.
Charity is trying to get the sport included in the Olympics. This was one of the reasons why she decided to spread pickleball in South Africa.
South Africa became the 64th country to join the International Federation of Pickleball. This was in October of last year. Charity said that the International Federation of Pickleball just announced that they had added the 70th country to their programme.
The goal is to get pickleball into the Olympics. The game needs to be played in 75 countries. We are not far away from that. We are very close to meeting those requirements.
Hopefully, pickleball will be introduced in the Olympics. Hopefully, I will be able to compete for South Africa, which would be awesome.
Charity is not the only decent player from South Africa on the circuit in the U.S. Lynn Kiro is the Director of Racquets at Glen Ridge Country Club in New Jersey, and she also plays tennis.
Kiro's brother was living in South Carolina when she picked up the game. They were playing almost every day at that hub. I fell in love with the sport. I thought, "Why not?" I am a very competitive person.
After giving up on her tennis dream, Charity invested in pickleball because of her competitive spirit and lifetime of playing sports. It took her a couple of years to get into it, but now she is the game's biggest advocate.
I think that the game is so easy to play that the hope is that everyone will own a paddle, just like they would running shoes.
The hope is that the game grows so fast that everyone plays. Everyone is a pickleball player, they just don't know it yet.
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