Pickleball courts are popping up all over the area.

They’re the ones populated by people of all ages who have fallen under the spell of a sport played on a small court, 44 feet long by 20 feet wide, with paddles — not rackets — and a plastic ball with holes in it.

According to Larry Gioia, an advanced player and founder of Side’aht Pickleball, an organization that promotes the sport in Pittsburgh, there are 120 unique venues in which to play pickleball in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

The venues include public courts and parks, members-only venues (such as private country clubs) and public membership organizations with drop-in play (such as YMCAs). Those venues account for 316 individual courts, he said.

“You’re seeing demand outpace supply. As a result, you’re seeing courts popping up everywhere,” Gioia said. “You’re seeing dedicated tennis facilities being repurposed for pickleball. You’re seeing community centers being used for pickleball. There is a lot of that happening.”

Cranberry courts forever

If there is a mecca for pickleball in the area, it’s in Cranberry, home of the Cranberry Township Pickleball Association, an all-volunteer organization that is part of Cranberry’s Parks and Recreation Department. The township’s UPMC Passavant Sportsplex at Graham Park has 13 courts built specifically for the sport with plans to expand to 19 when two adjacent tennis courts will be converted to six more pickleball courts.

It all began with a decision by Bruce Mazzoni, founder and co-director of CTPA, to make a substantial investment in pickleball facilities for the township’s extensive sports complex.

“I wanted some dedicated courts. I knew that a lot of people enjoyed pickleball,” Mazzoni said. “We used to have to draw lines with chalk at the tennis courts or literally on the road to play pickleball.”

In the beginning, the township wanted to start small, Mazzoni said.

“Originally, (the township) planned it with four pickleball courts. I said to design it with eight (courts), and they literally laughed at me,” he said. “The township was thinking, ‘What a waste of space and money.’ ”

That was in the spring of 2018. Four years later, CTPA has 1,050 members who pay between $80 and $120 for a yearlong membership. There are 300 people on a waiting list to join. When the $1 million expansion to 19 courts — including an air dome over the six new courts — is complete, the total number of members will expand to 1,500.

“We feel it’s very important to help grow our sport,” Mazzoni said. “Half of our members are beginners, so it’s very important to help them improve their game if they want that. We find as people improve to the next level they’re more likely to renew as a member.

“What makes pickleball great is it’s an easy sport to learn.”

Where did pickleball come from?

It’s been said that necessity is the mother of invention. And that’s one way to explain how pickleball — the fastest-growing sport in America, according to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association — was invented.

According to usapickleball.org, it happened in 1965 after Joel Pritchard, a U.S. congressman, and his friend Bill Bell played golf. They returned to Pritchard’s house on Bainbridge Island, Wash., and were confronted by their families, who were bored because they had been left with nothing to do.

The property had an old badminton court and not much else. The dads couldn’t find enough rackets to play a game, so they improvised with pingpong paddles and a plastic Wiffle ball — and pickleball was born.

Now, 57 years later, pickleball has nearly 5 million participants nationwide. The sport has grown 39.3% over the past two years, according to a 2022 report released by the Sports & Fitness Industry Association.

“The issue we’re having is there’s not enough playing space for the demand right now. It’s insane,” said Giuseppe Francioni, an ambassador for USA Pickleball who lives in Aspinwall, where he successfully proposed adding pickleball facilities.

• Lawrenceville grandmother unwittingly plays pickleball with Steelers T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith, Minkah Fitzpatrick

“Where I used to play tennis as a youth and into my 30s was over at Washington’s Landing, and I’ve heard that they’re going to turn a lot of those courts into pickleball courts.”

Mt. Lebanon is another municipality that’s looking to create more opportunities for people to play pickleball.

“We’re finding that our residents are looking for places in Mt. Lebanon to play pickleball. They’ve definitely been vocal,” said Laura Pace Lilley, Mt. Lebanon public information officer. “In our recent parks master plan, 33% of respondents said they wanted pickleball programming. So, the consideration is how do we deliver that in the best possible way.”

Lilley said the challenge is balancing the interest in pickleball with the interest in tennis. In Mt. Lebanon, tennis is very popular. “Those courts are revenue producing, so if they converted them to something they would need to remain revenue producing.”

Why is it called pickleball?

It’s a good question that doesn’t have a definitive answer. One story has it that the Pritchard family had a cockapoo puppy named “Pickles” who enjoyed picking up the Wiffle ball in its mouth and running off with it.

According to another story, Pritchard’s wife, Joan, had been a competitive rower and the odd nature of the game reminded her of a “pickle boat,” the name chosen for the last boat to finish a race.

Pickleball participants don’t seem to care one way or the other. All they know is they love the game.

“When people pick up this sport, they do get addicted to it,” Francioni said. “It’s like they can’t seem to get enough.”

Among those pickleball fanatics are O’Hara residents Michael Gluntz, 61, and his wife, Maureen, 58, who, like many newcomers to pickleball, picked up the sport later in life. They often play on the same Aspinwall courts created by Francioni on a surface originally built for basketball.

“I used to play tennis, and I just couldn’t play tennis anymore. The court’s too big, and it’s too much running around,” Maureen said. “I was looking for an alternative, and I heard about pickleball. So I took lessons and started playing.”

Michael followed his wife’s example and took up the sport. And now the two have formed a champion doubles team. They travel across the country and enter tournaments and finished as runner-ups in the 50-plus age bracket at the American Professional Pickleball Tournament in Cincinnati.

“I sweat more doing this than any sport we’ve ever done,” Maureen said.

Pickleball is as much about socializing as it is about sweating.

Kathy Demetri, 59, of Fox Chapel started playing pickleball seven years ago. She played competitive tennis for years as an amateur in United States Tennis Association tournaments but now devotes her free time to pickleball.

“It’s a smaller court, so I think it’s more social because we’re closer together,” Demetri said. “We talk to each other. We banter. We have fun. It’s so much more social than tennis, where you’re so far across the net. At pickleball tournaments, we play music, we can cheer. I’m known as ‘Crazy Kathy’ in the pickleball industry.”

But Demetri also is a serious pickleball competitor. She won gold in mixed doubles in her age bracket at the U.S. Open tournament last April in Naples, Fla. She also is a licensed instructor with the Professional Pickleball Registry. On a recent weekday morning, she was giving a lesson at the Pittsburgh Indoor Sports Arena in Harmar to a group ranging in age from 10-year-old Alex Gusmar to 73-year-old Ginny Merchant.

“We can have multigenerations playing together effectively because the court is small, the ball is slow. It’s manageable for mobility. So that’s an equalizer,” Demetri said. “It’s unheard of in another sport. You can pick this sport up at a proficient level within an hour, so I think that’s what gravitates people toward it.”

In fact, more and more aging tennis and racquetball players are turning to pickleball as a way to have fun, satisfy their competitive natures and stay in shape.

Tim Ackerman, 55, of North Huntingdon is a retired arborist who was a nationally ranked racquetball player before he gave up the sport. He picked up pickleball three years ago at the Hempfield Township Athletic Complex.

“I went and played and got hooked on it immediately,” Ackerman said. “I’ll play anything with a paddle. It doesn’t matter. Pickleball is primarily doubles and my forte is doubles, and that’s one of the things I liked about it.

“When it comes to pickleball, you can just stand there and not move and just hit balls or you can run around like a maniac and go for every single thing. Your level of involvement is strictly up to you. So I liked the fact that I didn’t have to kill myself and I got a good workout. It felt great to compete again.”

Francioni also was a racquetball player. But after 30 years of racquetball, he developed tendinitis and his doctor advised him to give it up.

“I saw these people in a gym playing pickleball, and I said, ‘There’s no way that sport is going to hurt me,’ and I picked up pickleball,” Francioni said. “The ball isn’t heavy. You don’t have to worry about your elbow. You don’t have to worry about tendinitis.”

Demetri believes, as others do, that pickleball will continue to grow in popularity and participation and that it will one day be an Olympic sport.

“This sport is growing exponentially. When I got into it in 2015, the pros were making no money, and now there’s money in it. It’s heading toward Olympic status for sure. It’s exciting.”

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)