Pickleball tournament in Cranberry draws nearly 500 players vying for chance to compete in nationals
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The name of the game is certainly odd — there are no cucumbers soaked in brine and vinegar involved — but the elements of pickleball and the pace of play are instantly recognizable.
Drawing on tennis, badminton and ping-pong, the fast-paced but easy-to-learn game is rapidly growing in popularity across the region. It’s played with a solid paddle and a perforated plastic ball similar to a whiffle ball. The court is one-third the size of a tennis court with the net lowered to 34 inches.
From June 4-6, the first Pickleball North Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship at Cranberry Township’s Graham Park drew more than 475 competitors. Players competed in singles and doubles matches grouped by age, gender and skill level, making up more than 80 classifications. They were vying for a chance to play in the national championships in Indian Wells, Calif., in December.
“We’ve never been able to hold the tournament in Pennsylvania because there wasn’t a facility large enough to host it,” said Barry Watkiss of Cranberry Township Pickleball Association, which organized the event. “The complex in Cranberry is now the largest in the five states that make up the organization’s North Mid-Atlantic region, which covers Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, West Virginia and New Jersey.”
Township spokeswoman Tina Fedko said the municipality installed the 13 courts in Graham Park in 2017 as part of the nonprofit Cranberry Township Community Chest’s Project of the Year, which also included new basketball and tennis courts.
“Including the pickleball in the Community Chest project that year was really the brainchild of Supervisor Bruce Mazzoni,” she said. “He spends part of the winters in Florida where pickleball is a craze, so he wanted to bring that same kind of energy to Cranberry.”
The township’s pickleball league has more than 800 members.
The number of courts around the region have grown steadily in recent years, as shown on PittsburghPickleball.net, from community centers such as Lauri Ann West in O’Hara to the Pittsburgh Indoor Sports Arena in Harmar. Last week, the city of Pittsburgh opened three courts in Frick Park, joining courts in Schenley Park and the North Side. Private clubs have been adding pickleball, sometimes converting tennis courts.
From Aug. 6-8, the 2021 Gamma Pickleball Classic will be held inside the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Downtown Pittsburgh.
Pickleball was invented in 1965 on Bainbridge Island near Seattle, Wash., by three dads whose kids were bored with summer activities, according to USA Pickleball.
There are more than 3.3 million pickleball players in the United States, according to the national association.
Accounts of how the game got its name differ.
The wife of one of the inventors said she started calling the game pickleball because the melding of three sports reminded her of the “pickle” boat in crew, in which oarsman were selected from the leftover members of other boats.
But one of the game’s inventors said it was named after one of the other man’s dog, Pickles.