On a Monday evening, the Richmond High School sports stadium transforms as adults take over the courts for a change. The consistently booked-out pickleball ‘come and try’ beginners sessions take place here every week, with participants ranging from their teens to mid-70s. The diverse assortment of strangers mingle, rally and “touch paddles” – a typical custom in pickleball etiquette that acts like a handshake at the end of a game.

Pickleball, a combination of table tennis, badminton and tennis, created in USA in the mid-1960s, started gaining popularity there in the late 2000s. The International Federation of Pickleball (IFP) was created in 2010, sending the sport global.

It wasn’t until COVID-19 times that most Australians were introduced to the peculiarly named sport. Since then, its popularity has rapidly increased. Ausport reports an estimated 155,000 Australians played pickleball in the last year, around 40,000 of those from Victoria. So, what has caused the game to be considered Australia’s fastest growing sport?

Derek Taylor, CEO of Social Sport, who runs social sport competitions in eight different sports all over Melbourne, believes that one reason may be that the nature of the game allows beginners to see vast skill improvement in a short amount of time.

“The improvement you see from a beginner at the end of one session, whether that be one or two hours, is quite incredible,” he tells upstart.

“I don’t think you see that amount of improvement in another sport, I think that’s why people find it really satisfying to play.”

Taylor believes that compared to a sport like golf, which requires hours of practice to see improvement, pickleball’s rapid skill progression contributes to that ‘addictive’ feeling so many players describe.

There are now at least six dedicated pickleball venues in Richmond alone, with a continuous influx of new players interested in seeing what the hype is all about. According to Taylor, 80 percent of participants at Social Sport’s pickleball sessions are new to the sport.

Professional pickleball player and captain of the Melbourne pro pickleball team, the Melbourne Mavericks, Aaron Blitz, is a self-confessed “fully addicted” pickleball player. Blitz started the very first pickleball club in Victoria, all the way back in 2018.

“What’s good about pickleball is that it’s really accessible, it’s easy to learn but hard to master,” he tells upstart. 

According to Pickleball Victoria, the median age of members across the state is 58. The largest age group is those aged between 60 and 69, making up 33 percent of members. The oldest member is 89.

Blitz recounts a tournament he attended where three generations of players all played in the same game. This is one of its benefits, he says.

“I can go to tournaments or play with people in a social setting that are 80 years old and still have fun … If I want to go have a hit with my grandfather, I can.”

A pickleball court is significantly smaller than a tennis court and has a slightly lower net. While professional pickleball requires quick, explosive movements and can be physically intense, the game can be easily tailored to any fitness level.

“There’s a lot of retirement villages now that instead of building a tennis court, they can put four pickleball courts in and get 16 people on those courts instead of four,” Blitz says.

While Pickleball Victoria has seen a 331 percent growth in members since 2023, some people question whether the sport will sustain this popularity. All signs point to yes. And not just in Australia. Over 48 million Americans reported playing pickleball in the last 12 months – that’s almost double the whole population of Australia. In the UK, pickleball memberships grew 65 percent in the last year, with an estimated 40,000 players in England alone. In 2024, pickleball debuted in the African Games in Ghana, where nine countries from across Africa competed in the tournament. China has also caught wind of the new sport, expecting to have over 10,000 pickleball courts and an estimated 100 million players within the next five years.

Endorsed by celebrities like Katy Perry and Ellen DeGeneres, pickleball keeps popping up across pop culture. It’s mentioned several times across five different US ‘Real Housewives’ series and is featured heavily in the popular reality show, ‘The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’. Last month Apple Original Films announced they had acquired a new sports comedy movie, ‘The Dink’. Produced by Ben Stiller and featuring cast members like Jake Johnson and Chloe Fineman, the movie can only help catapult pickleball into another stratosphere.

Pickleball!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/xWOLiyIbNg

— The Ellen Show (@TheEllenShow) April 19, 2023

Meanwhile, Richmond pickleball sessions are continuously booked out with players of all ages. Social Sport has just introduced a second time slot for the Richmond ‘come and try’ sessions due to increasing demand. The Richmond social league also shows no signs of slowing down, with demand only continuing to grow.

“It’s not like squash or padel where it costs you $100,000 to put a court in, which is what restricts the growth of these sports,” Blitz says.

He says that pickleball only requires a paddle, a net and a plastic ball, available at any sports shop, and chalk can be used to draw the lines.

“It’s very cheap to play, it’s very easy to get the equipment. I think it’s only going to continue growing.”

Article: Amy Ditcham is a third-year Media and Communications (Journalism) student at La Trobe University. You can follow her on X @amyditcham_

Photo: by Mason Tuttle found here and used under a Creative Commons license.