Pickleball Has a Growing Number of Fans across Canada

Who would have thought that a sport combining tennis, badminton, ping-pong would explode in popularity in North America? Well, it has, and the fan base is ever growing in the last couple of years. If you are a newcomer to the sport that is Pickleball, be warned that it can get really addictive. Once you start playing it, you get hooked. You are going to want to play daily and then addiction sets in. The sport is popular in Canada with most players being over 40 years old.

Pickleball is North America’s fastest-growing sport in the last eight years, and still going strong. It is estimated that the number of players in Canada (the entire North America, in general) has increased from 60,000 to 105,000 people. Not to mention the number of Pickleball courts have increased from 2,000 to 6,000 in the same time span. The same applies to the number of places one can play in North America, which has since risen from 800 to 2,000 in the past four years.

The sport has gained massive popularity due to its beauty of combining ping-pong, badminton and tennis together to form one easy and enjoyable sport. These three sports have elements that are popular among seniors. Hence by combining the sports to create one beautiful sport that is Pickleball, makes it less taxing physically – all the more reason why it is popular among seniors in the US and the small of Canada, above 40 years of age, both male and female players alike.

For the record, Pickleball was originally invented in the US and in particular, Washington State. That was in 1965. The reason for its invention was just for the enjoyment of the family. It was more of a family sport than a national sport. Pickleball grew popular and by 1990, almost 50 states in the US were playing it. The fan base grew larger, and it crossed over to North America, particularly in Canada, where it exploded in popularity. The Pickleball game is simple to play.

This easy-to-play paddle game is played on a badminton sized court, where a slow-moving but perforated ball is thrown over a tennis-type net. What mostly adds to the broad appeal of the game is the underhand serving and the fact that players can play doubles (much like in Tennis). The game has its own special rules all which must be adhere to. The first team that reaches 11 points gets to win the game, with a two-point spread. It is a fascinating and interesting sport.

According to Pickleball ambassadors in Canada, who represent the national and provincial associations on every region, the estimated number of Canadians playing the sport currently are almost 12,000 up from a mere 6,000 Canadians who played the sport in the past three years or so. So the growth of the Pickleball sport has doubled in Canada.