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Pickleball craze picks up speed
Easier than tennis The game is easier than tennis because the court is much smaller (20 feet by 44 feet), and the net is shorter, just 36 inches high. “It’s a lot easier to pick up than tennis — it’s easier on your body,” said Howard “Howdy” Knipp, a retired teacher and coach at the St. Paul’s Schools. Knipp, 66, picked up the game three years ago. “Here I am teaching it, but I’ve never
NOVEMBER 2022
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PHOTO COURTESY OF KIKI ALDER
By Margaret Foster Pickleball — a game that early on attracted mostly older adults at senior centers — is now the fastest-growing sport in America and the country’s newest major league sport. It’s attracting the rich and famous: George Clooney, Stephen Colbert and author Brené Brown are avid picklers, along with other celebrities like Phil Mickelson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Larry David, Melinda Gates, Jamie Foxx, the Kardashians, Owen Wilson and Jillian Michaels. Basketball superstar LeBron James announced last month that he’s investing in Major League Pickleball, bringing the number of its teams to 16 next year, the league’s third year in existence. Of course, you don’t have to be a member of the glitterati to play pickleball. Many average Baltimoreans over age 50 have picked up a paddle and found the sport to be easier than it looks. “It’s really not that strenuous,” said Bob Eney, a USA Pickleball Association ambassador. “I’m a little on the heavy side, but I still play.” Eney, 77, plays three or four times a week at the outdoor courts at the South Carroll Senior Center in Sykesville. “When I started playing in 2010, we only had a handful of people, and now we’ve completely run out of space for people to play,” Eney said. “It just blew up. It’s unbelievable.” Pickleball was apparently invented in 1965 by three fathers on Bainbridge Island, Washington, just outside of Seattle. Their children were bored one summer, so they blended elements of ping-pong, tennis and racquetball, dubbing the mishmash “pickleball” after the randomized “pickle boat” crews in rowing.
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Members of the Northern Baltimore Pickleball Club play the game — an amalgam of ping pong, tennis and racquetball — as often as they can. “It’s easy to learn,” said Towson resident Kiki Alder, who co-founded the club during the pandemic.
taken a lesson. I just have learned by playing,” he said. A longtime Roland Park resident, Knipp teaches free classes for new picklers at Seminary Park in Lutherville-Timonium. “I have one rule when I coach: If they don’t like to laugh, go home. I tell the newbies, ‘Look, you’re playing with a wiffle ball, and the game is called pickleball, so you can’t take the game too seriously,’” Knipp said. “It’s very social. The games are over in 12, 15 minutes. At the end of two hours, you’ve had half a dozen different partners.” Kiki Alder, a Towson resident who formed the Northern Baltimore Pickleball Club during the pandemic, said that the high-speed matches allow men and women of all back-
grounds and levels to play together. “The great thing about pickleball is that the games are fast —as opposed to tennis, when you’re stuck with the same people, so they’re more inclusive,” said Alder, who plays tennis and golf. “We love it so much. There’s always something new to learn,” she added. Gene Fritzel, 72, a retired Baltimore Police officer and Lutherville resident, is one of the Northern Baltimore Pickleball Club’s essential volunteers. He’s at the Seminary Park courts every morning, setting up the portable nets, introducing new players, and starting the See PICKLEBALL, page 20
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