Photos by Jessi Flowers
“ I played for the first time in Illinois and thought , man this is great . For about a year there were no courts in Moultrie . I went to Thomasville two to three days a week to play . I also converted my old tennis court and taped lines on it .” ~ Dr . Seth Berl
A few home courts have also popped up , including Berl ’ s , who got rid of the tape and converted his old , cracked tennis court into three lighted , regulation-sized pickleball courts where many serious competitors train .
Moultrie isn ’ t the only community that has fallen in love with this new sport . By the end of 2021 , the USA Pickleball Association had over 52,000 registered members across the nation in one of its fastest growing years to date .
Major League Pickleball ( MLP ) was also founded in 2021 , and has caught the interest of several well known names .
Football star Tom Brady owns the Axios Tampa Bay MLP team . Supermodel Heidi Klum is part owner of Chicago Slice , and Olympian Michael Phelps owns a portion of AZ Drive .
Basketball player LeBron James , with business partner Maverick Carter , a sports-marketing businessman , have also recently entered the world of pickleball . They purchased a team for the 2023 season , though the name has yet to be released .
Even tennis players are making the switch . Serena Williams , who holds the most single , double , and mixed titles , now is part owner of professional pickleball team , the Lions , with billionaire businessman Marc Lasry .
> What is pickleball , and why is it so popular ?
Originally , an old backyard badminton court combined with some perforated plastic balls and ping pong paddles became the first equipment used in the sport as the trio of fathers from Washington state finalized the rules and created the world ’ s newest racquet sport .
Today , the court is 44 feet by 20 feet set up with a line 7 feet away from the net on each side , known as the kitchen , and then split evenly down the middle to the base line starting from the kitchen line .
The net is set at 36 inches at the side posts and is not allowed to sag more than 2 inches at center . No matter if a match is being played singles or doubles , the court size remains the same , which is why the majority of the time the game is played doubles .
Also , since its initial invention , there are now official USA Pickleball Association approved paddles and balls .
“ There are over 1,000 approved paddles ,” said Berl . “ You can buy a $ 10 or a $ 350 paddle . For beginners it won ’ t make one bit of difference on how they play .”
JUNE 2023 MoultrieScene 27