Pickleball Magazine 2-4 Courtesy of Pickleball Central | Page 44

PICKLEBALL
+ RVING = FUN!
Become
acquainted
with this
easy-to-learn,
fun-to-play
court sport
that is taking
the RV world
by storm.
BY ALAN NEFF
I
received my first real exposure to pickleball during
the winter season of 2010-2011 at RiverBend
Motorcoach Resort near Fort Myers, Florida. A friend
encouraged a few of us to try a new sport he enjoyed.
Little did I know what I was in for!
We strung up a temporary net between two golf carts
and taped off a single court on an unused parking lot. It
caught on like wildfire! Soon we had 20 to 30 folks wanting
to play — bikes and golf carts would line the parking lot as
residents watched the action. Some of us had no clue what
we were doing, but we knew that we loved this addicting,
fastpaced sport.
As our group
expanded, we
asked that one of
the unused tennis
courts be repaved
and repurposed into
four permanent
pickleball courts.
The homeowners
association board
resisted, but we were
undeterred. A pickleball
42
club was formed, and we raised about $25,000 to build the
courts.
The rest is history. RiverBend now has eight dedicated
pickleball courts, which are played on seven days a week.
Nearly a third of the park’s residents play pickleball. The
courts have helped to attract renters, and have become a
selling point for lot buyers.
But where did pickleball really begin? Why is it so
popular? Why is it so addictive? What’s the future of
pickleball? Finally, if you haven’t yet tried this unbelievably
popular sport, why not?
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ORIGINS
The roots of
pickleball can be traced
to the summer of 1965.
One weekend, two
families gathered at the
home of Washington
state congressman
Joel Pritchard on
Bainbridge Island,
Washington, near
Seattle. He and a
friend, businessman