soon become a must-have onboard
activity,” he says. “It is super easy to
learn to play, great fun for all ages,
and creates camaraderie among fellow
shipmates.”
Tino Carrillo, the Volendam’s
Assistant Cruise Director who overseas
all of the ship’s onboard sports—table
tennis, shuffleboard, basketball, and
pickleball —says the latter has been
a hit with the ship’s mostly older
clientele.
“You typically play doubles, so it’s less
tiring than some other sports,” he says.
“It’s more accessible for everybody. It’s
something fresh and new that more and
more people are enjoying playing.”
This particular sailing of the
Volendam started in Hong Kong and
ended in Shanghai, with stops along
the way in the Philippines, Taiwan and
Japan.
Many of the ship’s nearly 1,400
passengers, representing 34 countries,
had never heard of the sport. But there
was a hardcore group of pickleball
fanatics who would show up on sea
days for open play or tournaments. And
some passengers came out of curiosity
to check out a game they knew only for
its rather peculiar name.
“My wife and I are in the early stages
of planning our first cruise adventure,”
says Thomas. “We are not even
considering ships without pickleball.”
Adapted from Dan Fellner’s article “Pickleball
at Sea? Cruise Ships with Courts,” which first
appeared in the April 8, 2018, edition of The
Arizona Republic.
Dan Fellner of Chandler, Arizona, is a faculty
associate at Arizona State University, a freelance
travel writer and an avid pickleball player. Visit his
website at global-travel-info.com.
ONE OF THE WORLD’S
LARGEST COUNTRIES IS
HOT FOR PICKLEBALL
ndia has clearly embraced the
sport of pickleball. The old and
historic city of Nanded, located
about 350 miles from Mumbai,
is the newest hotbed for the
game. With a literacy rate of nearly
88 percent, it’s a highly progressive
city. And this is clearly evident with
Nanded’s eagerness to accept and help
grow a new sport like pickleball.
The All India Pickleball Association
(AIPA) led by its General Secretary,
Sunil Walavalkar, reported that this
year’s State Championship saw the
largest player participation to date. The
prolific growth of pickleball in parts
of India like Maharashtra and across
Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu,
Haryana, Jharkhand, West Bengal,
Rajasthan and some other states
reflects a strong love for the game
in all cross sections of society in the
seventh largest country in the world.
The AIPA, along with its most
enthusiastic players, is instrumental
in the promotion, development and
enhanced enjoyment of pickleball
in India. However, the game did not
find its way into the cou