backcourt
By Seymour Rifkind
PRESIDENT OF THE WORLD PICKLEBALL FEDERATION (WPF)
World Pickleball Federation (WPF), founded in 2018
by Seymour Rifkind, was created to help grow pickleball
globally with the end goal of getting the game into the
Olympics. In order for the sport to qualify, it must be
widely practiced by men in at least 75 countries and on
four continents, and by women in no fewer than 40
countries and on three continents. Currently, there
are more than 3.5 million players in the USA, and the
game has been expanding with play introduced in 55
countries.
WPF has introduced the first World Pickleball Day on
10.10.20 to raise awareness and introduce the sport to
new players globally. Every club in the world is invited
to host a taster session to promote pickleball’s social
inclusion and health benefits, as well as demonstrate
how much fun and friendly the game is. World Pickleball
Day falls on a Saturday, so families are encouraged to join
the taster sessions together.
Why was 10.10.20 selected for World Pickleball Day?
“Because every doubles pickleball game starts with
the score announced as zero, zero, two. Since 10.10.20
includes the score, it seemed the perfect date for our
first World Pickleball Day,” says Rifkind.
WPF has developed a toolbox of items available to
individual clubs to promote this special day. To access
World Pickleball Day!
the toolbox—which includes a logo, banners, posters,
t-shirt designs, and brochures covering the health
benefits, rules and history of pickleball and more—
visit https://worldpickleballfederation.org/worldpickleball-day.
Within a week of the World Pickleball Day
announcement, the site had toolbox downloads from
the USA, Canada, Tonga, Hong Kong, India, Romania,
Pakistan, Sweden, and Spain as well as Australia, Brazil,
China, England, and France.
Mr. Qingmin Wang, founder of the China Pickleball
Federation, discovered pickleball during a trip to Oregon
in 2009. Now there are approximately 16,000 players
in China. Mr. Wang says, “Just imagine how many new
players we could have in 10 years if all the new players
introduced on the first World Pickleball Day introduced
10 new players in year 2, and they introduced 10 new
players in year 3, and so on!”
If social distancing or other restrictions are still in
place Oct. 10, you can watch livestreamed matches from
Dreamland in Dripping Springs, Texas. Owner Steve
Kuhn has arranged for eight professional players to play
on World Pickleball Day. They include Ben Johns, Collin
Johns, Kyle Yates and Wes Gabrielsen as well as Corrine
Carr, Irina Tereschenko, Catherine Paranteau and
Darija Klaic.
SEND US YOUR WORLD PICKLEBALL DAY PHOTOS!
Pickleball Magazine invites you to submit your World Pickleball Day photos! We will publish them in a future issue.
Send your photos to [email protected]. Please put “World Pickleball Day” in the Subject line of your email.
Please include the location of the photo. Thank you!
72 TO SUBSCRIBE, CALL 888.308.3720 OR GO TO PICKLEBALLMAGAZINE.COM