In 2018 , after playing pickleball just two weeks , Scott was hooked on the game . So , he packed his paddles to take on the road while traveling to NBA games , using
Places2Play . org to find courts wherever the basketball season took him . Each trip he asked his referee crew to join him on the pickleball courts .
“ Everywhere I go , I ’ ve found great people , great courts and the appropriate play level ,” says Scott . “ One of the courts in Hermosa Beach , California , has become a second home — I know more people there than I do at home in Maryland . And some of the best indoor courts I play at are in Salt Lake City and Denver .”
It became a way of life for Scott while traveling for the NBA .
When he heard he was going to spend his summer living in The Bubble , Scott wondered how the refs would fill their time between games .
“ If we were going to be assigned to work the finals , I would be in The Bubble for 100 days ,” he explains . “ I would work 22 games over that many days — and with training days , camps and games , only 27 days would be accounted for . So I brought my net , paddles and balls , and after we were released from our seven-day quarantine , I was chalking up a space to play pickleball .”
About half of the 45 NBA refs play pickleball each day , for an average of three hours on game days , and sometimes in the afternoons on non-game days . Plus , some of the camera crew , photographers , statisticians , media personalities and other staff members have also joined in on the fun .
Referee Tyler Ford says , “ Normally , when I ’ m on a 10- day road trip , I ’ m ready to go home , but with pickleball I haven ’ t thought that way . It has occupied a lot of time and has been competitive .”
When Disney and the NBA heard how popular the sport was getting in The Bubble , they set up another court in the parking lot to allow for more players to jump in .
But living in The Bubble doesn ’ t mean it ’ s pickleball all the time . There ’ s a lot of effort that goes into preparing to be a ref on the court for each game . “ We always have a day-of-game meeting to review plays , talk about the teams we have that night and player tendencies , so we ’ re prepared ,” says ref Josh Tiven .
Pickleball has been a godsend for the NBA referees and staff living in The Bubble away from their families . They are excited to get back home , and plan to continue playing the sport on their home courts . •
Scott Foster plays a match with fellow NBA colleagues .