PickleballCANADA
WILL VANCOUVER ’ S NEXT LULULEMON COME OUT OF JERICHO BEACH ?
At the edge of a rainforest near Jericho Beach , Vancouver , there ’ s an old gymnasium where a mysterious session has been hosted almost every Friday since last autumn , titled , “ Can Pickleball Save the World ?”
It begins with this premise : Pickleball is a young game still in search of an identity . Watching the pro tour each week , we ’ re reminded that the game ’ s ultimate expression remains to be discovered .
Likewise , pickleball culture remains a blank slate . Deep down , we ’ re drawn to pickleball because we believe it can still become anything . In the meantime , we bring our baggage from other sports . Pickleball style is derivative of golf and tennis — with vague notes of
Vancouver pickleball represents an intersection between Canada , Cascadia , and the Pacific Rim . Clockwise : Quentin Fong mixes Niko Sherpa joggers with a classic Canada Goose wool toque ; Colleen Mallett plays with the sweet spot where Nike meets Versace , and Ginger becomes Mary Ann ; Karen Quan stitches together functional layers from colorful fabrics straight off the clearance table ; Lisa Yang creates the persona of an assassin through flowers and bling and vivid pink .
PHOTO BY TALLULAH
1970s school gym strip . It ’ s cobbled together from leftovers .
In Vancouver , which birthed Arc ’ teryx , Herschel Supply and Lululemon , there is a belief that a similarly distinct global pickleball aesthetic will eventually emerge .
Chip Wilson , who started Lululemon and built a pickleball court at his home in Vancouver , suggests it might be too soon : “ Pickleball strikes me as a game where — similar to gyms in the late ‘ 90s — people wore all kinds of stuff . And it ’ s mostly older players who haven ’ t changed their athletic clothing in five or six years . It just isn ’ t enough of a scene — yet .”
Thus , the style remains open for interpretation . Karen Quan , who plays pickleball throughout Vancouver , consciously rejected the gherkin motifs and dinking puns .
“ Literal interpretation is never a good thing ,” she said . She also rejected the idea that pickleball should look like other sports . “ Tennis dresses are too short for most women in the pickleball demographic . Golf skirts — too long . The pickleball dress falls in between .”
Quan ’ s notion of a pickleball dress is really an infinite combination of meticulously coordinated layers : “ I made long sleeve , floral print , mesh knit overdresses for some sun protection , and they work as an extra layer of warmth too for cooler
By Chris Koentges
months .” She added gloves , scarves , toques , and fur leggings for cooler temperatures .
Pickleball was born in the Pacific NW . It ’ s practiced in rain and snow , in headlamps , Cowichan sweaters , and trail runners with Vibram soles on slushy December surfaces . Mixed doubles can resemble a gathering of fur trappers , Everest guides and assassins straight out of “ Kill Bill .”
While tennis buried Serena ’ s vision of an aesthetic , the seeds of that style have blossomed in Vancouver .
Colleen Mallett will layer Sacai , Versace , and the vintage 1970s burnt orange of an enigmatic local pickleball school , deliberately challenging dichotomy between casual and formal . Her JOOLA paddle cover is bedazzled with local rec legend Lisa Yang ’ s trademark combination of rhinestones , sourced from remote corners of Alibaba . “ I think of myself as a mixture of Ginger and Mary Ann ,” said Mallett .
Somehow she exists in perfect harmony beside Quentin Fong , who feels like a grizzly bear on the left side . Which is all to say , Vancouver pickleball is at once atavistic and blissfully oblivious . It represents the nexus of Canada , Cascadia and the Pacific Rim .
The style being conceived here today bears little resemblance to what the game currently looks like across America ’ s Sun Belt , but rather how pickleball will look a decade from now as a global phenomenon . •
Chris Koentges has written about true underdogs and sports subculture for The Atlantic , ESPN The Magazine , and Bleacher Report . Recently , he helped revive the fabled Jericho Hill Pickleball School (
jerichohillpickleball . com ).