“We booked a court, got ready to play, and the badminton people next to us complained we were dangerous. They said, ‘What if we get hit by the ball or step on it by accident? We could be killed.’”
Death from pickleball is as unlikely as a fatal strike from a badminton birdie. The plastic ball is perforated with holes, like a wiffle ball – which is about the same size as a regulation baseball, but is hollow, lightweight, and made of resilient plastic, so it loses speed quickly.
The hitting paddles are the size of racketball rackets but solid like in table tennis. The court is the same size as a doubles badminton surface but with lines drawn slightly differently. A smaller court and lighter ball means it is less strenuous, with less running. It is easy to see why it appeals.
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Wong discovered the game while visiting friends in the United States.
“This was five or six years ago. My friend was in a 55-plus community in Florida. He introduced pickleball to me and it was life-changing. It was very easy to learn, but what impressed me was the older guys,” he says.
“I was the youngest player there, playing with couples in their 90s. I didn’t win but I got hooked.
“I’ve always been sporty, running and hiking so much that my left knee was hurting from bone-on-bone friction. But I could still play pickleball, with its focus on reactions and delicate ‘dink’ shots over the net.
“Over time, I think my knee healed due to pickleball. The movements are a bit like tai chi, but less boring. Plus I’ve made so many new friends.”Rajan Khemlyani, 55, one of Hong Kong’s top seniors tennis players, had a similar introduction to pickleball.
“My main sport is tennis,” he explains. “One of our association members spent time in Canada during the pandemic. When he came back, he said ‘You’ve got to try pickleball. You will love this game.’”Khemlyani was sceptical because he had never heard of it. But he played it – and was hooked.
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“I was trying to find more things that I could do with my wife. She doesn’t like tennis because it’s too hard, too technical. I told her about pickleball. She didn’t believe me, so I literally dragged her screaming to try it,” he said.
“Now, she loves pickleball. We go play tournaments together and haven’t looked back. As you get older, it’s also a lot easier on the body.”
Pickleball certainly makes sense in space-restricted Hong Kong. Three games can be played on a single tennis court. And the cost of a pair of paddles and some balls starts at below US$50.
One of the hurdles, though, is that the game is so new, there is not a single official body overseeing the sport, so it has no government recognition. That means there is no easy access for pickleball players to community sports halls, no funding or programmes to build public courts and no sponsorship.
In contrast, Singapore’s government has supported pickleball since about 1990, and now has more than 2,000 active players.
“I can’t play in my own estate in Tai Kok Tsui because pickleball is not covered in the insurance. It’s only for basketball and badminton. It’s so silly,” says Mike Cassidy, another Hong Kong-based player who picked up the game from his mother in the US state of Colorado.
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“There’s a lot of interest now, but where do we play? If we had a little more official support, then they might provide more facilities and access, and we could have a dedicated development of the game,” Cassidy says.
“There are various local clubs, but I feel maybe people want to protect their turf. If all the associations were united, then we could get recognised as an official sport by the government.”
In the meantime, players like Wong, Khemlyani and Cassidy are promoting the game with an evangelical zeal, spreading the word of this low-impact and highly social sport to the masses.The Hong Kong Country Club is among the few clubs which is behind it, dedicating a day a week to allow even non-members to rent their tennis courts for pickleball.
Archie Lin, pickleball convenor of the Hong King Country Club, feels there is strong grass-roots support for the sport. “It’s such a good social activity. There’s a lot of laughing on the court. Because it’s multigenerational, young and old can all play together,” Lin says.
Wong has started teaching pickleball through community groups and organisations such as the Po Leung Kuk charity, and even in hospitals as exercise for those in rehabilitation.Change up your workouts for a mental health and well-being boost
“Over the last year, I’ve promoted it to kids in primary school, to secondary schools, colleges and university, to seniors in their 80s and those with special needs. I want it to be inclusive, where people enjoy playing and making new friends and chatting. I’m addicted to it now. I can play every day.”
What is pickleball?
Invented by three suburban dads in the US state of Washington in 1965, it is now the state sport. The recreational yard sport combines aspects of tennis, badminton and table tennis.
The pandemic’s enforced homebound restrictions fuelled the game’s growth; it now counts roughly 5 million players across America.
How is it played?
Pickleball is played either as doubles – two players per team – or singles; doubles is most common. Players must serve the ball over a 36-inch high (0.91 metre) net, using an underhand stroke diagonally across the court.
It must not land in the front 2.13-metre (seven-foot) zone, called the non-volley zone or the “kitchen” – though no one knows where this term originated. Players must let the served ball hit the ground first to play it; they cannot simply smash the return.
Strategically popular is the dink shot, a soft return into the kitchen, forcing players to rush the net, similar to a soft drop shot in badminton. The games go to 11 points – though the winning side must win by two points – and only the side serving can score a point.
In just 30 minutes, you can burn 195 to 350 calories playing pickleball. A typical game takes 15-20 minutes to play. In tournament play, a match is the best two out of three games, and a full match usually takes about an hour.
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Why is it called pickleball?
There are three theories. One suggests that because the founders originally used different equipment from other racquet sports – a tennis court, badminton racquets, wiffle balls – it reminded Joel Pritchard of a “pickle” boat – a term from rowing used to describe a motley crew of rowers put together at random to compete in races, often the leftover rowers that no one wanted on their team.
Another story notes Pritchard had a family dog named Pickles, and the game was named for the pet. That theory was debunked after it was confirmed the dog was born after the game was invented.
A third story suggests co-founder Bill Bell called it pickleball because he liked hitting the ball in a way that put his opponent in a “pickle”.
