Photo from Gen Re
Smaller sports, like pickleball, are becoming very popular across the country. Lots of high school students like to play in their free time and it’s even become a professional sport. For the last three years, pickleball has grown the most compared to any other sport, growing 223.5%. The sport has grown incredibly. There are 36.5 million people who play pickleball in the United States.
Pickleball is a fun activity to do with your friends. It’s a great way to stay active while not doing too much. Students at Blair have been drawn by many aspects of the sport.
“I’d say playing with my friends and it’s a different sport than others, so it’s kind of different,” junior Claire Anderson said.
During the summer, you’ll often see people playing pickleball at the tennis courts. It’s a very popular sport during the summer, and many people enjoy playing it.
“In the summer, I play at least once a week but during the school year probably once every two months,” Anderson said.
Pickleball is a great way to have fun competitions and tournaments with your friends and family. Students at Blair have discovered many different courts to play on.
“[My favorite place is] probably Chicken N Pickle because they have such nice courts and that’s where we won the championship game,” sophomore Mia McClain said.
When you are driving past the tennis courts in Blair, you will more than likely see people playing pickleball with their friends or family. Over the summer, they re-did the tennis courts at Blair, and they included pickleball lines. Now, people can play pickleball with the right boundaries. Along with that, on August 20, 2021, the City Board of Blair announced that they would be installing pickleball courts next to the Deerfield neighborhood. There is not a set date on when they will be finished, but that is another way people can play pickleball in town.
Pickleball has even become a professional sport. In 2023, the Carvana PPA Tour had 25 professional events. There were 15 PPA Tour events, four World Pickleball Championship Invitational events, and four Majors. Many people have fallen in love with the sport and have chosen to continue to play professionally.
Many people enjoy playing pickleball. It’s a great way to spend time with friends and family, stay active, and have healthy competition. Pickleball is growing and will continue to grow in the future.