IT’S not often you can say there is a new sport on the scene. However, I can confirm that pickleball has arrived in Scotland and it’s here to stay.
To learn more about it, I met Mhairi Adam, PickleBall Scotland chair, and pictured, right, and Sharon MacKechnie, the organisation’s secretary. I thought the perfect opportunity to help promote this new initiative and to learn more about the sport was to have them on Tuesday night’s programme #letshearitforthegirls.
The obvious question to ask was, what is pickleball and how do you play it? I’m reliably advised that pickleball is played on a court very similar to a doubles badminton court and uses elements of racket skills from tennis, squash, badminton and table tennis and is very popular in the US, where it is estimated that there are almost three million players, an increase in participants of 12.3 % from 2016 – something that most sports in Scotland would love to have. The rules and scoring system mean that pickleball is attractive and accessible for the young and not-so-young, making it the perfect family activity.
Pickleball is in its 53rd year in the US and the urban myth of how the sport came to be called pickleball is quite sweet, if heavily contested. The tale goes that the US founders, the Pritchard family, had a cocker spaniel named Pickles, who developed an interest in the new game the family invented to keep the kids amused. Whenever a ball would came Pickles’ way, he would run off with it. It was, without question, Pickle’s ball!
This small band of women who are now promoting the sport in Scotland are ambitious and have already organised the first Scottish Open for pickleballers. It will be held from May 24-26 in Glasgow. The group also hope to have the organisation recognised by sportscotland and need to attract 500 members to do so.
This is where you can help. You can learn more about the sport and register to become a member on their website. Visit www.pickleballscotland.org/give-it-a-go
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