Pickleball Craze

Pickleball mania × mania NAZAR ABBAS PHOTOGRAPHY/GETTY IMAGES wild excitement (noun) Soccer mania took over the school during the World Cup. has taken over the United States. The Sports & Fitness Industry Association called pickleball the fastest-growing sport in the U.S. About 5 million people were playing it in 2021. That’s nearly twice as many as in 2019.

A pickleball player returns a shot in Holly Hill, Florida.

Pickleball is like tennis and ping-pong. It’s easy to learn. “Someone could learn in 30 minutes or less,” Jim Berger says. He’s a director for U.S.A. Pickleball. That group helps promote the growth of the sport.

Many people make friends playing pickleball. “It affects my relationship with my classmates,” says Elizabeth Pavon, 11. She learned the sport in gym class.

“It helps us get more together.” Pickleball has even become a professional sport. The Professional Pickleball Association holds national × national KAREL BOCK—GETTY IMAGES having to do with a country (adjective) The bald eagle is the national bird of the United States. tournaments. So does Major League Pickleball. The sport could become an Olympic event.

Men’s doubles compete in a Major League Pickleball match in Columbus, Ohio, in October.

Olivia Sutton, 15, plans to go pro. She says, “I feel like everybody who plays [pickleball] falls in love with it.”