Alpine gets first outdoor pickleball courts, embraces sport
Marilyn Berryessa plays pickleball behind ribbons for the ribbon cutting ceremony for Alpine's new pickleball courts at Burgess Park, on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2015. GRANT HINDSLEY, Daily Herald
Alpine Mayor Don Watkins ties a ribbon for a ribbon cutting ceremony for Burgess Park's new pickleball courts, on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2015. GRANT HINDSLEY, Daily Herald
Alpine Mayor Don Watkins and friends pose for a portrait at the ribbon cutting ceremony for Burgess Park's new pickleball courts, on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2015. GRANT HINDSLEY, Daily Herald
Alpine Mayor Don Watkins cuts the ribbon during a ribbon cutting ceremony for Burgess Park's new pickleball courts, on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2015. GRANT HINDSLEY, Daily Herald
Lone Peak Fire Chief Joe McRae claims he started the push for pickleball courts in Alpine.
Resident Chris Thackeray said he did his own pushing for the courts.
In fact, several adults at the outdoor pickleball courts’ grand opening Thursday night in Burgess Park appeared to be in love with the sport.
“Look at how beautiful it is,” McRae said grinning about the newly-opened courts.
His brother-in-law introduced him to pickleball when he was visiting in Saint George.
“I got beat by a 75-year-old woman,” he said. “I loved it. I talked to the mayor and said, ‘Let’s do this.'”
Alpine’s pickleball courts are new for the area, and are the some of the first official public outdoor courts in northern Utah County.
Funds for the four pickleball courts were saved for Burgess Park through the parks budget, said Alpine Mayor Don Watkins.
“We’ve been saving and saving and we’ve had such a wonderful reception with Creekside Park that Burgess, this park, has kind of been let go,” he said.
The residents began to notice and asked that Burgess get some attention too.
“We wanted to go with a sport that everyone can play and it’s kind of a blend of tennis and table tennis,” Watkins said.
According to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association’s 2015 Participant Report, there are 2.46 million pickleball participants and there are pickleball facilities located in all 50 states.
“It’s a very competitive sport, but it’s a blast” McRae said.
While popular in St. George in Dixie and to the north in Salt Lake County, pickleball has gained little more than a toehold in Utah County.
Its trending though and gaining, according to Linda Weeks, the Pleasant Grove Recreation Center program coordinator.
“We get new players dropping in every single week,” Weeks said.
Her city was one of the first in Utah County to introduce pickleball and, beginning in April 2014, she had 90 pickleball teams. Now she has 120.
A top ranked pickleball player herself — ranking begins at 1.5 and the highest rank is 5.0 — Weeks is preparing to open a pickleball league.
She can rattle off the number of pickleball courts in Utah County, both official courts and a hybrid called a blended line that doubles for other racket sports.
“Provo has one behind the recreation center, eight pickleball blended line courts; Springville just started an indoor program and is sharing a facility at the high school,” she said. “Lehi does, has 11 blended line courts.”
The first national pickleball tournament was held at a retirement community in Florida that has 36 courts. Pickleball has found its way into senior games competitions in several states including the St. George annual event.
Seniors can be found enjoying the social and physical activity involved with pickleball, although that’s not to say the sport is solely for grown-ups. School districts have picked up the sport for physical education classes.
“Seventy percent of the people who are involved in the sport are in my age group, either 50 or above,” Thackeray said.
1965 The sport as a game was invented by Joel Pritchard, congressman from Washington State and Bill Bell, successful businessman, an old badminton court, ping-pong paddles and a perforated plastic ball. Along with another friend, Barney McCallum, they created the rules. Some stories say the game was named after a family pet, Pickles. Pickles had a habit of catching the ball and running off with it.
1967 – The first permanent pickleball court was constructed in the backyard of Joel Pritchard’s friend and neighbor, Bob O’Brian.
1972 – A corporation was formed to protect the creation of the new sport.
1975 – The National Observer published an article about pickleball.
1976 – During the spring of 1976, the first known pickleball tournament in the world was held at South Center Athletic Club in Tukwila, Washington. Tennis magazine published an article about pickleball as a sport.
1984 – The United States of America Pickleball Association was organized and the first rulebook was published.
1990 – Pickleball was being played in 50 states.
2001 – The game of pickleball was introduced for the first time in the Arizona Senior Olympics.
2003 – Pickleball was included for the first time in the Huntsman World Senior Games, held each year in St. George, Utah during October.
2005 – USAPA became a nonprofit corporation.
2008 – Pickleball was included for the first time in the National Senior Games Champion Festival in Providence, Rhode Island.
2009 – The first USAPA National Tournament for players of all ages was held in Buckeye, Arizona; and the tournament drew nearly 400 players from 26 states and several Canadian provinces.
2015 – The sport of pickleball is exploding in popularity. The number of places to play has nearly doubled since 2010 and there are more than 2,000 locations on the USAPA’s Places to Play map. International clubs have formed and national governing bodies are established in Canada and India.
Found at www.usapa.org/history-of-the-game
