Pickleball. Where Did It Come From? How Long Will It Stay

The first time I saw a pickleball court was about five or six years ago. Half the size of a tennis court, it was clearly invented for older people. And then, when I saw the game being played, with the plastic ball and fiberglass-covered paddle and the distinctive “pwock” each time the paddle made contact, I thought, “This will never last.”

But it did. Last year, nine million Americans were playing pickleball regularly. That makes the sport almost as popular as running! In fact, the last time I visited Rancho Santana, they were building two pickleball courts, right next to our two tennis courts. Who woulda thunk?

Whatever pleasure these millions of people are finding in playing pickleball, there is a growing number that want to see it gone. Or if not gone, reengineered. The problem is that pwocking sound. It’s louder than the sound from the collision of a tennis racket and ball. It can produce a decibel level of +/- 70 dBA at 100 feet from the court. (Compared to tennis at 40 dBA.)

And that’s upset a lot of people… particularly those that live in one of the 10,000 communities that have pickleball courts.

Read this to find out what one engineer is doing about that, and how his work has created another industry.