Pickleball comes to Panama

What is Pickleball, that game everybody is talking about? 

Even though this sport was invented over fifty years ago and recognized in the sports world for more than forty-five years, many people are still asking exactly what is pickleball. Pickleball is a sport now, but it started out as a made-up game. In 1965, Washington State Congressman Joel Pritchard was spending his summer weekends on Bainbridge Island. Along with his friend and golf partner, Bill Bell, they tried their best to occupy their bored children one summer afternoon. Since there were not enough badminton racquets to be found, a new game was improvised on an old badminton court. Table tennis paddles were used to volley a perforated ball over the net. When friend Barney McCullum arrived on the island the following weekend, he was introduced to this game. The height of the net was then changed to waist high, and rules were developed based on badminton and tennis rules. This simple game became a weekend sport for the families on Bainbridge Island. There are two different claims as to how the sport was named pickleball. I like the claim that it was named after the Pritchard’s cocker spaniel, Pickles because he was always chasing after the ball.

Pickleball combines elements from badminton, table tennis, and tennis. It is played on a court smaller than the size of a tennis court and with two or four players. The court is striped like a badminton court. In fact, two pickleball courts can be created on one tennis court. The paddles used are made of wood or composite material, and the ball is similar to a wiffle ball (a perforated polymer ball with 26-40 round holes). The pickleball court is similar to a doubles badminton court with the actual size being 20 by 44 feet. The game is played over a net that is hung at 34 inches at the center and 36 inches at the ends.

Click on this link to view a diagram of a pickleball court.

https://pickleballguide.net/pickleball-court-dimensions-diagram/

Click on this link to learn about Mortimer Pickleball (with six players).
https://monmouthpickleball.org/can-more-than-four-play-pickleball-at-once/

Pickleball continued to become established with the first permanent court built-in 1967, a corporation was formed in 1972, and a few years later an article appeared in Tennis magazine affirming pickleball to be “America’s newest racquet sport”. As of 1990, it was played in all fifty states. To help foster the growth of the sport on an international level, USAPA established the International Federation of Pickleball (IFP) organization. While it is only in the Junior Olympics and not internationally an adult Olympic sport (yet), there are many tournaments played each year both within the United States and internationally.

Pickleball Court in Coronado 

Pickleball in Playa Coronado

Fast forward to life in Panama and the year 2014 when a few diehard pickleball players taped off half a basketball court, set up a portable net, and brought the sport to Bougainvilleas Coronado. Only in the last few years did pickleball come to Coronado Luxury Club & Suites. With ingenuity and a bit of skill, two tennis courts were simply turned into pickleball courts with tape and portable nets. Over time, three portable nets were designed and built, and two dozen pickleball players came together to play the sport.

Last year, the crew of CLCS along with these pickleball players got together to measure, drill, tape, paint, sew and repeat until two tennis courts had been transformed into six permanent pickleball courts. Once again, another committed team of friends merely focused on the love of the sport now have the opportunity to play pickleball, socialize, and get in a great cardio workout!

Pickleball is played in Panama City, Gorgona, and Boquete. For information about pickleball in Coronado, stop by the Coronado Luxury Club and Suites Golf Pro Shop and ask to speak with Carmen. Courts must be reserved in Coronado. For information about pickleball in Gorgona, contact Bob Jensen at 6917-3080. Players meet Monday-Friday at 8:30.

For more pickleball history, go to this link:

History of the Game

Be sure to scroll down this page to watch a video of the first days of pickleball play, the original court, and paddles along with an interview with Barney McCullum.

By Allison Weiser-Guinn