Pickleball is back.
Local enthusiasts have returned to the courts after the COVID-19 outbreak forced play to shut down this spring.
But, despite the inconvenience, this pause wasn’t all bad. It allowed workers to install four additional courts with LED lighting near Nocatee’s Splash Waterpark to accommodate more players and make night play possible.
Pickleball has been something of a phenomenon. The sport, which resembles tennis and racquetball but is easier to master, has taken the country by storm.
It originated near Seattle, Washington, in 1965 as a children’s backyard game. It was picked up by seniors and carried to other parts of the country by enthusiasts traveling in their RVs, according to Mike Guyot, an ambassador with the USA Pickleball Association.
“It’s taken a long time to get here,” he said. “Northeast Florida’s kind of a black hole in terms of pickleball compared to the rest of the state, so we’re playing catch-up right now.”
Nocatee resident John Harnett said when he started playing five years ago, there were only about six or seven people on the community’s courts. Since that time, local interest in pickleball has exploded.
“When we shut the courts down (for COVID-19), we were at capacity just about every night,” Harnett said. “And we had over a couple of hundred registered.”
The sport appeals to players of all ages.
“We’ve got 16-year-old people, and we’ve got people who’ve got game in their 80s,” Harnett said.
Guyot and Harnett are among the sport’s most dedicated players. Each plays six days a week – Guyot recently getting back out onto the court a mere six weeks after undergoing knee surgery.
But pickleball appeals to the casual player, as well. The rules are few and equipment is inexpensive. All players need are the small plastic balls and paddles that cost very little.
And there are plenty of places to play. Guyot estimated that within an hour’s drive of Nocatee, there are about 150 courts. In fact, he pointed out, as new communities spring up, pickleball courts are being considered one of the standard amenities.
The three indoor pickleball courts at the Ponte Vedra Beach YMCA are currently closed amid the COVID-19 restrictions and to accommodate summer camp, but associate executive director Cara Roach said they will reopen at about the time students return to school. When the new YMCA opens in Nocatee in October, it will have two courts.
Guyot, who has been playing for about a dozen years, said he actually moved to Nocatee because of its pickleball courts.
Asked what about the sport most appeals to him, Guyot said it was the physical activity and the interaction with other players.
For Harnett, it was the camaraderie and the competitive play. He said he is very competitive but “win or lose, I tend to walk away with a smile.”
“Pickleball is very welcoming,” said Guyot, who seeks out opportunities to play wherever he travels. “I’ve never gone into a strange place where they didn’t say, ‘Yeah, sure, come on and play.’”
He added that the county’s Parks and Recreation Department has been very supportive of the sport. In the past year, the county has hosted two tournaments, each attracting more than 300 people.
In part due to the game’s adaptability, not even COVID-19 could really stop play.
“The closing of the pickleball courts caused a big uptick in sales of portable nets,” said Guyot. “Because the thing about pickleball, any place you have a 20-by-44-foot space, you can play.”
He said players could gather in parking lots, draw chalk lines and set up portable nets. Since the other participants would be close friends and family, people felt safe in gathering to play.
Guyot encouraged people who have not yet tried pickleball to do so.
“It’s an extremely easy game to learn,” he said, “and people have fun with it immediately. There’s a place for everybody in it.”
Want to learn more about the sport? Go to usapa.org.
