'It's addictive:' Pickleball exploding in Windsor-Essex and not just among retirees
Pickleballers are lobbing for more indoor courts so they can play year round
It's a sunny Sunday afternoon in Tecumseh and Brad Godin is absorbed in a friendly round of pickleball. Godin is an auto worker. When he's not on the plant floor, he's eager to hit the court.
"I work at Chryslers and a bunch of us started playing last spring and it's fantastic. It's fun. It's good exercise and we can't wait to come out every time," said Godin.
Godin is one of many picking up the paddle. Pickleball has been hailed as the fastest growing sport in North America. Locally, people are signing up to play the game — which is like a blend of badminton and table tennis — in record numbers.
Interest in pickleball 'snowballing' in Windsor-Essex
"It's addictive," said Daphne Reid, a LaSalle resident and president of Pickleball Ontario.
The numbers back her up. Windsor is currently constructing four new outdoor courts to meet demand. The Tecumseh Pickleball Association (TPA) had about 300 members last year. This spring, it's ballooned to about 650. A hundred new players are in a queue waiting for lessons.
It's addictive. You start playing, you don't want to stop.- Daphne Reid, president of Pickleball Ontario
"It's like a snowball that's getting bigger and bigger and it's just out of control to tell you the truth," said Malinda Hebert, president of the TPA.
Both Reid and Hebert have been playing pickleball for about a decade. They say the game is a Florida import.
"That's where a lot of snowbirds would find out that it's being played. And what happened was they brought it back. And in about, I don't know, five years, it just started. Everybody started wanting to play," explained Reid.
Pickleball: Not just for retirees
If you think it's only retirees playing the sport, think again. The world's top female is just 16. The top-ranked male is 24.
"It's a sport that can be played in any demographic," adds Reid. "You can be seven years old. You can be 97 years old."
Thirty-two-year-old Tyler Sasso said his dad introduced him and his wife to pickleball, and they were hooked.
"It keeps you active and it's something fun to do for the whole family," added Lisette Sasso, who is 28.
Hebert says the Town of Tecumseh is helping out with a junior pickleball program. In June, it will hold a camp for young kids at the ice rink, because the pickleball courts, of course, are full.
As head of Pickleball Ontario, Reid would like to see the game one day soon become an organized school sport.
Courts needed to keep up with demand
Hebert and Reid say there's no limit to how big pickleball could become locally. But both are adamant that more indoor courts are needed in Windsor-Essex, so converts to the sport can play all year long.
"If you build it they will come," said Hebert. "And we desperately need more courts out there."
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