Large ping-pong rackets, a hollow plastic ball with holes, a child-height net… As soon as Jude Noël, an athlete in his sixties from Sainte-Adèle, in the Laurentians, saw pickleball players in action, a few years ago he was intrigued. “Every week I would play ball hockey in a park and notice a group playing this strange sport. Curious, I decided to go and see how things were going,” he says.
When he arrives, the players lend him a racket and give him advice, assuring him that he will master the technique in no time. During the next hour, Jude Noël faced around ten opponents. Because the games of this sport where doubles are most often played are short – 10 to 15 minutes. “It was love at first sight. Almost instantly, I retired from hockey to focus entirely on it. »
In all regions, many Quebecers succumb to the charms of this game accessible to all generations. Proof of its popularity, the Fédération québécoise de pickleball (FQP), founded in 2011, saw its number of members jump by nearly 50% in a single year from 2022 to 2023; it now reaches 12,500 members. The FQP expects it to climb to 15,000 by the end of 2024. “And that doesn’t count the players who practice this sport without being members of a club, a number difficult to estimate,” says Stéphane Brière, general director of the Federation.
Sainte-Anne Park, in Alma, has eight lots. (Photo: Gimmy Desbiens)
In the United States, there were 8.9 million players in 2022, an increase of nearly 160% over three years, according to a report from the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, which brings together the sports industry as a whole. It would be the fastest growing sport in Joe Biden’s country. Across North America, the desire to make it an elite sport adds to the fever of amateurs, attracted by its explosive nature.
A surprising destiny for a game born in 1965, in Washington State, on a boring afternoon in the countryside. Along with businessman Bill Bell, politician Joel Pritchard invites his children to play on an old badminton court, where they lower the net. Without equipment, they take table tennis rackets (or make them hastily out of plywood, the story is not clear), find plastic balls and start trading. The game was named “pickleball” by Joel Pritchard’s wife, an ironic name referring to boat races where the last person to cross the finish line is nicknamed ” pickle boat ».
Whatever. If you like racket sports at all, it only takes a few exchanges to feel the pleasure of playing pickleball, as I myself experienced during my first match last February. I was able to have meaningful discussions in less than an hour. Nothing to do with the technical complexity of tennis, its closest cousin.
One of the advantages of this sport lies in its racket. Unlike tennis, where a long shaft separates the handle from the contact area, the frame of a pickleball racket is close to the hand. A detail that seems trivial, but which makes it easier to master the game. “Hand and eye coordination is simplified. It’s as instinctive as hitting directly with your hand,” assures Stéphane Brière. As for the holes in the ball, they slow it down a little due to air friction, which encourages rallies and energizes the game.
The other element that simplifies the practice: the net less than a meter from the ground, therefore slightly lower than in tennis. “The blows are mainly done at hip height, which makes them easier to control,” says Stéphane Brière. The small playing area of 80 m2 (four times smaller than that of a tennis court) reduces the space to be covered. Everything to make this sport more democratic.
Until now, it has mainly become known as an activity for retirees. Among the enthusiasts, there is in fact a high proportion of ex-tennis players with rusty joints. “For many fans, the social aspect is as important as the sport itself,” notes Michèle Jarry, president of the Saint-Jérôme Pickleball Club. While some play, others talk together. In Quebec, it was pickleball clubs, whose members gathered in parks, which began to popularize it around fifteen years ago.
Read also
The recent boom is due to the interest of younger people, seduced by the marketing surrounding this emerging sport which is propelled by social networks, explains Stéphane Brière. In the United States, professional leagues are forming and attracting a large audience as well as high-profile investors, such as basketball superstar LeBron James, who invested in a professional team. “Today, I turn on my TV in Florida and there are pickleball competitions every day,” notes Michèle Jarry, who spends her winters there.
The snowbird sees Quebecer Catherine Parenteau, 29, ranked second in singles and doubles within the Professional Pickleball Association (PPA), whose tournaments take place in the United States. A Quebec star also stood out recently: Eugenie Bouchard. By playing his first competitive match last January in Palm Springs, California, the former Wimbledon finalist aroused the enthusiasm of younger generations. “As soon as Eugenie Bouchard announced, in September 2023, that she was taking up pickleball, we gained several hundred new members,” underlines Stéphane Brière, of the FQP.
Catherine Parenteau, 29, ranked second in singles and doubles in the Professional Pickleball Association. (Photo: Carvana PPA Tour)
Ernesto Fajardo, 24 years old, considered one of the best players in Canada, represents the wind of youth blowing through this sport. The Montrealer, a mechanical engineering student, discovered it at 16, during an initiation day at a local club. “It was retirees who welcomed me,” he says. Then, this tennis enthusiast had an epiphany while facing professional players in a tournament in Plattsburgh, New York. “I was dazzled by the explosiveness of this sport. A new world opened up to me. » After gradually abandoning tennis, he reached the status of professional pickleball player in 2019. To stay at the top, every week, Ernesto Fajardo trains six times in the gym and plays 20 hours, in addition to continuing his studies. “You have to work your legs and abdominals to be extremely explosive and endurance. Each exchange is a game of chess in which we try to find the fault of our opponents,” says the man who is also a coach.
However, one element is slowing down the progress of this sport in Quebec: the shortage of land. “It affects all clubs in Quebec. In the summer, things are a little better, because we place our removable nets on tennis courts or ice rinks, but in the winter, there is a severe lack of indoor courts,” says Johanne Verrier, president of the Regional Pickleball Association. of the Outaouais.
Regional clubs are lobbying to convince municipalities to build new courts, but they must try to respond to the demands of all sports associations. “I love this sport, which encourages people to move and interact, but our sports complexes are already used to the maximum,” says Marc Bourcier, mayor of Saint-Jérôme.
In 2023, obsolete tennis courts were converted into eight permanent pickleball courts at Optimiste Park in Saint-Jérôme. “We are looking to add fields in the summer on the Bleu Blanc Bouge ice rink of the Montreal Canadiens Foundation,” said Mayor Bourcier.
The bickering sometimes breaks out when followers squat on tennis courts by placing their removable net there. In British Columbia, tennis players attempted to prevent access to two courts in the Gulf Islands by filing a petition, ultimately rejected, in the Supreme Court of that province. In Quebec, cohabitation is fortunately more peaceful.
Read also
Faced with a lack of land, private entrepreneurs are catching the ball. This is the case of Daniela Petkova and Ricky Twynam, co-owners of the Sani Sport complex in Brossard, on the south shore of Montreal, who have just converted their CrossFit training room into four indoor courts specially reserved for this activity. “We want to ride the wave of this growing sport,” explains Daniela Petkova.
The two entrepreneurs are studying the possibility of opening centers exclusively intended for pickleball throughout the South Shore. “We want to organize tournaments and give coaching “, says Ricky Twynam, former top tennis player. Elsewhere in Quebec, “entrepreneurs want to convert empty department store premises into interior spaces,” underlines Johanne Verrier, from Gatineau. Like what is done in the United States.
The “pop” that sounds when the plastic of the ball hits the racket risks becoming a familiar sound. We can’t stop progress…or the hole in the bullet.