PICKLEBALL IS A buzzword that has sprung up among both the young and the elderly in the past year. The racket sport originated in the mid-1960s, and it combines elements of badminton, tennis and ping pong. Pickleball is credited to Americans Joel Pritchard and Bill Bell, who invented the sport to make use of the badminton court in the backyard of Joel’s Bainbridge Island home after his son, Frank, complained about having nothing to do on a summer day. When the paddles and plastic balls they repurposed from their garage began breaking, their neighbour, Barney McCallum, stepped in. He constructed better, more reliable paddles, and these became integral to the game’s equipment and rules.[1]

In Penang, pickleball is believed to have started being played among the elderly around the time the Covid-19 pandemic began. With a portable net, a set of paddles and a ball, they were able to stay active and pass the time when the world came to a halt following the Movement Control Order (MCO). Playing groups began to form as life started returning to normal, prompting people to recruit friends to join once the MCO eased. The timing couldn’t have been better; people were reintegrating into society, looking for healthy activities to participate in. However, if I were to pinpoint when pickleball became a craze in Penang, it would be 2024.

Local clothing brands, social media influencers and even milk tea companies are all jumping on the bandwagon. The rapid growth of this new hobby has seen old buildings, warehouses, hypermarkets and malls revived and repurposed to meet the demands of the growing community.

I started playing pickleball early in 2024. Coming from a squash background and having played for Penang as a junior and having coached in the state’s junior programme, I needed a sport that wouldn’t strain my knees—I had been undergoing rehabilitation following an ACL reconstruction surgery in July 2023. It didn’t take long for me to fall in love with the sport and its growing community. My friends and I eventually started our own club and hosted games targeting the young while welcoming players of all ages.

What Makes Pickleball Attractive?

One reason pickleball has become such a fast-growing sport is its low barrier to entry. It is much more forgiving at the beginner level than traditional racket sports like tennis, badminton and squash. This means that someone with no experience in racket sports can start playing much more quickly compared to other racket sports. As someone who has played squash competitively and coached both sports, I can confirm this observation. Of course, that’s not to say pickleball can’t be an elite sport. While the entry point may be low and players can get into a game relatively quickly, the Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) Tour in America demonstrates that the sport can be physically demanding and entertaining at the highest level.

In its early days, pickleball equipment was also very affordable. A quick browse through online shopping platforms reveals that you can find a simple starter pack with two paddles, a couple of balls and a bag for under RM200. Portable nets with floor markers are also readily available, allowing people to set up games in their backyards or community parks.

A common approach has been to rent badminton courts due to their dimensions being similar to pickleball’s; the nets just need to be lowered to pickleball’s regulation height (36 inches at the sides and 34 inches in the middle). Many schools and community centres already have badminton courts. With proper pickleball facilities still lacking at the time, many of the Chinese vernacular schools like Han Chiang, Sin Kang, Keong Hoe and Chung Ling allowed pickleball activities to be run on their badminton courts.

Chung Hwa Secondary was the only school that ran its own pickleball programme through a pickleball club, hosting outsiders at a small fee after school hours for a couple of days a week. The Girl Guides Association of Penang also rented out their courts for pickleball, with the condition that no badminton and pickleball activities ran at the same time. This is a thoughtful policy to keep both communities happy, as there had been complaints from badminton players about balls rolling onto their courts. Community centres (Balai Rakyat) were initially an option as well, but these have since prohibited rentals for pickleball.

As more makeshift facilities became available, new clubs began forming and quickly grew in number. Many use Reclub, a mobile application that allows users to search, sign up and communicate about social games, organise activities and manage their members. Seen as trendy by the youth, the convergence of new facilities, the convenience of mobile applications for finding players, and consistent media coverage by brands and influencers have all contributed to pickleball’s status.

Three facilities in Penang comes to mind when we talk about early adopters of the sport. Seri Delima ADUN Connie Tan saw the potential of the sport when residents approached her to convert a corner of a community park in her constituency into a court. She worked with the group called D5 (for De “lima”) to provide public space for pickleball. It was at this court where two of my friends and I trained and prepared for our first tournament. Rainbow Paradise Hotel in Tanjung Bungah leased out its tennis court, which was then repurposed into four pickleball courts. Picklemotion, on the other hand, transformed the alfresco space at the entrance of Gurney Paragon to operate four outdoor courts, showcasing the sport to mall-goers.

There are currently 14 courts in Penang—11 on the island and three on the mainland, with more in the works. Court rates are on average RM40 during offpeak hours and RM70 during peak hours. Some premium courts may cost over RM100 per hour, offering more space, better flooring and a lounge area. Only time will tell if the industry can sustain these many courts.

Footnote

[1] https://longcoveclub.com/the-history-of-pickleball/