AUGUSTA, Maine — Pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in America. While many Outside Edge activities are weather dependent, it was timely to feature an activity that can be played in any weather after days of rain.
The Kennebec Valley Tennis Association in Augusta has been offering Pickleball for more than nine years.
"It’s a mixture of table tennis and regular tennis because it’s only played on half of a full-size tennis court. So the court itself is smaller, the strokes are a little a different, but also, there’s a lot of similarities to strokes in tennis as well," Alex Stern, facilities manager and tennis pro, said.
Stern said the interest in Pickleball had been steadily increasing, but COVID really ignited the growth with facilities now popping up all over Maine.
"[It started popping up] at different tennis courts, at different tennis facilities that previously didn’t offer any Pickleball times," Stern said. "Here, we have all four of our tennis courts dedicated to Pickleball on Tuesday nights. Schools are building Pickleball courts, schools are talking about having Pickleball clubs and teams now."
Learning pickleball doesn’t take long, either.
"We typically do one-hour lessons and you can invite friends with you too so you don’t have to do a private lesson," Sterns explained.
Meteorologist Mallory Brooke followed Sterns’ advice and brought along friend Lisa Miller for a lesson. Dan Bence became a certified Pickleball Coach after the sport began being offered.
Bence said the KVTA now dedicates all four tennis courts, or eight pickleball courts on Tuesday nights. The interest is even greater in the winter.
Regardless of the season, it’s an activity that families of all ages can partake in, something Lisa’s family enjoyed last summer.
"There were three generations on the court, including my two teenagers who wanted to still play with me and my husband, so it’s just something the whole family can do," Miller said.
Bence said that his favorite part of pickleball is the people.
"It’s just a great sport, you’re very close to your playing partners and you’re opponents, you have conversations during the game, keep it fun, and just very competitive."