Guelph has pickleball fever.
The sport, a hybrid of ping pong, badminton and tennis, is growing in leaps and bounds, particularly popular among the city’s senior community, where there is up to a 12-month waiting list with 64 people looking to join the Guelph Wellington Seniors Association (GWSA) Pickleball Club.
“We have 170 currently registered,” said Rudy Simon, president of the GWSA Pickleball Club, which started in 2014. “I get two or three new people every week looking to join.”
By comparison, the GWSA badminton club has 90 members.
Simon says it offers a level of accessibility for a wide range.
“Especially for seniors, it’s not that hard. If you are a little bit sports inclined or physically active, it’s a great sport.
“It’s not really a senior game, but somehow it has become a senior game.”
Pickleball is simple in its design and execution.
Played usually in pairs on a court the same size as a badminton court, players use oversized paddles and a perforated plastic ball similar to a wiffleball and hit it over a three-foot net.
Rules are in place to encourage longer rallies and prevent aggressive volleying at the net.
The sport has grown in popularity to the point that the group is having a hard time finding enough space to play in Guelph.
They currently have six time slots split between the West End Community Centre and Evergreen Seniors Centre for the 170 members, who are split into three groups according to their level.
Helen Breil has been playing in Guelph for two years.
“Oh God yes. Big, big time,” says Breil when asked if the sport is growing in popularity.
“I can’t tell you how much fun it is. We have badminton players coming over, we have tennis players coming over, and as soon as they try the game they’re hooked,” Breil said.
“I don’t know why. There’s just something so fun about their game and there is less stress on the body than a sport like tennis.
“You can play without being super mobile, which is good for seniors.”
Several of the more enthusiastic members of the Guelph club head out of town to places like Breslau, fergus, Waterloo and Milton to get more playing time.
Pickleball was created in the summer of 1965 by three Washington state fathers whose kids were bored.
They used ping pong paddles, a wiffleball and an old badminton net to come up with a new activity to keep them busy.
The sport slowly but surely grew, particularly among those 55 and over who found it not only suited their level of athletic intensity, but also appreciated the social aspect that a condensed court its played on brought.
Snowbirds brought the game to Canada in the early 1970s and it has steadily grown from there.
The Canadian National Pickleball Association was formed in 2009 and there are provincial associations across the country.
Simon will be meeting with the City of Guelph next week to discuss the squeeze on gym time.
Heather Flaherty, the city’s manager of parks and recreation, said pickleball has been popular for some time and is growing in popularity in every municipality.
“It’s a great emerging sport, not only for seniors but for young people too,” Flaherty said.
Unfortunately, she added, there is only so much gym time available and the city has to be fair and equitable to all users.
They have an agreement with the GWSA that allots them a certain amount of gym time and the GWSA decides how to allocate that time to its own members.
If the city were to open up more gym time outside that agreement, Flaherty said, then the activity would become a City of Guelph program and the required fees would apply.
“We know there’s a demand, not only indoors but outdoors, and that’s why we’ve put pickleball markings on some out our multi-use outdoor spaces and tennis courts,” she said. “But we have to be fair and equitable.”
