Pickleball's pull on younger players adds fresh perspective

Emily Burnett is the creator of The Pickleball Times, where she writes about the bigger picture of pickleball — the people, the stories, the industry, the magic of it all. Capturing what makes it a great sport for almost everyone, and writing to help keep it that way.‍

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It was kids who finally got me off the pickleball sidelines and into this game for real. I’d wanted to get into the sport for some time but kept putting it off. The weather wasn’t quite right, I was too busy, I didn’t know where to play, I didn’t have anyone to get into it with — you know, the typical excuses we all make to avoid doing things we know will be good for us.

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The Wilmington, North Carolina, Facebook pickleball page was soliciting volunteers for a YMCA Healthy Kids’ Day, and that seemed like a safe way to get involved. Good thing I didn’t realize how bad I was at this game at that point or I wouldn’t have gone. But I went, enjoyed meeting a few other volunteers, and had my own refresher course in the game. And then the kids and families came, a trickle at first, then a crowd. Seeing and helping them get excited about getting into this game for the very first time gave me the excitement and “oomph” I needed to get into it for myself.

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Also, I saw very quickly that I don’t want to get left behind and miss the pickleball curve with all this upcoming talent. I remember one kid in particular. He was at most 5 years old, had curly blonde hair down his back, and took to the game like he was born to play it. There was no “just dinking around” (pun intended) for him and most of the kids I helped teach that day. They loved it, wanted more of it, and will be our pickleball colleagues in not many years.

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In a day and age of ubiquitous screen-use and adolescent anxiety, it’s the most hopeful thing to see kids and youth doing things that don’t involve a screen — looking up, smiling, laughing, interacting with other kids and adults. Playing. As I’ve traveled around the country, here are three categories of kids and youth I’ve been able to observe play:

Going Pro Kids

Sunny Stephens (age 9). I didn’t know how good kids could be at this sport until I saw Sunny Stephens play in Pleasant Grove, Utah. She was warming up with her dad, Greg, on a court and it took me a bit to realize that they were warming up for her game against adults my age. She and her 13-year-old partner, Adam, handily beat their competition and ended up winning gold in the 4.0 mixed division. And in at least the game I watched, they had a classy blast doing it.

Her dad, Greg, shared with me that Sunny started tennis at 4 years old and took to it very naturally. But a year prior to our conversation, she switched to pickleball because, in her words, “It’s more fun.” This young athlete positively bounced on the court, hit hard, and looked like she was having the time of her life. She’s just barely launched her own podcast — you read that right—and is without question going places with this game.

New Pro Teens

Jaeda Minnefield (age 14). At the APP Tour Highland Park Tournament, I struck up conversation with a fellow sideline spectator and asked what brought him to the pro-only day. Turns out he (Stan) and his wife were there with their daughter, Jaeda, who was competing in the pro qualifiers. I asked how she got into pickleball, wondering if she’d come from a tennis background — she didn’t. Stan shared he had started playing pickleball and started taking then 11-year-old Jaeda along to play at his ladder league.

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That lasted until the organizers put a minimum age limit on their league, and they had to find other places to play.

He functioned as her coach for a time and they used to play tournaments together, but that ended when she started getting better than him and needed coaching from someone other than Dad. She homeschools now to have more time to work on her game and has started picking up coaching clients, including two grown-ups.

Our conversation included talking about efforts to get more pickleball courts on the south side of Atlanta, get the game into schools and share the game with more young minorities. According to Stan, “In Atlanta, not a lot of young minorities even know about it.” What he loves most about this game: “What other sport can a 50-year-old dad and an 11-year-old daughter play together?”

Like Sunny, Jaeda’s going places with this game and those ladder league bosses might wish they’d let her stick around to help up-level their own game.

Rec Youth

But it’s not just the kids who are on the pro track for whom this game is amazing. 12-year-old Kaden was my favorite teammate on one of my lamest playing days in Colorado Springs this summer. He’d been playing for all of a month and had the confidence of a 17-year-old varsity basketball player. But he is still a kid humble enough to soak up all the mentoring he can from the local pros and players.

The Denver high schoolers I met at a tournament this summer are among others who don’t have serious plans for the game. They just have a lot of good old-fashioned fun playing. A friend’s 14-year-old son plays as often as he can, sometimes with her, often with adults at the local YMCA and peers if he can find others who play. At a community court in Oceanside, CA, I watched two kids (both under 10) hitting the ball with a woman and obviously enjoying it. It was mostly families occupying the Bozeman, Montana courts on an August afternoon. Basically, you don’t have to be aiming pro in order to get a lot of enjoyment out of this game.

Other things happening in the youth pickleball space: 

·       Professional Pickleball Partners makes high-quality paddles specifically sized and designed for youth, along with fun pickleball balls. They’ve partnered with Chicken N Pickle to provide demo paddles for the whole family.

·       Companies like Junior Force Pickleball specialize in coaching and training for youth. But they’re not the only ones.  Google “Youth Pickleball Academy” and you’ll see a lot of facilities and clubs offering teaching specifically geared to youth.

·       A woman at a “Chickleball” event I played in announced that she’s looking for paddles to be donated for a clinic she and her husband are starting for local youth.

·       Clubs are popping up in high schools around the country, and some school systems are already making it a varsity sport.

All this said, there are a lot of youth yet to pick up this game, and no shortage of opportunities to help welcome, teach and mentor them. On a community court shared with a high school in New Hampshire, I watched as groups of high school kids wandered onto the courts to aimlessly whack the pickleball back and forth with wooden paddles, much like others of us did decades ago.

I asked if they learned anything about it formally, and their answer was a shrug and, “No.” How sad, to be missing out on all this game has to offer when you know how to play it for real. Given everything happening and starting to happen, though, I suspect a repeat visit to this high school and others in a couple years will showcase a drastically different pickleball scene.

Speaking of the evolution of this game, one thing I’m very interested in observing is the character of the game. As more and more people, including athletic youth, enter and excel at the game, will we see an explosion of ego? Will young and talented players and pros in a young and “popular” sport be able to handle fame and fortune with class and character? They’ll have a better shot of doing so if we adults do our part to keep the sport classy and friendly. So let’s.

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This article originally appeared on The Pickleball Times and Triple Crown Sports/PickleCon is happy to share it with our readers here with permission.