Pickleball and Boomers: A Match Made In Washington

Pickleball, the Washington Post reports, was invented in 1965 by Joel Pritchard, a future Republican congressman from Washington state, who wanted a game that everyone, even aging congressmen, could enjoy. In 1976, Tennis magazine called pickleball “America’s newest racket sport.” Today, the Post alleges, the tennis-badminton-table tennis hybrid, which is played with a smaller court than tennis and a slower, lighter ball than other sports, is finding a growing audience, particularly among boomers. How big is it? Not so big, really. Jim Joyner, chairman of the Arlington County Pickleball Committee, tells the Post that the  USA Pickleball Association says its membership of more than 2,800 is five times what it was only four years ago. Read more about Pickleball in the Washington Post. Watch the 2010 Men’s Doubles Championship below.