Local pickleball league grows in popularity

The COVID-19 pandemic had major effects on many parts of society. Many were negative, but one seemingly good thing that came out of it was the boom of pickleball popularity.

Pickleball was invented in the 1960s by Washington representative Joel Pritchard and his neighbors. For a long time, it was overshadowed by the popularity of tennis.

Though it seems to be similar, there are some common differences between tennis and pickleball. The court for pickleball is considerably smaller than a tennis court. Pickleball is played with a solid paddle, like a ping pong paddle, rather than a racket like for tennis. A net for a tennis match is also a bit higher than what is regulation for a pickleball game. Instead of a bouncy ball, pickleball is played with a plastic ball with holes, similar to a wiffle ball.

The Lovell community has recently seen increased interest in pickleball. There have been many tournaments organized during both the winter and the summer for locals to come participate in.

In past tournaments, not only have people from Lovell, Cowley and Byron shown up to participate, but pickleball lovers from Powell, Cody and even Worland attended. 

Typically, there is more participation during the wintertime. Local pickleball organizer Susan Wilkerson shared that there are typically between 20 and 25 people that show up to play in the winter, whereas summer numbers are closer to 15.

Every Monday and Wednesday morning, locals meet up at the Cowley Log Gym to enjoy some pickleball matches on the courts painted there.

Lovell has two main places that pickleball players go to play. The first is the tennis courts behind the Lovell pool.

When locals first started playing, they would use sidewalk chalk to draw the lines inside the tennis courts. In 2022, Peter Sanders took on the job of painting pickleball lines. This was very helpful for the local pickleball players.

“We have a group right now that is working with the school and the Rec district to improve the courts,” Wilkerson said.

Improving the courts includes new changes to the setup. The plan for the new courts is to replace two of the tennis courts with two pickleball courts each and leave one remaining tennis court. The pickleball group also hopes to even out the cement for better safety at the court. On top of a new set up of courts and fixing the cement, the local participants plan to invest in portable pickleball nets instead of using nets that are not the regulation size or height currently there.

“We are also hoping to get something to make the courts more wind resistant,” Wilkerson said.

The second place to play pickleball is in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gym. In the beginning, participants used a lowered volleyball net to play over and put down tape in a dotted line for the boundaries. The players later got approval to put down more permanent painters’ tape to solidify where the lines are. For winter tournaments, participants set up three courts in the gym to be able to have as many games as possible at a time. So far, Lovell has hosted two winter tournaments.

“Pickleball is a good way to make friends and get in some exercise,” Wilkerson said. “There’s a lot of social parts of it.”

Last Saturday, there was a pickleball tournament held at the outdoor courts. Through all the categories, there were 20 participants that signed up to play.