One of the fastest growing sports in the world, pickleball, has reached Southland

Southern Slammers organiser Marcin Lipski said the sport was averaging 200 weekly players in the South.

“A lot of them are repeat players so they will play several times a week. There are sessions here [ILT Stadium Southland], sessions in Gore, Winton, and Te Anau,” he said.

Originally from Germany, Lipski is a health and sports scientist by trade and wanted to make social connections after moving to New Zealand in 2020.

“I was talking to a client who was a professional gamer . . . I helped him with his social health and when I went through the notes, realised I have these kind of problems myself.”

He initially tried handball and basketball but landed on pickleball, saying he enjoyed it the most.

“I played 23 years of tennis in Germany . . . ex-racket sport players enjoy it because you get very long rallies.”

Outside of Europe and South America, pickleball was the fastest growing sport, but he said it was  primarily a social sport.

“There’s professional leagues that are mainly American driven, but it’s so easy to pick up and get going.

“It doesn’t even matter what gender or age mix you have, that’s very rare to find.”

Lipski  was not surprised the sport had gotten so popular, remembering when he used to coach tennis.

“It’s very technically difficult to do for a beginner and here it’s exactly the opposite . . . there’s no learning curve, it’s pretty much flat.”

The accessibility of pickleball had contributed majorly to its rise in popularity, especially among middle aged to older people, he said.

“Some of those people have maybe never played anything else and it’s so easy for them to pick up and learn.”

Nigel Lock is an ex-football player who, after retiring, decided to gather with a few of his friends to figure out how to stay active.

“We ended up playing a Friday night at the badminton courts and then just went on from there,” he said.

Two years later Lock is still going strong, saying he enjoyed the strategy involved in a game of pickleball.

“I like the social aspect of it, it’s very social . . . everyone’s great to each other and it’s just great fun, and you’re getting exercise as well.”

He enjoyed seeing the growing popularity in Southland, saying the accessibility was a big draw for a lot of people.

“People from different ages can play and some older people like me, if we play well we can beat 20-year-olds.

“It’s a bit of an equalising factor.”

 

 tayler.mutton@alliedmedia.co.nz