The Fastest Growing Sport in Illinois Doesn’t Actually Involve Pickles

I'm sitting here recovering from two knee surgeries and all I want to do is be able to play the sport that everyone in Illinois is talking about.

Let's Play Pickle Ball

I still remember the first time someone asked me to come to play pickleball with them, it was at least a couple of years before the Covid pandemic. They said I would love it because it was so fun to play. They said it was easy and I'd pick it up quickly. I don't remember the exact reason I never took him up on that offer, but I never did. He sure was on to something, and much earlier than most of us.

What is Pickleball?

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It's fair to assume that I wasn't the first one to wonder what the 'pickle' part of this game was all about.

• Is it played with an actual pickle or an object shaped like a pickle?
• Is the game similar to when a baseball player gets caught in between running from one base to another?

The only thing I was ever told about pickleball was that the game is a bit of a mix of tennis and ping pong.

Pickleball is a fast-paced paddle game played on a small court. And that guy who invited me was pretty accurate with his description of the game, it combines elements of tennis, badminton, and ping pong. You use a solid paddle to hit a perforated plastic ball over a net.

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It seems like every week there are new places to play pickleball around the Rockford area. By the end of 2023, a huge pickleball arena and entertainment complex in Algonquin called, Pickle Haüs, will be open.