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Home Page Vice-President Sara Vogt joins USPTA certified professional Margery Hoffman to talk about Pickle Ball, the fastest growing racket sport in the United States.

Margery told me that Pickle Ball began in 1965 as a backyard family sport in Washington state. It became part of Parks and Recs of Wellsboro five years ago when the past director, Pete Herres, ordered the equipment they still use today. Pete then reached out to Margery, who already held a United States Professional Tennis Association certification. If you are interested in learning either sport, she teaches tennis and Pickle Ball. They meet in the administration building at Wellsboro High School.

If you want to come to play or watch, they meet each Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings starting at 8:30 AM. If you want to check the times each week, you can visit their Facebook page at:

https://www.facebook.com/Wellsboropickleball

Whether you say pickle ball or Pickle Ball or pickleball, you are guaranteed to have fun if you join in to play it!

Watch the video to see the pickleball players in our area with special interviews with area residents Donald Benelli and Kim Brandenburg.

You can visit the family website that first created this game to have fun with their family!
https://www.pickleball.com

More history of the sport from Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickleball

The game started during the summer of 1965 in Bainbridge, Washington, at the home of Joel Pritchard. He and two of his friends, Bill Bell and Barney McCallum, returned from golf and found their families bored one Saturday afternoon. They attempted to set up badminton, but no one could find the shuttlecock. They improvised with a wiffle ball, lowered the badminton net, and fabricated plywood paddles from a nearby shed.

According to Joan Pritchard, Joel Pritchard’s wife, “The name of the game became Pickle Ball after I said it reminded me of the Pickle Boat in crew where oarsmen were chosen from the leftovers of other boats.”

In 1972, McCallum incorporated Pickle-Ball, Inc. and manufactured wooden paddles to help grow the sport. His son David McCallum now runs the business headquartered in Kent, Washington.