Group picture from a recent tournament held by the Pickleball Players of Okeechobee. (Photo courtesy Tracy Sills/Lake Okeechobee News)

OKEECHOBEE- Visit Kiwanis Park or the Okeechobee Sports Complex on any random morning or afternoon and you’re likely to find a group playing pickleball. 

The sport has been slowly picking up momentum and growing in popularity over the last decade. It’s similar to tennis and played with a 34-inch net, lightweight paddles and a plastic perforated ball. In 2022 the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) named pickleball the fastest-growing sport in America for the second consecutive year. 

Tracy Sills was first introduced to pickleball 20 years ago while visiting her parents in Key West. But it wasn’t until the spring of 2023 when she was recovering from an injury that she decided to give pickleball a try. 

“I had been into running and ran a half marathon, but I ended up with a fracture and was advised by doctors to not run anymore,” said Sills. “So I was looking for something to do that was a little more active than just going out and walking.” 

Although it’s similar to tennis, pickleball doesn’t require as much running due to its smaller court size. The lighter equipment also makes for an easier learning curve. Sills took a pickleball lesson at the YMCA in Stuart, and instantly wanted to get together a group in Okeechobee. 

Both she and Joe Suarez gathered a group of local players every week at the pickleball courts in Kiwanis Park. Those weekly meetups spawned a Facebook group, Pickleball Players of Okeechobee, which now has over 200 members who meet multiple times a week to play pickleball. 

With sometimes groups of up to 20 having to wait to use the two courts in Kiwanis Park, the county decided to re-line a few of the tennis courts at the Okeechobee County Sports Complex to keep up with the increased interest in pickleball. 

In addition to the new courts, there are early talks of starting a pickleball league in Okeechobee. 

“To me it’s kind of like table tennis,” said Sills of the sport. “It’s faster, but the reason it is more accessible is you don’t have to run a lot. If you can reach, you can keep the ball in your range.” 

(Photo by Richard Marion/Lake Okeechobee News)

Pickleball can be played in singles or doubles, but doubles is the most popular. It was first created in 1965 by Washington state Representative Joel Pritchard and his friends at a party to keep themselves entertained. Legend has it that the name arose from the fact that the Pritchards’ dog, Pickles, would chase the ball and run off with it during a match.  

Interested in giving pickleball a try yourself? Visit the Pickleball Players of Okeechobee Facebook page to keep track of local games or visit the local free pickleball courts at Kiwanis Park or the Okeechobee County Sports Complex.