Four-person pickleball teams pose for a picture before their Wednesday night league games at the Ilminster Intermediate School gymnasium. The competition finishes on September 17.
Pickleball has found a place in Gisborne’s sporting landscape and is not about to fade away.
Its burgeoning popularity has meant players grab court time wherever they can.
“More courts” is the plea and help is at hand.
Twelve additional pickleball courts – uncovered, at least initially – are expected to be available by the end of November and 12 more could be ready by this time next year.
The catch? They’ll be multi-use courts, marked up for other codes as well.
“Never mind,” say the pickleballers. “Bring them on.”
Invented in 1965 as a backyard children’s game in Washington state, in the United States, pickleball combines elements of tennis, badminton and table tennis.
From 2021 to 2024, the Sports and Fitness Industry Association named pickleball the fastest-growing sport in the US, and in 2022 it was made the official state sport of Washington.
Rotorua had the first New Zealand pickleball club, set up in 2015 after US visitors introduced the game to the Rotorua badminton fraternity.
The Pickleball Gisborne Club started in September 2022 after local tennis players told former Poverty Bay netball representative Shelley Duncan about the game and invited her to play. She loved it, and was keen to spread the word.
“She wanted to start a club,” a friend, Kay Bermingham, said. “A few of us got on board and it has gone from strength to strength.”
Bermingham is treasurer of the Gisborne club, one of 70 clubs, communities or locations listed on the New Zealand Pickleboard Association website. Duncan is president.
Pickleball Gisborne has three club sessions a week – at the Gisborne Girls’ High School gymnasium on Wednesday nights, the Badminton Centre on Friday nights and Ilminster Intermediate’s gymnasium on Sunday afternoons.
On top of this, the club holds “ladies’ mornings” once a week. On Fridays, 11- to 18-year-old girls have drills and games in the Gisborne Girls’ High gymnasium from 2.30pm to 4pm.
Membership varies between 180 and 200 players.
“We are limited for space,” Bermingham said.
“Because of that, a lot of people play when they can, and book the courts at the Badminton Centre. You can go down on Saturday mornings and the courts are full up with pickleballers. But if a badminton competition is scheduled, it comes first.
“We’re hanging out for the (Victoria Sport and Recreation) Hub to be finished.”
Now a separate league competition – organised with the backing of Gisborne Drycleaners and Laundromat – is running every Wednesday evening at Ilminster Intermediate gymnasium.
On Fridays, from 11am to 12.30pm, competition organisers coach Ilminster students in the rules and finer points of the game.
With the next generation of pickleball players on the way, the need for court space becomes hard to ignore.
So 12 pickleball courts – spread across three multi-use courts – are included in Phase 1 of the Victoria Sport and Recreation Hub. The surfaces will be suitable for netball, basketball, tennis and pickleball.
Seven asphalt netball courts have already been resurfaced and redeveloped, with two more on the way, as part of Phase 1, for which Trust Tairāwhiti has allocated funding of up to $6.9 million.
Daniel Newman, deputy chairman of the governance group overseeing the hub’s development, said four pickleball courts could fit on one netball or basketball court.
“They (the three multi-use courts) should be completed by the end of November,” Newman said.
“Then Phase 2 of the hub includes the provision of multi-use courts at the back of the tennis club on old grass courts that haven’t been used for years.
“That will give three tennis courts or 12 pickleball courts.
“We’re hoping to get Phase 2 under way in January and finished by this time next year.
“When planning started for the redevelopment of the netball courts, in late 2019, pickleball didn’t even exist in Gisborne. As the project has moved forward, we’ve been able to adapt and get it into the plan.”
The commitment of regional economic development agency and regional tourism organisation Trust Tairāwhiti to fund Phase 1 of the hub – announced last December – also included partial underwriting of the second phase to attract additional investors and further enhance sports facilities.
“We’re seeking additional funding from other sources,” Newman said.
Stefan Pishief, chief executive of Whiti Ora Tairāwhiti, said his organisation was part of the push for a three-court multi-purpose indoor centre, which could provide further pickleball options.
Friends Joel Pritchard, Barney McCallum and Bill Bell are credited with devising pickleball on Bainbridge Island in Washington State and making the rules.
Pritchard and Bell returned from golf one Saturday afternoon in 1965 and found their families bored. They had tried to set up badminton, but no one could find a shuttlecock.
The families ended up at the badminton court, experimenting with different balls and rackets. The badminton net was lowered to hip level to allow the ball to be driven, and eventually a light, plastic perforated ball was used.
Table tennis paddles used initially were soon replaced with larger, more durable plywood paddles. Modern paddles use materials like carbon fibre and polymer honeycomb cores to enhance control, power and spin.
The game was taken up by relatives and friends of the inventors and became popular in the Pacific Northwest and gradually elsewhere.
A tournament billed as “the world’s first pickleball championship” was held in Tukwila, Washington, in 1976.
The US Amateur Pickleball Association (now USA Pickleball) was formed in 1984, the year it published the first official rulebook.
Pickleball was a demonstration sport in the Arizona Senior Olympics in 2001 and included in the US Senior Olympics in 2008.
Every year since 2016, Naples, Florida, has hosted the US Open Pickleball Championships. Last year it had more than 3250 competitors and more than 50,000 spectators across eight days.
Two professional tours were established in the US in 2019 and two professional leagues were set up soon after. Professional leagues also operate in Australia.
The origin of the name “pickleball” is uncertain. Pritchard’s wife Joan said she started calling the game “pickleball” because the combination of different sports reminded her of the pickle boat in rowing where oarsmen were chosen from the leftovers of other boats.
Barney McCallum said the game was named after the Pritchards’ dog Pickles, who would chase the ball and run off with it.
“What do you like about pickleball?”
Two 11-year-old boys chirped in unison: “You can smash it”.
The 11 and 12-year-old students of Ilminster Intermediate were doing just that, or trying to. Those with a little tennis experience seemed to have more racket sense, but the others were catching on quickly.
Coaches Harley Te Pairi and Tonee Mihaere organised the students into doubles games during this 90-minute Friday hit-out in the Ilminster gymnasium, teaching them the rudiments of the sport and helping develop their technique.
Both work at Gisborne Drycleaners and Laundromat, a family-owned business behind the creation of a 10-team pickleball league with games on Wednesday nights in the Ilminster gymnasium.
Tonee’s father Joe Mihaere, who turned 73 on Saturday, has a background in tennis and his experience organising tennis tournaments has been invaluable in the formation of the pickleball competition.
An earlier league ran in February and March this year at the Badminton Centre.
“It’s hard to find a venue,” Tonee Mihaere said. “We were lucky to get the Ilminster gymnasium. We’ve also been fortunate to have some great support from sponsors.”
This competition started in mid-July and finishes on September 17. Teams comprise four players – two male and two female.
It was a game families could play together – children, their parents and grandparents, she said.
“A lot of people got the idea that pickleball was an old man’s sport – more mature players can play it well – but young people in America have taken to it and they are phenomenal to watch.
“Already we have some very good young players in Gisborne.”
Sophie Hawkes, 12, who played alongside her parents in the Wednesday championship league, competed in PPA (Professional Pickleball Association) competition in Australia, and returned home with a gold medal in the junior doubles.
Joe Mihaere said pickleball was special because it was so inclusive.
“We’ve seen everyone from primary school kids to kaumātua on the court,” he said.
“It’s about fun, movement and whanaungatanga. We’ve had people lose weight, gain confidence and form real friendships.”