You may ask- ‘What is pickleball?’
It is the fastest growing sport in America for the second year in a row, according to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association. The Major League Pickleball Association (MLP) just wrapped up its third team competition of the year in Columbus, Ohio with a $100,000 jackpot for the winning team. If you have never heard of pickleball, some bigtime talent has, notably LeBron James and Tom Brady, each who have recently joined groups to buy a pro pickleball team.
Related to tennis, badminton, or ping-pong, pickleball is a paddle sport in which players volley a ball over a net. It’s played on what amounts to a small tennis court and is gaining popularity for people of all ages. While about five million people play pickleball nationwide (over twenty-one million play tennis), MLP is working to ‘bring the joy of pickleball to forty million people by the year 2030’. Pickleball has been part of the senior Olympics since 2012, and a growing effort is working to have it included as an Olympic sport for the 2028 Summer Games in L.A.
Enjoy this piece below about the sport- as the story headlines, perhaps pickleball is one thing that Americans can agree on!
Tell me what you think… Do you play pickleball or know someone who does? Do you prefer some other racquet sport or something altogether different? Let me know- send me an email by clicking here.
~ Brian Kasal- The Leadership Matrix
Click here- One Thing Americans Can Agree On? Pickleball
P.S.- Did you see my last Leadership Matrix post? The Balance Between Wages Set by the Government and the Market