There have been nicer days. The sky was gray, with rays of sun only occasionally poking through, and puddles lined the concrete of the Tasker Park pavilion. The Klise family was outdoors.
Did either of you know the rules? Andy Klise said something. The North Carolina native was visiting relatives in the area and was playing with his sister from Brooklyn and his parents from Ohio He had an idea of what he wanted to do as a tennis player. Gail had not picked up a racket since high school.
Nick Cordone is the best person the family could have met. It would have been difficult to miss him, as he rode down the field at Tasker Park in a shirt with the USA Pickleball logo and a paddle in his hand. He wore a baseball hat that said, “Just Dink It.” He looks like an authority on the sport. The reason there is a pickleball court at Tasker Park is due to him.
The game is played with a wiffle ball, paddles and a tennis racket. It’s easy to learn games that take about 10 or 15 minutes to play. The game can be played in doubles or singles. The first team to reach 11 is the winner.
In Southold, the sport was unknown a decade ago. Mr. Cordone convinced the town to allow him to teach a few classes because there were no courts back then.
After learning to play a sport while on vacation in Florida, he applied for a USA ambassadorship. It was when I approached the town, me and a few others that we had our first meeting about pickleball, which no one had ever heard of. He said that no one has played it yet.
Mr. Cordone said it was a big wave. The North Fork has also been swept by the pickleball craze. The popularity of the paddle game has exploded over the past decade in Southold.
There are six pickleball courts in Tasker Park and the town plans to add three more. A Saturday tournament with 80 players and more than 100 attendees raised more than $7,000 for the North Fork Animal Welfare League, a nonprofit that runs Southold and Riverhead animal shelters.
The weekend before the tournament was when every single court was taken, according to Mr. Cordone. There are 24 people out there, and the same number of people waiting to play. The place has been full of people all year. They probably could use more courts now that the new courts are coming, but it should make a difference.
People start to notice a sport that has risen in popularity as the year ends. According to a February report from The Sports & Fitness Industry Association, the number of players has grown 39.3% over the last two years.
The Pandemic did not create trends as much as accelerate them. The popularity of the sport has grown over the past five years. Tom Cove, president and CEO of the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, said in a statement that it will be a significant part of the American sport landscape for the foreseeable future as a result of the growth trajectory of Pickleball.
There are a lot of reasons people like the game, one of which is that it is easier on the body than many other sports. As the sport has gained popularity, it has made money through tournaments and advertising.
Steve Starroff emphasized the sense of community created by the game. It is friendly. We are competitive when we are playing, but never aggressive. When you’re done playing, you usually get off the courts so other people can get on and you can sit and play. The competitive sports participation is important, but the social aspect is equally important.
The sport was invented by three dads near Seattle in 1965, who wanted to entertain their kids with handmade equipment and a tennis court. One of the more popular stories says that the game was inspired by a family dog, and that it was named after the dog.
Three years after the sport was invented, Mr. Cordone said that Pickles was born. The three men were scull rowers and that’s why the name pickleball stems from that. He said that a boat with both male and female rowers is called a pickle.
The USA Pickleball Association fact-checks the story. Even though it was named, the sport has grown into a sport with international reach and Olympic ambitions.
Mr. Starroff fell into the sport by accident. When he retired, he wanted to stay active, so he took the town class on pickleball. He liked it, so he continued.
I’m like, ‘You know, this is pretty cool.’ How can I get others to play? Two, three years ago, a lot of people were starting to pick it up. I started the Facebook page just to let people know that I am interested in playing. I wanted them to do it so that we could get together. It just kind of mushroomed there.
The sport picked up steam after the group was able to play on the outdoor courts after the outbreak of COVID-19. Town classes fill up very fast. A tournament was held a few years ago to honor a player who died, and another was held in the spring to raise money for the museum.
Mr. Starroff said that the sport is for everyone because of its popularity, camaraderie and sportsmanship.
Nancy Rickles is married to Mr. Starroff and is a board member of the no-kill shelters.
She said that the community is an amazing group of animal lovers, so combine that with all the pickleball lovers and it’s just a winning combo.