![]() Game-Set-Match sells a variety (and they’ll match any competitor’s price on a like-for-like item, so you might as well support a local business instead of ordering them from you-know-where). Indoor pickleballs are larger to help slow them down, while outdoor pickleballs-often in brighter, easier-to-see colors-are smaller in order to move faster against the wind. The main thing to know here is the difference between indoor and outdoor pickleballs. Advanced players should check out the Babolat MNSTR ($139) players rave about its spin-generating capabilities, and it features a dampening pad made of a material the aerospace industry uses to stifle airplane vibrations. For beginners with $79 to spend, she likes the Babolat XPLR, which has a somewhat rounded grip (as opposed to rectangular), making for an easier transition for those used to swinging tennis racquets. Heise recommends testing out a few back to back so you can really feel the differences. If you think you might get hooked, however, consider taking advantage of Game-Set-Match’s demo program: For $5 you can try a paddle out for three days (or $10 for a week), and that money goes toward your purchase if you decide to buy. For $59, you can snag the Franklin Court Set-two basic paddles, two balls, and a portable net-at any of Game-Set-Match’s locations. These range from inexpensive, loud, hard wooden paddles to light, powerful, pricey graphite models, with composites in between. Courtesy of Babolat What Do I Need to Play Pickleball? Pickleball Paddles Babolat’s XPLR paddle is great for beginners. Here, we answer what you need to know to enjoy pickleball, Denver’s new favorite sport.Įditor’s Note: This guide was updated on July 15, 2022. ( USA Pickleball’s website is a good place to review the rules.) “Pretty much anyone of any age can pick it up, and maybe they’re not going to go on the pro pickleball tour, but they can have fun and have a reasonably competitive game.” If you want to join the dinking, smashing, drop-shotting hordes, here’s the good news: “It’s pretty affordable-you really only need a paddle, some balls, and somewhere to play-and it’s easy to learn,” Heise says. “I can’t say it’s old people anymore,” says Roxie Augustine, recreation coordinator for Arvada’s Apex Park and Recreation District, who has seen her leagues double in size over the past few years. Open for pickleball, and it’s actually getting quite serious.”Īnother stereotype that’s gone by the wayside: that it’s a toned-down version of tennis for seniors who can no longer hack it with a racquet. “For a while, it seemed very recreational I categorized it as a beer sport,” Heise says. When tennis-centric Game-Set-Match surveyed its customers in January 2021, more than a quarter of the nearly 600 respondents said they played the badminton/tennis/ping-pong hybrid, which was invented near Seattle in 1965 by a few dads trying to entertain their kids. Pickleball was on the rise before COVID-19, says Rachel Heise, the general manager of Game-Set-Match-a local racquet and paddle sports outfitter founded in 1989 with four stores in the metro area-but as an outdoor, inherently distanced, low-barrier-to-entry sport, its popularity exploded during the pandemic. Participation shot up 14.8 percent from 2020 to 2021 (after jumping 21.3 percent from 2019 to 2020), and Denver is no exception to that trend. If you’ve recently seen two or four people batting around what looks like a whiffle ball on what looks like a miniature tennis court using what look like beach paddles, what you’ve actually witnessed is the fastest-growing sport in America: pickleball. The Local newsletter is your free, daily guide to life in Colorado.
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