Pickleball is booming in popularity and Tallahassee is among most interested in the sport

Two months ago, Vi Plymel, Cassandra Ervin and Linda Lane were strangers among those using the indoor pickleball courts at the Tallahassee Senior Center. Today, they say the sport has brought them together as friends.

“Now, we play together Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays,” Ervin said as the trio played pickleball one recent Friday morning on the tennis court at Winthrop Park, another favorite destination for their friendly get-togethers.

The sport has taken the country — and Tallahassee — by storm.

A recent study by World Sports Network – an online sports news outlet – shows Florida is the No. 1 state in the U.S. for people searching online for pickleball court locations.

A second study released in March by Offers.bet ranks the capital city No. 10 in U.S. cities showing increased interest this year in pickleball. According to a release, the report analyzed hundreds of Google searches and surveyed more than 1,000 Americans to determine what’s driving the pickleball craze.

• Nearly 1 in 6 Americans currently play pickleball (1 in 3 non-pickleball players plan to try it out in 2023)

• 83% of current pickleball players started playing in 2020 or later

• Most popular reasons for playing: it’s easy to learn (93%) and affordable (96%)

The Winthrop Park trio each said the sport keeps them engaged and physically active.

“It’s nice to have something healthy to be addictive,” Lane said after picking up the sport in January.  “Once I started, it just stuck.”

Tallahassee and Leon County government are responding with urgency to meet the rise in demand.

In February, the city opened Four Oaks Park, complete with six new pickleball courts, on Tram Road and Fair Oaks Boulevard. In total, the city has 35 courts available for play.

“People will tell you they’re addicted to it for life,” said an enthusiastic JoAnn Cox, chair of the Tallahassee Pickleball Association. “It’s a great athletic and social activity.”

Pickleball clubs in Tallahassee

The Tallahassee Pickleball Association was started in May 2021 with 25 members and now has 284 members, according to President Fred Markham, who is excited by the growth.

According to city pickleball instructor Thomas Saxton, the sport is most popular with older crowds, however recently, more college students have shown interest in the sport.

“Lately, especially in Tallahassee, we’ve been seeing a surge in college students,” Saxton said of local activity.

Saxton says the Pickleball Club at Florida State University is a prime example of young people interested in the sport.

Club President Jenna Kaplan says the club was founded in January and already has 62 members. She has been playing for eight months after falling in love with the sport her first match.

“I really enjoyed it, so I told my boyfriend about it,” Kaplan said. “We fell in love with the sport, and it became our hobby.”

Kaplan says team members frequent Tom Brown Park, Winthrop Park, and Four Oaks Park.

Pickleball in middle school? Yes

Not only are seniors and college students showing interest in the sport, but children have also started to pick up paddles to play as well.

Principal Steve Mills of Deerlake Middle School says pickleball has become so popular within the student body that the school now offers four courts on campus. Students are allowed to play during gym class and there is a pickleball club shared by students and faculty.

“We think it's pretty awesome that our students are interested in becoming a part of the fastest growing sport in the country,” said Jennifer Schwartz, a Deerlake math teacher and head of the pickleball club. “We are the only middle school as of now to have pickleball courts on our campus.”

The pickleball club started during the fall semester of 2021 once pickleball courts were installed. Teachers at the school decided to learn the sport and found it to be fun and therapeutic and wanted to extend the opportunity to students.

“We polled the students to see how many were interested and decided to form a club based on the overwhelming feedback we received,” Schwartz said.

Where to play pickleball in Tallahassee

The city has 29 outdoor courts and six community centers with indoor courts, while Leon County offers four courts at Daniel B. Chaires Park, 4768 Chaires Cross Road.

To view the full schedule of pickleball courts in Tallahassee visit https://www.talgov.com/parks/sports-pickleball.

For those looking to learn how to play pickleball, the City of Tallahassee offers lessons with certified instructors ranging from $15 to $60 for private lessons and $40 for a clinic or group lesson. For more information, visit https://www.talgov.com/parks/sports-pickleball.

City locations:

• Tom Brown Park, 501 Easterwood Drive, is open Monday, Wednesday, Friday and weekends for open play. On Tuesday and Thursday, players can reserve the court from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.**

• Sue Herndon McCollum Community Center, 501 Ingleside Ave., is available with reservation on Monday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., and on Wednesday for open play.

• Four Oaks Park, Tram Road and Four Oaks Boulevard, has outdoor courts available on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday for open play and on Wednesday, Friday and weekends with a reservation.

• Winthrop Park, 1601 Mitchell Ave., has six outdoor (tennis) courts lined up for pickleball, available for reservation only.**

• Jack L. McLean Community Center, 700 Paul Russell Road, has three indoor courts open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday.

• The Lawrence-Gregory Community Center, 1115 Dade St., has three lined courts in their gymnasium available for open play on Monday, Wednesday and weekends.

**To make a reservation for a pickleball court at Tom Brown Park or Winthrop Park call (850) 891-4940.

Contact Democrat writer Alaijah Brown at ABrown1@gannett.com and on Twitter at @BrownAlaijah.  

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Pickleball is booming in popularity nationwide and in Tallahassee