Pickleball popularity growing in the Jamestown area

Jun. 30—JAMESTOWN — In recent years, the sport of pickleball has exploded in popularity around the country, including in the local area.

"It's gotten more and more popular," said Brooke Johnson, wellness programs supervisor at Two Rivers Activity Center. "It's an easy sport to play, there's not much to learn and there's not a lot of equipment involved. So, anyone can participate."

According to USAPickleball.org, between 2022 and Jan. 17, 2023, more than 70,000 people became a member of the organization, which is a 30% increase from 2022. In Jamestown, there is a pickleball club that has over 40 members including Kari Newman Ness, who said she enjoys the social aspects of the sport. Newman Ness said the club will be open for everybody to come out when the courts are built and learn about the sport and play the game.

One of the other members of the club is Owen Ost, who has played the sport around the state recently. He said he enjoys meeting people from around the area through the sport and connecting with them.

"You go to different towns and there's pickleball courts everywhere," Ost said. "Gackle just put in a new court. I had a lady from Ashley call me the other day, they're working on pickleball courts down there and you get to the bigger towns, the Bismarck, the Fargos, there are plenty of courts and (a) lot, lot of people play."

On May 5, 2022, a $50,000 donation was made to the Jamestown Parks and Recreation Department to build pickleball, bocce and sand volleyball courts outside TRAC. Amy Walters, executive director of Jamestown Parks and Recreation, said the construction is on schedule to open in October. Ost said he hopes the opening of the new courts increases interest in the sport in the area.

"I think pickleball definitely in our community is growing and nationwide is one of the fastest growing physical activities," Walters said. "We're looking to provide an opportunity for folks to gather, to play and give additional space to meet that demand."

"I'm very excited, we worked on this year for a year and a half," Ost said. "So to see this come forward and being worked on now where we play now, it's an old tennis court and these new courts will be so much nicer than that. The size and then we'll have a fence around each court so it's just a lot more fun to play on regular pickleball courts."

Ost said the club was started alongside Walters and the Jamestown Parks and Recreation Department.

"We started this idea a year and a half ago and with Amy, the parks director, she's done a lot of work, a lot of good with North Dakota to get some grants, matching grants," Ost said. "We've raised a lot of money for this. So it's been a process for this but we've had a few challenges but it's coming along."

Ness said the sport is accessible to all people because it is not played on a big surface with a fast-moving ball.

"I think that a smaller court and that you don't have to be extremely athletic to play pickleball," Newman Ness said regarding the ease with which people can get into the sport. "You don't have to be able to move particularly fast, you have to have pretty good hand-eye coordination. There's people at every level. So, you can always find your level."

Early on in her time playing the sport, Ness said she reached out to the Parks and Recreation Department about putting lines on the tennis courts

"There was already some people that played indoor at TRAC so I met them and just started playing," Newman Ness said. "Some of my own friends, people that I knew that like sports or like to keep busy, invited them to learn to play and it takes off, it takes off that way."

During the wintertime and when the weather is bad, players can play inside on the basketball courts at TRAC.

"People seem to have a real preference," Newman Ness said. "You can ask everybody and people will say, 'Oh I prefer inside.' And other people will say, 'I prefer outside.' I'm an outside person, I prefer the surface that we're gonna have outside as opposed to a basketball court. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to play inside but if you ask people, like I said, you'll get a different answer. My preference is outside, I like the surface, I like being outside."

Earlier this year, ESPN and the Professional Pickleball Tour reached an agreement to broadcast the pickleball games throughout the summer, which Johnson hopes will increase the visibility of the sport locally. She said the popularity of the sport will see more participation in the sport and more people starting social media groups to make friends through the sport.

"You watch pickleball and you see the people that play professionally," Ost said. "There's a definite difference in the way people play and what they play but some of these people are in their teens and early 20s, the professional ones. I think eventually this will probably be an Olympic sport. It would be fun to see that. We follow the different professional people that play and I think there's some countries that play it. I think in maybe eight years or so, I would hope to see it in the Olympic games."