With origins dating back to the 1960’s in a backyard, pickleball was created to be easy to learn and fun to play. Since those humble beginnings, interest and participation in the sport have drastically increased, with an estimated 24.3 million Americans playing the sport last year, according to a report from the Sports & Fitness Industry Association.
This has led to the introduction of professional leagues and teams – including a local team known as the Columbus Sliders – as well as pickleball courts and resources becoming available all over Ohio and the country.
Despite its growing fame over the years, the sport has stayed true to its origins and remains an accessible game for many, leading to a host of health benefits to anyone who picks up a paddle.
Major League Pickleball
Up and active
Like many sports, pickleball offers cardio benefits as it increases players’ heart rates when running across the court, improving heart health in the process.
Dr. Jason Ferrel, an orthopedic sports medicine surgeon with Ortho ONE, can attest to this. He helps many patients with pickleball injuries, but also enjoys playing the sport himself.
“You can’t underestimate the cardiovascular benefit that it has for patients when they’re getting 10, 15 (or) 20,000 steps a day, and 75 percent of those are on a pickleball court,” Ferrel says. “So (the) cardiovascular benefits are incredible.”
Due to the quick movements and response times needed for games, the pickleball also helps create healthy stress on the body’s muscles and bones, which, according to the Cleveland Clinic, can lead to a decrease in health issues such as osteoporosis. It also engages muscles all over the body – from biceps and deltoids to hamstrings and calves. Professional pickleball player and team captain of the Columbus Sliders Andrei Daescu says it’s a full-body workout.
“It involves lower body, upper body, abs. It’s a lot,” Daescu says. “There’s a lot of back and forth, which will test your reflexes (and) test your speed, so it’s very important to have a good athletic base… There’s a little bit of running, but nothing excessive, so I think that’s what (helps people) to play it for a long time and even later in life.”
With a paddle and ball setup similar to tennis, pickleball players can not only work on their hand-eye coordination, but also on their strength, agility, balance and mobility, according to medical experts, including Ferrel.
Mental and social engagement
Whether playing recreationally or professionally, as the body gets active and engaged, so does the brain.
Strategy comes into play as each player has to read their opponents, with quick decision-making on what move to do next and the impact it will have. This mental stimulation and comprehensive thinking has been reported to reduce the risk of health conditions such as dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and general cognitive decline.
A systematic review by the research publisher Frontiers also found that over time, people over the age of 50 who regularly play pickleball showed significant improvements in several psychological variables, including life satisfaction, personal well-being, stress, depression and happiness.
Having a team, or a teammate when playing doubles, can have additional benefits and support, Daescu says.
“In doubles, there’s always someone next to you, so at times, that could be very helpful. They could sense that you’re not playing your best… or maybe they could see something on the court that you don’t see,” he says. “On top of that, if you play with somebody who’s a supportive partner, they could just lift you up.”
That camaraderie and support can be found all throughout the sport, whether being played competitively or recreationally, says New Albany resident and pickleball enthusiast Caroline Worley.
As a partial owner of the Columbus Sliders, Worley has seen how the team connects and supports each other, something she has experienced herself. Although she has only played for a few years, Worley enjoys how much the sport not only gets her up and moving, it also gives her new skills and experiences every time she steps on the court.
“For me, it just makes me happy,” she says. “And it keeps me interested in something that I’m still learning about, and you can’t fully master it. It’s one of those things, (where) you can win a game, but you can always improve.”
Major League Pickleball
Accessibility and health benefits for all
In addition to the positive atmosphere surrounding the sport, another thing that sets pickleball apart is its accessibility for a wide range of ages and abilities. New Albany resident David Kass – a former professional tennis player and partial owner of the Columbus Sliders – always encourages others to pick up the sport by sharing how easy it is to learn.
“I tell people that if you’ve played any racket sports before… (or) anything with hand-eye coordination, you can literally be confident in five or 10 minutes,” Kass says.
With its easy-to-learn gameplay and low entry needs of a paddle and a ball, Ferrel and other physicians are encouraged by the growing number of people who are staying more active at older ages and the future impacts it can have on their health.
“The snowball benefits of the health that come from the sport are really, really impressive,” Ferrel says. “It’s not uncommon that I’m connecting with (players) and they might have some type of small injury, but they might be living the healthiest they’ve ever been in one or two decades. And if you’re 65 years old, and you’re healthier than you were at 55, that’s a huge achievement.”
Rachel Hanz is the lead editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at rhanz@cityscenemediagroup.com.
