Pickleball has rapidly grown over the last few years. In Fredericton, there have been six new courts opened.
The fast-paced game, combining elements of tennis, badminton and ping pong has already taken over the STU campus.
Professor Don Bosse holds a pickleball club for any Bachelor of Education students as part of their wellness program. Every Monday Bosse teaches the sport from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
“I’ll do that for three or four weeks and after that, they’re on their own. I’ll come in every once in a while and help them with things they might be having a hard time with,” said Bosse.
He said that what started as an ‘old-people sport’ is now reaching the younger generations to a point that ‘everyone wants to learn it.’
Bosse has been teaching from the very basics to in-game strategies for two years. Last year, there were more than 40 students in the club, which is expected to continue to grow this year.
“It’s great because you get to meet so many different people and you play with them for years, and pickleball friends become supportive of each other.”
Bosse is a member of the Fredericton Pickleball Club and Fredericton Breakfast Club. He predicts that in four years this sport will be a university sport in Canada and in eight years it will be in the Olympics.
“The tennis pros who played at a low level are converting to pickleball because they’re making more money playing pickleball than they were playing tennis,” said Bosse. “So, the game has become very competitive and there are ratings.”
Ann Flynn has been playing the sport since 2018. Now, she frequents the JB O’Keefe gym to meet with her friends.
Flynn said that when she joined the Fredericton Pickleball Club there were around 100 people, a number that has grown to around 400 people up to date.
“It’s a very inviting, welcoming community of people who play,” said Flynn. “There’s a variety of abilities I’ve played with people who have never played a racquet sport in their life and then I’ve played with people who are retiring from tennis after a good number of years.”
Just as the community has grown, Flynn said that the game has adapted to the players as well.
“Some of the folks that are coming to the club now with a tennis background, they’re changing the way that pickleball was played.”
“You play a soft kind of strategic game and try to get it past people, then the tennis players who are spending way more time at the baselines with harder, stronger and faster shots,” said Flynn.
Flynn said that most of the members are in it for the social aspect.
“It gets them out of the house, they’re playing with other people, they’re meeting new people,” said Flynn. “There’s still a lot better there for the competitive nature of it, whether it’s competing against other people or just competing against themselves.”
