PRINCE FREDERICK, Md. — It’s been a very pickleball summer. Most people have probably heard of pickleball, and in Southern Maryland, the sport is thriving. Our region is stacking up the champions.
In July, Jane and Ed Oh won gold in pickleball 4.5, 75-79 age bracket at the National Senior Games in Des Moines, Iowa.
“They’re the most unbelievable players,” fellow player Bill Gray said of the Ohs. “For 75-year-olds, it’s like wow, that’s what I want to be when I grow up.”
This week, Bill and Karen Gray also took bronze in 4.0 60+ mixed doubles at the Las Vegas Open. Gray and his men’s partner also won bronze in 4.0 60+ in men’s doubles. Throughout the summer, the Southern Maryland Pickleball Facebook page has been filling up with winners of all ages who are exploring local, regional and even national competitions in what’s fast becoming one of the nation’s most popular sports.
Pickleball has been around since 1965 but exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic. Gray has been playing since 2018 but noticed far more young people got involved during the lockdown. Pickleball offered a place for people to go, to be together, to get outside and to make friends. It was easy and low-cost to join in and find more like-minded players in local parks, where players utilized public courts.
And most pickleball players will tell you that the friends are the best part. Fresh off his wins at the tournament in Las Vegas, Gray said they’d gotten to know many of the other players well through competitions and were all going to spend time together in Las Vegas before heading home.
“It’s amazing how it’s changed our lives,” Gray said. “I never thought we’d be doing anything like this. It’s taken us to places we never thought to go, and we’ve met so many nice people along the way.”
Besides the social aspects, there are so many opportunities to compete that other sports don’t offer to recreational or semi-pro players. Instead of casual games with friends or pickup matches, today’s pickleball players get to travel the world and compete in very real tournaments. Pickleball makes it possible to imagine showing off your gold medals, whether you’re 7 or 75.
The types of tournaments vary. The US Open, which hosts 3,500 players and is the biggest pickleball tournament in the world, is based on a lottery system. Other tournaments require that players qualify through smaller tournaments to participate, similar to the way tennis works. The National Senior Games that the Ohs won is one of those types of tournaments, and there are many more like it.
The exciting thing about pickleball is that there are so many options — the Southern Maryland Pickleball Facebook group boasts of national and regional champions, welcomes new players, features coaching videos and welcomes weekend visitors looking for a place to play.
So if you see one of our local pickleball champions, say congratulations. Or, in the words of bronze medalist Bill Gray: “Pick up a paddle and fall in love.”
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