The nation’s top players are in San Diego this week for the USA Pickleball National Championships.
“This is the pinnacle of pickleball right here," USA Pickleball chief marketing officer Jose Moreno said. "These are the best of the best. The elite of the elite.”
About 2,500 athletes are competing in the tournament, both professionals and amateurs. This is the 20th year for the championships, but it's the first time San Diego has hosted.
"The weather's perfect. But you know, I've been told by the locals that this is a once-in-every-10-year rain, but really it is (perfect)," Moreno said, referring to the recent rainstorms. "The weather's beautiful. Well ... look at what we're staring at right now. We're staring at palm trees. We're staring at the beach."
Pickleball was invented in 1965, but Moreno said the sport really gained traction during the pandemic.
“A lot of people were stuck indoors. They wanted to get outside, they wanted to be active," he said. "And pickleball was historically a 55-and-over community sport. But people realize that this is a sport that brings community together.”
That was how Newport Beach resident Matthew Mead came to the sport. He was a Division III college tennis player at Chapman University turned pro pickleball player.
“I didn't have anything else to play," Mead said. "I just graduated from college, and I was done with tennis, so I was like, might as well try a new sport. And pickleball came at the right time.”
Pickleball is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world, with millions of players. It’s a mix of tennis and table tennis, or ping-pong. But it has its own rules and quirks, such as an area of the court called "the kitchen."
“We call it maybe kind of a 'no-go' zone unless the ball hits in there," Moreno said. "But it's the box that's right on each side of the net.”
It takes a little time to learn all the rules of the game, but the kitchen is the biggest quirk most people don't know about, he said.
One reason the sport has gained popularity, Moreno said, is that it’s relatively easy to pick up for both young and old. Cheryl Nitahara, who was here to compete in the amateur circuit, said she’s played with her 12-year-old grand-nephew as well as older players.
“I've played with ... these older ladies that had had to use oxygen and they would use it, take it off (and) play," she said. "And they'd beat me and then put it back on later. And that's the greatest part of the sport.”
The tournament runs through Sunday at the Barnes Tennis Center in Point Loma. It is being shown on the QVC+ streaming platform. The total prize purse is nearly a quarter of a million dollars.
