Cherry Hill Township installed the first public pickleball courts in South Jersey this summer at Lion’s Den Park and now dozens of players come out daily to partake in their favorite sport.
The court has lines similar to a tennis court, but is much smaller. The net is similar to the one used in badminton, standing approximately three feet tall. The paddles looked like enlarged table tennis paddles and make a similar clunking noise when the ball hits it. As for the ball, it looks like a wiffle ball, but it’s slightly bigger with holes all the way around.
The sport described above, pickleball, is a strong combination of a number of sports. Like other racquet sports, players hit a plastic ball back and forth across the court until the ball bounces twice on the court or goes out of bounds.
Even though pickleball was only invented a little more than 50 years ago, the sport is developing a huge following. More than 2.46 million Americans played pickleball in 2015, according to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association.
Locally, pickleball has grown also, with a small group of about eight players expanding to include dozens from across South Jersey in just a few years time. The epicenter of the group’s rapid growth can be found in Cherry Hill.
Finding a place to play
Nearly five years ago, long-time Cherry Hill resident Denise Donald and about a dozen others took a pickleball class at the Cherry Hill Health and Racquet Club.
“Nobody knew what it was,” Donald said. “Maybe about 10 or 15 people showed up the first couple weeks. Some of us stayed with it.”
Donald and about seven others in the group fell in love with the sport and continued to play at the racquet club. However, the group could only get a small amount of court time there. Compounding the issue was the lack of other pickleball courts in South Jersey. With few other places to play, Donald and the group constantly had to drive up to an hour away to courts in Pennsylvania.
After some time, the group decided to play locally at Carusi Middle School’s tennis courts. This proved to be a challenge early on, as there were no lines painted for pickleball.
“We used to go out there with masking tape,” Donald said. “We would put up a mock pickleball court and use the tennis net.”
In the summer of 2014, yellow lines for use in pickleball were painted at Carusi and Stockton Elementary School, and the South Jersey Pickleball group began to expand, with dozens of people of all ages coming to play. Eventually, the group would expand to other South Jersey venues such as the Moorestown Recreation Center, the Marlton Fieldhouse and the Kroc Center in Camden.
However, there were still no public courts in South Jersey to play pickleball until earlier this summer. Cherry Hill Township received a $25,000 Recreation Facility Enhancement Projects grant to help pay for the transformation of the basketball courts at Lion’s Den Park into three pickleball courts. The courts opened in June as the first public courts in South Jersey dedicated specifically for pickleball.
A sport for all ages
Throughout the summer, the courts at Lion’s Den Park have been packed nearly every day with members of South Jersey Pickleball. The small group of eight has expanded to more than 100 picklers of all age groups and skill levels. In April, the USA Pickleball Association named Donald as the South Jersey district ambassador. One of the things Donald did to expand interest was create a group on meetup.com called South Jersey Pickleball. She creates events each day detailing times when the group will play pickleball and what skill level will be in action. More than 200 people have joined the meetup group, and the daily events typically number at least a dozen picklers.
Some of the players, such as Donald, are experienced and have played for years. Others, such as Cherry Hill resident Ed Klarman, just recently picked up the sport. Klarman has experience playing table tennis and racquetball. He decided to give pickleball a try a few months ago and had no problems learning the sport.
“This is an activity you can do in your 60s or 70s,” Klarman said. “Anybody can pick it up pretty quickly.”
Marlton resident Chris Carroll started playing pickleball in February and now plays three to four times a week.
“I’m a tennis player,” he said. ”It’s a pretty easy transfer over.”
Carroll added one doesn’t have to have experience playing racquet sports to start playing pickleball. He said the skills and rules are very easy to learn for a beginner.
“You can pick it up in five minutes,” he said.
Klarman said one of the things he likes about pickleball is playing doubles with a partner and the camaraderie he has with other players.
“It’s more fun,” Klarman said of pickleball. “It’s more social.”
Making “pickler” friends
The social aspect of the group is what draws many to South Jersey Pickleball. At the three Lion’s Den courts, doubles pairings face off on a rotating basis, with beginner players competing against other beginners and more skilled players playing on another court. When players aren’t in action, they sit along the sidelines, watch the other matches and converse with one another. The group also spends a lot of time together outside of the pickleball court, getting together to play mahjong on some afternoons or enjoying a barbecue.
“Everyone’s out to have a good time,” Klarman said.
One of the things Donald enjoys about the group is its diversity. The ages of people playing with South Jersey Pickleball range from late 20s all the way up to people in their 70s.
“They’re outside making friends,” Donald said. “It’s so social that people are sitting on the sidelines, just talking.”
“It’s fun,” she added. “You laugh, you laugh at yourself, you laugh at other people, and you’re getting exercise.”
All residents are invited to join the group at Lion’s Den Park. Events are scheduled most days of the week on the South Jersey Pickleball group’s Meetup page.
“When you belong to the meetup, you’re notified when there’s a Pickleball meetup within 50 miles,” Donald said.
To join South Jersey Pickleball’s meetup page or for more information, visit www.meetup.com/SouthJerseypickleball.
