You’re never too old — or young — to learn a new game
Pickleball Whiffs its
Way Into Wilmington
by JOHANNA FEREBEE | photography by ALLISON POTTER
see them. On any given day, at one
of the county’s public tennis courts,
it’s likely you will catch a chorus of
distinctive hollow, rounded notes
The sport is pickleball. It’s been around since
the summer of 1965, when a politician and a
businessman picked up a couple of pingpong
paddles and began batting a plastic ball over
a badminton net. It takes its name, legend
states, from a dog named Pickles who
would run off with the ball whenever it
The game slowly began to spread, and
in 1976 Tennis Magazine published an
article on “America’s newest racquet
sport.”
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PEOPLE | CULTURE | HAPPENINGS
YOU HEAR THE PLAYERS before you
produced when thick paddles meet perforated
plastic balls.
came his way.
William Fleming returns the
ball during open play at the
Wrightsville Beach courts.
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www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com WBM
www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com WBM