[ad_1]
If you were wondering what Stephen Colbert is doing with CBS by hosting “Pickled” today on November 17, chances are you might also have questions about that new, weird racket sport that is taking Hollywood and social media by storm.
Pickleball is the fastest growing sport in the US, with 4.8 million players in the country as of last year, growing 11.5 per cent on average over the last five years. It’s a Frankenstein’s monster of racket sports as it’s played in a tennis-like fashion on a badminton court with paddles and a plastic, perforated whiffle ball.
Pickleball is a hybrid of tennis, badminton and table tennis played on a court a quarter the size of a tennis court, with hard rackets and a variety of whiffle ball. Photo: AP
The game comes with its own terminology and quirky slang (“dink”, “falafel” and “flapjack” are worth their own Google searches) but essentially, players take turns serving and scoring, the sport can be played in a singles or doubles format, and there are rules to prevent excessively fast play – only underhand serves are permitted and the “kitchen” is a zone near the net that players are not allowed to volley from.
Particularly in the last two years as people searched for outdoor activities during the Covid-19 pandemic, A-listers and professional athletes playing the sport have only increased the mania around it.
This is all coming to a head as Colbert hosts his celebrity doubles pickleball tournament, which features duos involving Emma Watson, Daniel Dae Kim, Luis Guzmán and Sugar Ray Leonard. And these aren’t even close to the biggest names to support the odd sport.
[ad_2]
Source link