Despite its critics, pickleball's disruption of the sports landscape should be celebrated

As a longtime sports journalist and keen athlete, there's nothing I love more than unpacking drama and diving deeply into social and political discussion about the sports landscape.

There is a sport that has taken off in Canada. Neighborhood parks are full of enthusiastic athletes, but the sport's popularity has become polarizing on many courts: the centre of said drama is pickleball.

There are noise complaints, annoyances to local residents and also a movement to reduce it because it is pushing children away from playgrounds. Is pickleball really threatening the suburban happiness of Canadians? Is it a sport or a leisure activity? Why are people so mad about it?

Other sports like disc golf and spikeball also claim to be on the rise but are not upsetting Canadians at the same rate. The reality is that even sports like cricket that are not traditionally played in Canada are burgeoning. Why the fuss about pickleball?

First of all there is some disagreement as to where Pickleball was invented. Leland, North Carolina claims to be the birthplace of pickleball, where in 1965 three dads are said to have created a fun summer activity for their kids. But the state of Washington would like a word. It has been reported that it was, in fact, created there by a Republican congressman named Joel Pritchard, and what pickleball experts believe to be the accurate history.

We do know that pickleball came to Canada in the 1970s from snowbirds who found it in the United States. The Canadian home of pickleball is Vancouver, where the first courts were built by 1984. According to a survey done this January, there are an estimated 1.37 million players — also known as picklers — in Canada.

Since 2022, the number of women's picklers has