Pickleball: Some Reasons for Concern

America’s fastest growing sport has troubling origins

Photo by Aleksander Saks on Unsplash

For the last two years pickleball has been gaining momentum, rising to surpass even frisbee as a pastime of choice for many Americans. As more and more “ballers” swell pickle’s ranks societal norms have been tested with the sport’s irritating noises jangling neighbors’ nerves by night and setting up turf battles with tennis players by day.

But much more disturbing, new research has come to light revealing troubling origins and serious consequences connected to the nascent sport. Though this research has yet to be peer reviewed it’s important in these early phases to identify public health concerns derived from the meta-analysis of over 14,000 pickleball studies before pickleball puts down permanent roots in the American recreational community.

Here then are some key findings:

• A pickleball is actually a Wiffle Ball.
• A pickleball racquet is in fact a spare part originating from a waffle iron.
• Pickleball was invented by the St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency as a method for undermining American physical fitness.
• In a related finding more calories are often burned getting to pickleball than playing pickleball.