What is pickleball and how did it end up in Warrnambool?

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Pickleball is a growing phenomenon across the world and has found a home in Warrnambool.

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00:00Pickleball. It's the game with the funny name taking the world by storm. By now you've probably

00:07heard of it, but for those living under a rock, pickleball is played with paddles and a ball,

00:12and is a cross between tennis, badminton and table tennis. It's just about as inclusive as

00:17a sport can be and caters to all ages and abilities. First invented in America in 1965,

00:24pickleball's popularity has enjoyed a huge growth all around the world in the past 10 years. Here

00:29in the South West, the sport has found a home at the Warrnambool Stadium, and it isn't going anywhere.

00:34It's really going well, it's growing, so we're over 100 members now, and we have our tournament

00:40coming up also in June, which has got 250, which is 30 more on last year and still got

00:45a month or so to go, so we're expecting 300 people here for our tournament. And still

00:49growing as a club, so a lot of people come down and try, and we're still yet to sort of

00:53get some key events happening as well, which will happen in the future, so look forward

00:57on that and growing even further with the young ones.

01:01Inclusivity is at the forefront of pickleball's popularity. It's a game for everyone, no matter

01:06what their age or skill level.

01:08So, you can be a six-year-old, fifteen-year-old, fifty-year-old, and if we've got a player

01:14against eight or six, does that mean?

01:16That must be a good player, or be able to hit the ball, or actually be competitive in

01:20the game. And the smallest court actually brings a nice social environment during the game as

01:25well, so it's a lot more sort of talking to each other and having a bit of fun whilst

01:29you're having a game.

01:30Already one of the biggest clubs in Victoria, Warrnambool Pickleball will host its second

01:36Warrnambool Pickleball Open in June. Dave says the tournament is the second biggest in Victoria,

01:42and predicts a bright future for the club.

01:46But how did Pickleball find its way to the seaside town of Warrnambool, three hours southwest

01:51from Melbourne? Well, that was thanks to the city's renowned sporting identity, Val Bertrand,

01:56who fell in love with the sport while visiting America in 2017.

02:00From there, I couldn't stop thinking about how it would be just great for the Neppel Stadium,

02:08and how great it would be to utilise the space when it's on quiet times, and provide an activity

02:16for people who were moving, say, out of tennis or out of badminton, weren't just getting too

02:21hard to play against the young ones. And then they didn't want to retire from sport.

02:26So I just thought it was just a no brainer for that. And then for all abilities, it didn't

02:33matter whether you could play well, whether you miss the ball, you have a laugh and a giggle,

02:38and you didn't have to bust your gut. I just thought, oh, this would be just wonderful.

02:45Val brought her new fascination back to Warrnambool. And with a lot of hard work, it wasn't too

02:50long before it took off.

02:52To me, the game was always going to grow into a game for everyone. And I think there is a

02:58place for it for the professionals. The only thing that I'm, you know, most conscious of

03:04that it's not the top 10%, the good players that make a club. It's the 90% that come and

03:11enjoy it and at all different levels of ability. And that has to be protected.

03:17One thing's for sure, the game with a funny name is an obscure sport no more.

03:23One thing's for sure, the game is a great game. The game is the game series, and it's

03:36a cool game. I don't want to play I love that game. I think it's for sure, but it's

03:39a fun game. I would enjoy the game series of sports betting and competitive betting and

03:43the game series and the game series. I'll watch that game series and the game series

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