Invented on Bainbridge Island, Seattle some 50 years ago by Barney McCallum and a group of sports-crazy friends, it was initially played with wooden paddles a bit larger than a ping-pong bat. In fact, the game is a mixture of tennis, badminton and ping-pong and as such is highly favoured, and easily learned by players of these and other bat-and-ball sports. Little did the inventors know that forty years later the sport would boast millions of players across four continents.
The Australian Pickleball Championships in Brisbane
Peter Kirkwood and his son Michael were part of a Sydney team competing in the Australian Pickleball Championships in Brisbane.
Peter writes that, "The Australian Pickleball Championships were held in Brisbane over this past weekend and a few of us came home with medals. There were 160 registered competitors, several competing multiple times in different categories. There were 16 courts running simultaneously in the indoor sports complex. My Men's Doubles partner and I reached the finals in our category and finished up as Runner's Up. In some of the matches we were up against competitors much younger than ourselves".
