Locals stay active through the game of pickleball, one of the fastest growing sports in the nation
By Brooke Spach | Photography by John Michael Simpson
The phrase “necessity is the mother of invention” rings true for the creation of pickleball. In the summer of 1965, two families vacationing near Seattle found themselves consumed by boredom. They set off to their summer home’s backyard badminton court and grabbed what sports gear they could find. Equipped with table tennis paddles and a whiffle ball, the families spent the weekend developing rules and playing the first-ever games of pickleball.
Why is it called pickleball? Well, that depends on who you ask (there are two conflicting stories of the name’s origin, one involving a crew racing term and another that references a cocker spaniel named Pickles).
Though the sport got its start nearly 60 years ago, it’s exploded in popularity among weekend warriors within the past several years. The Sports & Fitness Industry Association named pickleball as the fastest growing sport in the U.S. for the third consecutive year in 2023.
Our communities certainly aren’t immune to pickleball fever – thanks to an increasing number of designated courts and opportunities to play, the pickleball community in Chatham and beyond continues to grow strong, especially among older adults.
“There are a variety of reasons [people love pickleball],” says Sandro Francioni, the Chatham County Senior Games pickleball event manager. “It’s fun to play. It’s easy to learn. It’s social, and you can play at an advanced age. We have people playing in the Senior Games that are in their 80s. There aren’t many sports that you can do that.” Eighty 55 and older players participated in the annual Senior Games pickleball tournament May 9 and 10.
Wendy Richardson and Kate O’Brien are two casual players who competed in the tournament together for the second time this year. “A lot of people will do a tournament here or there,” Kate explains. “I think it’s fun to look forward to something and to challenge yourself.”
The couple lives in North Chatham, but they’re committed to the fellowship they’ve found at Ephesus Elementary School’s courts in Chapel Hill. Wendy caught the pickleball bug when her coworkers invited her to play about a year before her retirement in 2016, and Kate got involved a few years later. Admittedly, Kate says she thought Wendy’s dedication was a bit extreme – watching YouTube how-tos and taking clinics to improve her game – but once she got out there, she realized how exhilarating it is to notice yourself getting better.
Sandro and his wife, Lorraine Francioni, were drawn to the sport more than a decade ago. They initially retired from the Chicago suburbs to a golf course community in Western North Carolina with plans to play regularly in their newfound free time. “The more I played, the more I realized how difficult the sport of golf is,” he says. “At the end of the day, I would come home and think to myself, ‘I’ve just invested four or five hours, I’ve invested a lot of money, and I’m frustrated. There’s something wrong with this picture.’”
Around that time, another couple in the community introduced the neighborhood to an up-and-coming sport. “I’d never even heard of pickleball at the time,” Sandro says. “So, a group of us decided to try it out just for laughs and giggles.” The hobby stuck, and when they moved to Briar Chapel in 2020 to be closer to their new grandchild, Sandro and Lorraine got involved with the pickleball community here.
Sandro is now a Professional Pickleball Registry certified coach working for Tennisbloc, a company whose mission is to provide affordable access to tennis and pickleball programs throughout the Triangle. He also serves as the pickleball director for Paddles Swim & Pickleball in Pittsboro, and he and Lorraine hit the courts four to five times per week.
Community is the heart of what drives players out to the courts on crisp early mornings and balmy evenings. Wendy says that to her, enjoying the company of other players is half the fun. Recreational games are typically in an open play environment; players line up their paddles to queue for the next available court, ensuring that participants can play against and learn from different players in each game. The waiting period between matches is where the magic happens, as idling players sit around picnic tables or in lawn chairs chatting and building friendships.
This spirit of connection is alive not just within community groups, but among pickleball players as a whole. Even while out of town, Kate and Wendy’s desire to play doesn’t take a vacation. “You’ll meet a new band of pickleball players, and they might have a slightly different culture or they may do the rules a little bit differently,” Kate says. “With the locals, you already feel like you’ve got this extended family, wherever you go there’s a ready-made group that also loves the sport, and they’re ready to play newcomers.”
“That’s one of the beauties of pickleball,” Sandro says. “It is such a social sport and such a welcoming sport. … You could sit [by the courts], and you don’t even have to watch it – just listen. You hear players laughing and giggling and carrying on, and you know they’re having a great time. They’re getting some exercise, and they’re being social, and they’re having fun. And that’s what it’s all about as far as I’m concerned.”
