AUSTIN, Texas — According to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, pickleball is the fastest growing sport in America, with over 9 million active players. Those players include people of all ages and at all fitness levels.
In Central Texas, more pickleball courts are popping up, with one of the newest facilities over a parking garage rooftop on West Sixth Street. The Austin Pickle Ranch pickleball courts opened at the beginning of October, turning a rooftop into the new premier pickleball arena. Austin’s professional pickleball team, the Texas Ranchers, is behind the facility.
Zane Navratil, a ProXR Pickleball athlete, was a tennis player in Wisconsin and heard about pickleball from his dad in 2013. Now, with a decade of pickleball experience, he says the sport is exercise without going to the gym. It's an activity that's a lot of fun and you burn a lot of calories while doing it.
"The nice part about it is, it limits athleticism to a certain degree. Obviously, at the professional level, it's important to be very athletic. But anyone can really play and compete on the same court together," Navratil said.
According to USA Pickleball, the game is played either as doubles, with two players per team, or singles. However, doubles is the most common.
The server’s arm must be moving in an upward arc when the ball is struck, and the paddle must make contact with the ball and can't be above waist level. Dinks are very soft shots with the objective to make your opponent hit upwards. The harder shots are called volleys, with the objective to smash the ball.
Navratil said throughout his professional career, he moved to Austin because it's become more of a pickleball hub and he said it's been amazing to see the popularity of the sport grow.
"There's places popping up left and right, but it's still not enough. There's probably hundreds of courts currently funded or under construction here in Austin, and I don't even know if that will be enough," Navratil said.
Austin Pickle Ranch has eight professional pickleball courts and is open seven days a week. Court reservations can be made on its website.