DALLAS, Texas — The “kitchen” is a section of the Pickleball court that is 7 feet away from both sides of the net and extends to each sideline. You can stay in the kitchen as long as needed, but you must be outside of the kitchen before hitting a volley.

As Mayor Tommy Stewart mentioned in his letter, Williams Park is now home to six new pickleball courts. Last October the University Park city council approved repurposing the two tennis courts in the Park. Many of you are asking what is Pickleball and do I really want this in my neighborhood? Don’t worry, Pickleball is not a threat to your property value and unless you’ve been in solitary confinement you have either heard the weird noise of a paddle striking the plastic Pickleball, or your neighbors talking about how much they love playing the game.

It’s a cross between ping-pong and tennis that can be played as a singles or doubles match. And while it is a lot lower impact than tennis, the matches can be quite spirited and it’s pretty easy to work up a sweat while playing. Some claim that you can burn 500-600 calories playing doubles matches for two hours. The sport grew 21.3% from 2019 to 2020 making it the fastest growing sport in America. Over 4 million people played Pickleball in 2021.

Pickleball is the only sport where the whole family from kids to grandparents can play together and have fun. At the same time, people are starting to recognize that it can be played at a very high level, in big stadium venues, in front of large crowds. Pickleball-obsessed celebrities include Ellen Degeneres, George and Amal Clooney, Leo DiCaprio, Kim Kardashian, Bill Gates, Jillian Michaels, Jenna Bush Hager, and Reese Witherspoon.

Will it become an Olympic sport? It may be too early to tell. We have Super Bowl and World Series champions that grew up in our community. Is it too far-fetched to think that we could someday have a gold medal Pickleballer from the Park Cities? I wouldn’t bet against that. Naples Florida is considered the Pickleball capital of the world, but don’t blink your eyes…University Park may eventually take over that designation if more tennis courts are repurposed for Pickleball. Why not get out of your home kitchen and into the Pickleball kitchen in Williams Park. Just remember to quickly get out of the kitchen before you return your opponents’ volley.

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