Golden area racquet pro Travis Ervick talks pickleball
GOLDEN, Colo. — Pickleball is one of the fastest-growing recreational sports in the country, and nobody sees that in action better than someone like Travis Ervick, the director of racquet sports at Mount Vernon Canyon Club and tennis coach at Evergreen High School.
“Pickleball is basically what tennis was in the ’80s,” Ervick says. “It’s a new racquet boom.” He sees many reasons for the sport’s growing popularity: Its play is relatively simple, so it’s an easy game to get into and it’s a great low-impact cardio workout for players of all ages. His favorite part is that pickleball is a way to build community with other players, he says and most of all, it’s just plain fun. “It doesn’t matter if you’ve been playing for years or if you just started playing; you’re going to giggle on the court,” he says. “You’re just going to have fun, no matter who you are.”
Pickleball is said to have been invented in 1965 by three dads in the Seattle area trying to satiate their kids’ boredom one summer, according to USA Pickleball on its website. It’s played on a court measuring 20 feet wide by 44 feet long – smaller than a tennis court – with a 34-inch-high net, and striped similarly to a tennis court. It can be played with doubles or singles, though doubles are most common. Players use flat paddles that are larger than ping pong paddles but smaller than tennis racquets, which they use to hit a hard-plastic perforated ball. Play and rules are similar to other racquet sports with slight differences, such as underhanded serves. Ervick says that pickleball comes easily to most players and they are very quickly sucked in.
“The other day, I had eight people out there who had never played pickle before and they couldn’t stop giggling,” Ervick says. “And these are 60 years old and older.” Ervick still sees higher interest in tennis, but more and more former tennis players are picking up pickleball, he says. “In the older crowd, they can’t play tennis anymore; it’s too hard on their bodies,” Ervick points out. “People who think they would never be able to play racquet sports ever again, play pickleball.”
Ervick does not see the sport slowing down either, as the sport is rapidly growing in popularity among youth players, too. He points out that some of the strongest players on the professional level are under 18 years old. “Pickleball for youth is continuously growing and it will grow more once it is accepted by colleges around the area as well as the U.S.,” he says.
Rattling off facts and information like this, Ervick says, “I could talk about racquet sports all day.” He is a Professional Pickleball Registry pro-certified instructor, a U.S. Professional Tennis Association tennis professional and platform tennis professional, and a Professional Tennis Registry 10 and under junior development professional. He grew up playing multiple sports including ice hockey, lacrosse and tennis, which he began playing when he was 16. He says his path to a career as a racquet instructor and coach is a natural one, given his love of working with people in a community-driven environment. “I’m 100% an entertainer. I know that I am,” he says. “This is a perfect way for me to continue to do that in a fun and professional manner that helps people with what their goals are and helps me with what I like to do.”
As Ervick brings new pickleball players into the game, his first piece of advice is to “hit the ball over the net and in the court.” To all racquet players, both new and seasoned, Ervick offers a reminder to keep the true fun of the games at heart. “It’s just a game,” he says. “We’re out here to have fun; it’s not worth getting frustrated over or getting injured over. It’s just a game, and you can treat it as such.”
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