Organizations don’t have to look too far for employees interested in pickleball. According to USA Pickleball, Pickleball grew 39.3 % in 2022 and that makes pickleball the fastest-growing sport in America. One of the reasons for pickleball's popularity is that pickleball is not difficult and the majority of players can pick it up easily. Even beginner players - at any age- are able to jump on the court and hit a few rallies. (A rally is a continuous play that occurs in pickleball after the serve and before a fault).
Over the last year, I have worked with companies to bring pickleball to the workplace. Karen Romano, who manages Workplace Facilities at a large software company says, “I took a few pickleball lessons last year and really enjoyed the sport, and I knew our employees would love pickleball. Our company culture is fun and engaging and bringing pickleball to the campus was something I knew I had to do.” Within a few short weeks, she was able to offer employees weekly pickleball lessons as well as pickup games. “Bringing pickleball to our campus was simple and easy to execute in our parking lot. Most of the employees have never played pickleball and just want to learn and meet other people.” If your business has a flat parking lot, and/or open space - pickleball can be set up to accommodate team-building activities.
Pickleball combines badminton, tennis, and ping-pong and can be played on indoor or outdoor courts. Unlike tennis, the pickleball court is much smaller, and with a portable net and some chalk, you can construct a court in no time. In fact, pickleball grew during the pandemic nearly 40% between 2019 - 2021 because recreational players were able to construct courts in cul de sacs across America as a means to do something outside. The most common way to play pickleball is Doubles. Each 2-person team goes against their opponents and must work together to win. Each player has a paddle and they attempt to hit a baseball size wiffleball over the net. Points are scored when the serving team causes the opposing team to fault or the ball is not returned by the opponent.
At one software company, we set up pickleball as part of their new hire onboarding program. The pickleball instructor ran a quick lesson, and then employees teamed up and played against each other. It was so popular that existing employees came to play. Engaging existing employees during onboarding with new hires build strong relationships with co-workers. The partners work together on the court to try to win a point from their opponents. In addition to working together, they are able to have fun and get to know one another.
Pickleball boosts employee morale and helps employees meet each other. Pickleball is also healthy and fun. As pickleball continues to expand worldwide, consider adding pickleball to your company culture as a means of networking and team-building activities.
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