What is Pickleball and How do You Play It? | Explained | Newsround

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Anyone for a spot of pickleball?!
Nope we're not talking about playing with your food, pickleball is one of the fastest growing sports in the US at the moment.
According to research by the Sports and Fitness Industry Association, around 4.8 million people played pickleball last year, that's almost double the number of people playing it five years ago.
The sport now has two national professional tournaments and and pickleball organisers are even trying to get it included in the 2028 Olympics as a demonstration sport.
But what on earth is pickleball, and where did it come from?
Pickleball is a mash-up of tennis, badminton and ping-pong and can be played by singles or in pairs, either indoors or outside.
The aim of the game is to get the ball over the net and prevent your opponent from hitting it back.
Players use hard paddles a little bigger than ping-pong bats, and a light plastic ball called a wiffle ball (we promise we're not making this up) to play.
The term 'kitchen' refers to the no-volley zone and 'dinking' is a soft shot that sends the other player scrambling towards the net to reach the ball in time.
The game was invented in 1965 by US Congressman Joel Pritchard and his friend Bill Bell during a summer holiday with their families in Washington.
According to one of the game's creators the sport gets its unusual name from the Pritchard family's dog: Pickles.
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