What are pickles? They’re green, a bit pungent, crunchy and also lend their name to a type of highly purchased plastic balls. That’s the sport of pickleball for you. So what’s the racket all about?
The sport is played similarly to tennis but on a smaller scale and requiring less movement. The number of pickleball players tripled during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association.
In Irvine, with its fair weather beckoning residents to go outside, scenes of players swarming scarce pickleball courts as the scalding sun retreats are hard to miss, usually on weekday afternoons where dedicated play space exists such as at the Heritage and Portola Springs parks. On many courts, strangers invite solo players to play, reducing the need to gather friends.
For many T-wolves, the P.E. pickleball unit may be their only interaction with the sport. However, pickleball’s player base leans relatively young: the largest cohort is 25- to 34-year-olds as of 2024, according to SFIA.
Junior Aanya Kapoor, who indulges in pickleball weekly, found appeal in the sport as a break from shopping excursions.
“It was just having a great way to spend time with my friends during the summer and be outdoors,” Kapoor said.
Where pickleball does have competition, though, is in its ongoing controversy over taking limited court space from tennis.
Unable to find available pickleball courts, pickleball players sometimes take over open tennis courts, according to boys tennis player junior Richard Anthony. Although the City of Irvine does allow such spillovers, its court regulations require giving priority to tennis.
“There should be more [courts] so people who want to play pickleball have the freedom and ability to play, but it also shouldn’t interfere with tennis courts,” Anthony said. “There should never be a point where pickleball needs to spill over to tennis courts.”
Due to increasing demand, Irvine City Council plans to create 33 new pickleball courts starting in spring 2026: eight at Mike Ward Community Park in Woodbridge and 25 at Great Park.
So, what are pickles? Still pungent. What’s pickleball? To find out, a map of Irvine pickleball courts is available at cityofirvine.org/racket-sports/pickleball. Don’t worry, it doesn’t smell.
