My friend Dolores is 71 and owns four pickleball paddles, which is three more paddles than she owns matching dish towels. She is not alone out on that court. In 2025, about 24.3 million Americans picked up a paddle, according to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association.
That is up from just 4.2 million in 2020, a jump of roughly 479 percent in five years. For five straight years it has been the fastest growing sport in the country. The whole thing is played on a court 20 feet wide and 44 feet long, about the size of a badminton court and small enough that you can holler across it without raising your voice.
I went to watch a game. I stayed to play one. Here is what the welcome brochure tends to leave out.
The Game That Snuck Up on Us
Pickleball is played with a solid paddle and a perforated plastic ball that looks a lot like a wiffle ball. The court is a tidy rectangle, 20 feet wide and 44 feet long, which works out to 880 square feet.
That is roughly one-third the size of a tennis court, which is why you can squeeze two to four pickleball courts onto a single tennis court. The net stands 34 inches tall at the center and 36 inches at the sidelines, low enough that nobody feels foolish.
The paddle is solid, no strings, and cannot be longer than 17 inches under USA Pickleball rules. Most games are played to 11 points, win by two. The one feature that makes the game its own animal is the kitchen, a 7-foot non-volley zone on each side of the net.
You cannot stand in it and smack the ball out of the air. That single rule keeps the sport from turning into a demolition derby, and it is the reason a patient 70-year-old can beat a sweaty 30-year-old on a good afternoon.
Who Is Really on the Court Now
For years pickleball was treated like a shuffleboard cousin, strictly for retirees. That picture is out of date. In research released in 2023, the Association of Pickleball Players reported that the average age of avid players, meaning people who play at least once a month, was 34.8 years.
In that same research, more than 70 percent of those avid players fell between the ages of 18 and 44, proof the sport has spread across the generations. Of the 24.3 million players counted by the Sports and Fitness Industry Association in 2025, about 7.5 million were core players who played eight times or more, while 16.8 million were casual.
The gender split has evened out too, climbing from roughly 38.6 percent women in 2020 to about 42.9 percent in 2025. More recent reports point to teens and young adults as one of the fastest rising groups, so the same court now holds grandparents and grandchildren on opposite sides of the net.
The game did not shrink the older crowd. It simply opened the gate to everyone else. So when someone tells you pickleball is a kids' game now, smile. Then beat them to the kitchen line.
Why Your Doctor Might Smile
The appeal is not just the giggling. Pickleball quietly delivers a lot of the exercise a body over 50 is told to get and usually ignores. In one session you get movement, short bursts of effort, hand speed, balance work, and a social obligation to show up, all rolled together.
A small pilot study led by Jonathan Casper at North Carolina State University, published in 2023, tracked 33 adults aged 65 and older and found they reached the recommended weekly levels of moderate to vigorous physical activity when they played three or more times a week. That matters, because the standard advice of 150 minutes a week of brisk activity is a lot easier to swallow when it comes disguised as a game you want to win.
The court is small, so you are not running marathons, but you are shuffling side to side, reaching, pivoting, and reacting. That kind of footwork is exactly what keeps balance sharp and reflexes honest as the years pile up.
And the social side is real medicine. Loneliness is hard on older hearts and minds, and it is tough to stay lonely when three people are waiting on you to serve. The game nudges you out of the recliner and into company.
Both of those are prescriptions worth filling.
The Part the Brochure Skips
Now for the fine print, because I promised. Pickleball injuries have climbed right alongside the fun. According to a 2026 ValuePenguin analysis of federal injury data, emergency room visits tied to the sport nearly quadrupled, from an estimated 8,304 in 2018 to 32,960 in 2024, before easing to 31,463 in 2025.
And we are the ones filling those waiting rooms. In that same analysis, adults 50 and older accounted for an estimated 125,287 of those ER visits between 2018 and 2025, or 83.4 percent of the total.
The 65 to 74 group alone made up 38.8 percent. The usual culprit is not a flying ball. It is the floor. A fracture study by Ghattas and colleagues, published in 2024, found the average age of a fractured player was 66.4 years, that 87 percent were over 60, and that women accounted for 69 percent of breaks.
About two-thirds of those fractures involved the upper extremities, and 92 percent of all the fractures resulted from falls. Among emergency department cases, players ages 60 to 79 had increased odds of fractures, with an odds ratio of 1.75, according to McMillan and colleagues in Sports Health, and injured women had roughly three times the odds of a fracture that injured men did.
The game is wonderful. Gravity is not.
How to Play Smart After 50
None of that means hang up the paddle. It means respect the floor. First, wear real court shoes. Running shoes are built for forward motion and offer less lateral support, so a shoe made for side-to-side movement is the safer pick.
Second, do balance and strength work off the court, because researchers point to balance and strength training along with fall prevention as important ways to keep older players out of the ER. A few minutes a day standing on one foot while you brush your teeth is a start.
Third, break the backpedaling habit. Chasing a lob by walking backward is how wrists get broken. Turn, shuffle, or just let the ball go. No point is worth a hip. Fourth, warm up before you play and quit before you are exhausted, because tired legs trip.
And do not ignore the heart. In the national injury study by McMillan and colleagues, 11 players went into cardiac arrest, and five of them died before reaching the hospital or in the emergency department.
If you have heart concerns, clear the activity with your doctor first. Play hard, but play like someone who intends to play again next week.
Getting Started Without Spending a Fortune
The best news about pickleball is that it will not empty your wallet. You need three things: a paddle, a ball, and decent shoes. A perfectly good beginner paddle runs $30 to $60, and you can upgrade later once you know whether you even like the game.
A pack of balls is $10 to $15, and if you play outdoors, buy the balls with the smaller holes since they handle wind better. Court shoes are the one spot worth spending on, usually $70 to $130.
That means a full starter setup lands somewhere around $110 to $205, one time. As for the rules, the official 2026 rulebook runs 96 pages, but you only need a handful to play a real game.
Learn the serve first. On a volley serve the paddle must contact the ball no higher than your waist with an upward swing, and the highest point of the paddle head stays no higher than your wrist.
If that motion feels fussy, the rules also allow a drop serve, where you let the ball bounce once and then hit it with no swing restrictions. Either way, keep the two-bounce rule in mind: the serve must bounce before the other side returns it, and that return must bounce before you hit it back.
Learn to keep score to 11, win by two, and memorize the kitchen rule. Check your local parks department and recreation center for beginner clinics and any fees, since availability and cost vary from town to town.
What It Costs to Start Playing
| Item | Typical Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Beginner paddle | $30 to $60 | Upgrade later once you know you like it |
| Pack of balls | $10 to $15 | Outdoor balls have smaller holes for wind |
| Court shoes | $70 to $130 | Made for side-to-side motion, not running |
| Public court access | Varies locally | Check parks and recreation centers for fees |
| Full starter setup | $110 to $205 | A one-time cost to get on the court |
So here is the takeaway from someone who went to watch and stayed to play. Pickleball is cheap to start, easy to learn, and genuinely good for a body that has been around half a century or more.
It gets your heart up, sharpens your balance, and surrounds you with people who are glad you showed up. Just remember that most of the trouble comes from the floor, not the ball.
Buy proper court shoes, do a little balance work at the bathroom sink, never backpedal for a lob, and quit before your legs get tired. Check with your doctor if your heart gives you reason to.
Then check your local parks department for a beginner clinic. Dolores saved you a paddle. Bring your own dish towel.
Sources
- Sports and Fitness Industry Association, 2026 Topline Participation Report and Pickleball Single Sport Report (2026)
- Association of Pickleball Players, participation and demographics research (2023)
- ValuePenguin, Pickleball Injuries Nearly Quadrupled Since 2018, With Older Adults Most Affected (2026)
- Ghattas et al., Pickleball-Related Fractures in the United States From 2002 to 2022, Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine (2024)
- McMillan et al., The Epidemiology of Pickleball Injuries Presenting to US Emergency Departments, Sports Health (2026)
- Casper et al., Physical Activity Associated with Older Adult Pickleball Participation, Recreational Sports Journal (2023)