Pickleball. The sport’s name itself is one of whimsy – and up until recently, the trophies followed suit. As Pickleball became more popular, the Pickleball trophies got more serious.
Here, we take a look at the brief history of Pickleball, the tournaments, and the trophies.
The history of Pickleball
It’s summer in Seattle, 1965. Three dads (Pritchard, Bell and McCallum) came home from work to find their kids bored with nothing to do. Making use of the old badminton court at Pritchard’s house, they decided to rally the troops and play a game.
With no badminton equipment in sight, they used what they could find (at the time, it was table tennis paddles and a perforated ball) and improvised a game to cure their boredom.
They quickly began implementing rules, sticking to the ethos that this was a game for the whole family.
Fast-forward 2 years, Pritchard’s neighbour built the first ever Pickleball court. In 1972, a corporation was formed to protect the creation of the sport.
Fun fact: The sport is thought to have been named after the Pritchard family dog, but this has been debunked. The dog was actually named after Pickleball!
The name derives from the term ‘pickle boat’ (a boat where the team is made up of leftover oarsmen who didn’t fit into the main crews).
The first Pickleball trophies
In these early years of Pickleball, it’s difficult to find evidence of an early Pickleball trophy. Perhaps they didn’t have one? Maybe they didn’t expect the sport to take off?
What we can find are DIY trophies from non-professional Pickleball leagues, sometimes within an office or a friend group.
It’s easy to imagine Pritchard and his friends creating something reminiscent of the ‘Geller Cup’ from Friends – though perhaps this is our imagination running away with us.
Growing in Popularity
1976, just over 10 years after its inception, the first Pickleball tournament was held at South Centre Athletic club in Tukwila, Washington.
Many of the players were college tennis players, with little to no knowledge of Pickleball.
David Lester won Men’s Singles, with Steve Paranto landing second place.
By 1978, Pickleball featured in the published book ‘The Other Raquet Sports’ – an acknowledgment that sprung Pickleball to the attention of the nation.
Sid Williams, a Pickleball pioneer, began organising amateur tournaments in Washington State, and later went on to become the first President of the United States Amateur Pickleball Association (U.S.A.P.A.).
The first official rulebook was published in March 1984.
Fast-forward to 2010, Pickleball had grown a huge amount – but was still largely an American sport. To help gain international popularity, U.S.A.P.A. created the International Federation of Pickleball (IFP).
By 2011, the craze had spread to the UK, with Pickleball clubs beginning to form.
In 2013, U.S.A.P.A. had 4,071 members. By 2015, this grew to over 10,000 members, and just one year later, they were at 17,000. The upward curve had begun!
Pickleball Trophy Underwhelm
Things were getting serious. Pickleball was officially on the radar, and no longer a backyard sport.
The excitement and speed of growth was phenomenal for such a new sport. But the Pickleball trophies?
Consistent with sports stuck in the past – the very opposite of Pickleball’s hotshot image.
Just 4 years into Pickleball’s existence, another similar sport was being created.
Padel, a crossbreed of Tennis and Squash, was created by Mexican businessman
Enrique Corcuera in 1969.
Much like Pickleball, Padel has since been hailed as the fastest-growing sport worldwide, played by 30 million players across 140 countries.
Professionally Recognised Sport
In 2019, the Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) was formed, along with the Association of Pickleball Professionals (APP). Founded to facilitate professional tournaments worldwide, Pickleball was ‘officially’ deemed a professional sport.
To this day, the APP is the only tour that is sanctioned by the US governing body of the sport, USA Pickleball.
By 2023, The APP had 16 different tournament locations and has some of the best players in the world including Salome Devidze, Hunter Johnson, Simone Jardim and Andrei Daescu.
A Modern Sport Needs a Modern Trophy
Pickleball breaks the mould of tradition, having earned its place in modern sports despite its infancy.
Its super-fast scaling is likely due to its accessibility for the whole family, its easy-to-follow rules and fun-natured play.
This superpower of a sport needs a worthy Pickleball trophy.
Modern. Sleek. Future-focussed. One that smashes all the other trophies out of the park (don’t worry – not literally!).
Upstream Trophies’ Pickleball Trophy
We’ve been lucky enough to create a professional Pickleball tournament trophy for the PPA’s Veolia Cape Coral Open.
Veolia are not only pioneers in waste management but also heavily focused on
creating a greener future. As sponsors of the PPA Pickleball Tournament, it only
makes sense that the trophy we created included recycled plastics.
By harnessing the essence of the game – the fun, the whimsy, the professionalism – we have been able to launch the Pickleball trophy into the modern day, much like the sport did for itself.
In this instance, we think we’ve mastered the Pickleball trophy.
Now it’s time for us to master the sport.
Will you be playing?
Sources:
https://visitlelandnc.com/news/three-dads-couple-paddles-big-idea-history-pickleball
