Pickleball in South Africa

A story of the 58 year OVERNIGHT SUCCESS for Pickleball.

Pickleball is now the fastest-growing sport in America for the third year running! The sport, a cross between ping pong, badminton, and tennis, was invented by 3 vacationers on Bainbridge Island, near Seattle, in 1965.

According to pickleheads.com:

• There are currently 36.5 million pickleball players estimated in the United States according to the Association of Pickleball Professionals in 2022.
• Pickleball participation has grown an average of 158.6% over the last 3 years according to the SFIA.
• Pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in America for the past three years.
• Players 18-34 make up the largest percentage of pickleball players at 28.8% nationwide.
• There are currently 10,320 pickleball courts in the United States.
• The pickleball paddle market size is estimated at $152.8 million in 2021 and is forecasted to grow at 7.7% CAGR through 2028.
• “You will find the pickleball craze is alive and well, still the fastest-growing sport in the United States.” – Tom Cove (President and CEO of the SFIA)

The numbers of people in the USA playing pickleball have more than doubled from 2017 (3 132 000) to 2022 (8 900 000).

The percentage of men playing pickleball was 60.5% in 20121 with women making up the remaining 39.5%.

Pickleball is becoming a big business. The pickleball paddle market size is currently estimated at $152.8 million in 2022. The pickleball paddle market is forecasted to grow at a 7.7% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2028.

Understandably the South African Pickleball playing community is ‘slightly’ smaller and their official online home can be found at pickleballsa.com.

Pickleball South Africa is the official governing body of Pickleball in South Africa and a recognized member of the International Federation of Pickleball the world governing body for the sport of Pickleball
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Pickleball South African seeks to introduce people to the sport – and teach players from beginner to pro, social to club level aiming for Olympic status and representation as Team SA
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Pickleball SA is proudly led by Professional Pickleball Player and World Number 13 – Megan Charity.

A dipstick of popularity for any sport, person or business is the number of Likes and/or Followers that said sport has on Facebook:

• Pickleball South Africa curretnly has 351 likes and 443 followers.
• Pickleball USA currently has 30 000 likes and 37 0000 followers.

The USA Facebook numbers are only for the USA Pickleball Page – the National Governing Body for the sport of pickleball in the United States. Pickleball in the US also has hundreds of other Facebook pages dedicated to the sport, rules, stae and city specific organisations, sports apparel and even dating for Picklers!

South African Pickleball has a long way to go to reach the USA numbers although the age range of USA players – mostly over 55 would seem to indicate that Facebook is the right marketing platform for the sport.

Players aged 55 and up were the largest age bracket of pickleball players in 2021, comprising 19.8% of total participants. Players aged 18 to 34 were the second largest age bracket, making up 18.5% of total participants.

The average age of pickleball players was 38.1 years in 2021. The average age of pickleball players is dropping and declined 2.9 years from an average of 41.0 years in 2020.

Pickleball player growth in 2021 was the fastest among players under 24 years of age (21%). Growth among players 55 and older was slower at 10% year-over-year.

Source: SFIA Single Sport Participation Report on Pickleball (https://sfia.users.membersuite.com/shop/store/f147b189-00ce-c473-ec33-0b43d03a1678/detail)

More About Pickleball with Social Media and Contact Details: https://myza.co.za/directory/a/pickleball-south-africa/

Megan Charity on “To Bounce or Not to Bounce”:

https://youtu.be/iHh9s7fdLH0