Invented in 1965 on Bainbridge Island off Washington State in the United States, pickleball has only really become a phenomenon in many countries, and Viet nam in particular, in the past few years.

Pickleball has many similarities with tennis, table tennis and badminton. Photo: L.V

Pickleball resembles tennis, badminton, and table tennis. The sport became popular after billionaire Bill Gates played it, and many international tennis players competed in several pickleball tournaments. It entered Viet Nam in 2018 and has attracted more and more Vietnamese players.

In Da Nang, pickleball currently attracts a large number of players, especially young people through training courses and exchange tournaments such as Da Nang Unity Pickleball, Golden PickleBall Da Nang and TTTC Da Nang.

On social networks, Pickleball associations and groups were established to connect people who love this special sport. Meanwhile, according to statistics from the Pickleball Viet Nam community (pickleballvietnam.net), there are currently more than 2,200 pickleball players and 25 pickleball clubs operating nationwide.

Facing this trend, Ngo Hoang Thanh, former coach of the Da Nang Tennis Team, began adding pickleball to the training schedule.

According to him, pickleball is a sport that combines the skills of tennis, table tennis and badminton. In particular, the similarity between pickleball and tennis is up to 70-80% in terms of technique and competition. This is also the basis for the coach to regularly update his training expertise with the desire to develop both pickleball and tennis in parallel for everyone.

Like the above-mentioned sports, to compete in pickleball, you must have a court, a net and rackets, with 2 - 4 players. The playground is 6.1m wide, 13.4m long and the net is 0.86m high. The ball in pickleball is made of plastic, is perforated with many holes, is quite light and bounces when it hits the ground. Each match lasts for 3 sets. The team that reaches 11 points first and has a gap of 2 points compared to the opponent will win.

Although similar to tennis, pickleball also has a little difference in the rules of the game, the way the ball is served and the way of scoring.

“Although pickleball in Da Nang develops more slowly than localities like Ha Noi or Ho Chi Minh City, many people tend to follow this sport and football fields and sports centre have also created conditions for its spread”, said coach Ngo Hoang Thanh.

Currently, he is taking advantage of the land fund from the tennis courts at the Da Nang TTTC Sports Centre to temporarily renovate it into a pickleball court. The number of participants is nearly 10 people/session, and about 4 sessions/week.

Regularly present on the tennis and pickleball courts at the Da Nang TTTC Sports Center, Pham Bao Trung, 21, from Hoa Cuong Bac Ward, Hai Chau District said he has been familiar with pickleball. Having experience playing and participating in tennis training, Trung was quite comfortable to get acquainted with the new sport.

“Pickleball is a sport that burns a lot of calories and when playing, you need to be patient to be able to handle the ball's path well. However, this sport does not take too much time to learn because after 2-5 sessions you can play the basic game”, Trung said.

Similarly, Ms. Ho Thi Viet Dong from Hoa Hai Ward, Ngu Hanh Son District gradually likes pickleball after getting acquainted with this sport for the past 2 months.

“For the time being, I often play tennis with my friends. I found pickleball interesting so I tried it. I usually practice 3 times a week. Compared to tennis, it is easier to play, the ball and racket are light, the court is small so there is less movement, however because the ball is light and moves quickly, it requires agility, good reflexes as well as the mastery of the skills. Only then can I play”, said Ms. Dong.

“Pickleball is suitable for many different ages and brings many benefits to players such as increasing health, increasing flexibility, limiting the risk of injury, improving physical fitness as well as creating flexibility and mental clarity. This has the potential to become everyone's national sport if it is widely popular and I hope that more and more people will join the pickleball community," said coach Ngo Hoang Thanh.

Reporting by LAM VIEN - Translating by A.THU