By Michael Oliveira
Pickleball, the sports sensation sweeping the nation, has come to North Attleborough’s Mason Field.
Town Manager Michael Borg and Parks and Recreation Director Steve Carvalho are inviting the community to attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony in honor of North Attleborough’s new pickleball courts, which recently opened to the public.
The event will kick off with an opening ceremony on Saturday, Aug. 24, at 11 a.m. Prior to the ribbon being cut, Borg and members of the Town Council will deliver their remarks.
After the cut of the ribbon, Borg will participate in a ceremonial game to kick off the town’s inaugural pickleball tournament. After the ceremonial game is completed, community members are invited to participate in the ‘Round Robin’ pickleball tournament.
The tournament is single-elimination style. The Parks and Recreation Department will provide paddles and balls for the event. Community members are also invited to bring their own equipment if they’d like.
The event is free, and open to all ages and skill levels. Prizes will be awarded to tournament winners.
For those who aren’t interested in taking part in the pickleball tournament, there will be entertainment that includes a DJ, light refreshments, and tables at the event from various committees, boards and commissions from the town to share the latest happenings around town.
For any questions, please contact the Parks and Recreation Department at 508-699-0100 at ext. 2647.
The invention of the sport of pickleball dates back to 1965, when two men, Joel Pritchard and Bill Bell, returned to Pritchard’s home near Seattle and noticed that their families were sitting around, bored, with nothing to do.
The property that they were on had a badminton court, however Bell and Pritchard could not find any badminton equipment around the property. They improvised and used ping-pong paddles and an old plastic ball.
The next weekend, a man named Barney McCallum was introduced to the sport. Soon after this introduction, McCallum, Bell and Pritchard created rules that relied heavily on those of badminton and made sure that the whole family could play. In 1967, the first permanent pickleball net was constructed in the backyard of Joel Pritchard’s neighbor’s backyard, Bob O’Brien.
In 1972 a corporation was formed to protect the creation of the sport. By 1990, pickleball had officially been played in all 50 states of America. In 2005, the USA Pickleball Association was formed, and from there the sport has continued to gain popularity, with USA Pickleball membership reaching 70,000 in February of 2023.
The Attleboro Norton YMCA holds pickleball almost every single day, twice a day on weekdays. All ages play on the courts, and there’s even another court that is set up in case more people want to play than their usual courts can hold. The Hockomock YMCA in North Attleborough also offers pickleball on three courts.
