OK, there are ping-pong paddles and a badminton net. Where’s the pickle?

What do you do when you have the summertime blues and can’t find all the pieces of a badminton set?

Improvise.

That’s what three friends in Washington State did in 1965 while searching for an activity their families could enjoy together.

The game, first played that day using a badminton net, ping-pong paddles and a perforated plastic ball, gradually grew to be know as pickleball. Even though there’s no pickle.

Marie Savage says she’s pretty active for her age. She’s 83 and plays pickleball at Seven Oaks Park in Irmo two days a week. “They know I’m too old to run after anything, but if I can reach it in one step, I’m nearly as good as these young people.”

Savage and a friend were the first to play the game at Seven Oaks.

“My friend and I played for several months by ourselves,” Savage said. “Nobody else was interested or knew about it.”

Then the magic started to happen. A neighbor started playing, then someone who saw them playing joined in. Then two guys who had played pickleball in Florida moved to the area and started playing.

It’s a natural transition for anyone who plays a racket sport. The court is a little smaller than a tennis court, and the net a little lower. The nearly softball-sized perforated plastic ball is hit with a paddle and travels a little slower than a tennis ball.

‘What in the world?’

For Carlos Anrrich of Columbia, who’s 66, the game seemed like a good fit after retirement.

“At tennis, I couldn’t be as good as I once was, but playing pickleball I felt like Rafael Nadal,” he said. “I like the competitiveness. I can compete at a higher level.

Anrrich likes the game so much he promotes the sport as an ambassador with the USA Pickleball Association. He also seeks out other places to play when traveling and has played in some tournaments. He maintains Meet Up pages on social media to draw others to the sport in the Midlands.

Yvette McKenzie read about pickleball on Anrrich’s site while seeking out other active seniors. She thought, “Pickleball. What in the world is that?” So she went and soon became hooked.

“It’s great to have a group of seniors together who don’t complain about what hurts here or what hurts there. We just play and have fun,” McKenzie said.

It’s also a way for people to meet other people of all skill levels, races and ages.

“It’s a sport that catches on quickly with both the older and younger generations,” B.J. Belville, Assistant Athletic Director for Lexington County Recreation and Aging, said.

While they don’t now offer the sport, he expects in the next six months or so they will work it into their programming.

The city of Columbia is currently not offering any pickleball programs at its parks, but is planning on including the sport in the Active Adult Olympic Games next year.

Why the funny name?

There are several stories out there, here’s a few.

In the sport of rowing, a pickle boat is made up of a team of oarsmen left over from the other teams competing. Drawing on the similarities of taking a little something from many sources, pickleball was born.

While watching the founders, Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell, and Barney McCallum, play the first game, hitting a Wiffle ball over a badminton net with a ping-pong paddle, one of their wives remarked “What a pickle” they’d gotten themselves into.

Another story features the Pritchard’s dog, Pickles, who liked to run away with the Wiffle balls.

This story was originally published July 22, 2015 at 2:11 PM.