REVISTA PALMAS 68 OCTUBRE 2022

Pickleball
By Mike Vazquez, PAC Pickleball Pro
a huge hit in Palmas
It is an honor to continue the hard
work that Bill Daily has dedicated in
introducing Pickleball to our community.
As the new Pickleball Pro,
my only mission is to support the
tremendous growth of the sport in
Palmas del Mar, through actively
molding new players and providing
a great platform for their development.
Today there are about 4.8 million
people worldwide playing pickleball,
doubling the numbers from just
five years ago. There are already two
national professional tournaments,
corporate sponsors to help grow
the sport and a league called Major
League Pickleball. There are over
10,000 places to play in the U.S. and
that number continues to grow by
about 12 every month. Hotel groups,
including Marriott and Hilton, are either
converting tennis courts to pickleball
courts or building new ones.
This lets us know that the sport is
here to stay.
Celebrities that play – Yes! We are
not alone! As pickleball is the top
growing sport now being televised,
even celebrities are getting in on the
action. Celebrities like Bill Gates,
Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen DeGeneres,
Michael Phelps, Mathew Perry,
George and Amal Clooney, tennis
stars Andy Roddick and Andre
Agassi are all now playing pickleball.
More celebrities are becoming fans
of the fastest-growing sport in the
world!
In Puerto Rico there are already at
least nine municipalities that have
pickleball courts and/or established
pickleball clubs; Caguas, Dorado,
Guayama, Guaynabo, San Juan, Gurabo,
Lajas, Toa Alta and of course
Humacao. There are also many other
municipalities that have temporary
courts and people can just set
up their own courts when they want
to play. These clubs will continue
to pop up as more people start to
play. So far in the Puerto Rico Pickleball
Association, there are about
450 registered players, and it is believed
there are about 1,000 players
playing pickleball around the island
so far.
Pickleball in Palmas del Mar - Currently
we have about 170 consistent
players that play on a weekly basis.
This number continues to grow week
by week as the younger crowds are
starting to get into the sport and
more tennis players are transitioning
to Pickleball. I’m excited to say that
I have seen a lot of progress in the
Palmas Pickleball Community and
many players that have taken the
time to drill and practice, are moving
up in categories and elevating
their pickleball game. We are offering
clinics twice a week, private
and semi-private lessons and soon
we will start implementing an open
play concept divided by levels to follow
the more traditional type of play
pickleball has to offer. s