In the Sunbelt, making a new active-adult community stand out from the multitude can be a challenge. With shuffleboard courts shuffling off to the wayside in the 1980s and 1990s, developers are seeking out new sports that appeal to retiring baby boomers, whose idea of relaxation is far different from that of earlier generations. Enter pickleball.

“We have seen pretty explosive growth in this sport,” says Ruth Rosenquist, spokesperson for the USA Pickleball Association, based in Surprise, Arizona. “The number of courts in America has doubled since 2010. The more people are being exposed to the sport and finding out how fun it is, we’re just seeing huge growth in parks and rec approaching us about converting courts.”

Pickleball is usually played as doubles on a badminton-size court (one-third the size of a traditional tennis court). Players hit a light, plastic wiffleball-type ball with wooden or composite paddles, bringing about comparisons to badminton or ping pong, as well as tennis. But unlike tennis, the game is less about running and more about strategy in knowing where to hit the ball. The lightweight net and inexpensive equipment mean that the game can be quickly and easily set up on any flat surface.

“It’s a smaller space — if you play doubles, you’ve got four players in a pretty intimate area,” Rosenquist explains. “It’s a very social game. People love it because you just laugh and it’s so much fun. That plays into it as well as the aspect of you’re not covering as much surface area. It’s more about being strategic with your moves and the way you react to the ball. It’s more about the strategy than the running….I’ve played with a lot of 70- and even 80-year-olds who beat me all the time because they’ve learned to be very strategic.”

“It’s the fastest-trending senior sport,” agrees Jeff Ziegler, community manager at The Highlands at Dove Mountain, an active-adult community of 2,200 in Marana, Arizona, near Tucson. Ziegler, who has a background in parks and recreation, has been observing trends in active-adult activities since the 1980s. His community is in the process of building two permanent pickleball courts after a temporary court in the parking lot soon spawned a club with 50 players and more joining each month.

“The popularity in the activity is that it can be considered a step-down program for some former tennis players who can’t travel the large tennis court,” Ziegler says. “They can find pickleball with that hand-eye coordination as a paddle game very worthwhile — not only very entertaining but social as well. I can see quite a bit of socialization being generated out of pickleball as an activity.”

The USA Pickleball Association estimates that there are now more than 5,600 pickleball courts (almost evenly divided between indoor and outdoor courts) at more than 1,700 locations across the country. Rosenquist believes that up to 30 new courts are added every month. And the number of players has jumped to nearly 100,000 from just 60,000 in 2010. Prominent examples of the sport’s growing appeal are new active-adult developments based around pickleball, some including as many as 12 courts and spectator bleachers.

“The learning curve is good in terms of how quickly you can pick up the game,” Rosenquist says. “I’ve seen people come from almost every single different walk of life. I think tennis people gravitate to it most because it reminds them of that sport, but people come from all different backgrounds.”

Although Zielger cautions that pickleball courts can be noisy for a residential area, the growing interest in the sport is no surprise to him — he’s seen baby boomers redefine retirement just as they have redefined lifestyles for decades.
“They don’t want to do things that are old,” says Ziegler, referring to the diminishing interest in shuffleboard. “They still believe they can do what they did 20 years ago.”

He rattles off some startling statistics about his facilities, such as 40,000 uses of the fitness center and 55,000 rounds of golf played each year. Ziegler notes that tennis is still popular as well, especially on synthetic grass courts that are easier on players’ knees. Pilates, strength training and yoga classes are also well-attended by both men and women, and the complex is considering whether to add a second pool just for activities like water volleyball, which is now played four days a week.

“In any community like this, every special-interest group is small compared to the total community,” Ziegler says. “Getting community buy-in on some of these specialty items and trying to help the special-interest groups support some of the fundraising to make these things happen will be a challenge for the future.”

Other sports where he sees growth for active adults include hiking, cycling and bocce.

“People are attracted here because of the outdoor environment year-round. We’ve got 14 miles of hiking trails across the street. Sometimes rather aggressive hiking to the tune of 10 miles or more are among some of the hiking clubs’ activities, and they are probably the fastest-growing group that we see out there as well....I see many more adults age 50-plus who are purchasing bikes and riding seriously. In El Tour de Tucson, which is held each November and has 5,000 to 8,000 riders in it, the number of adults participating in that activity is growing significantly,” Ziegler says. “Bocce is somewhat of a sport game, and the social aspect of the sport and skill gives you a little bit of the effect of the old format of lawn bowling. But because of the European history and the socialization aspect of it, people are seeing that as fun to do.

“Everything physical seems to be on the increase as the baby boomers are starting to hit our market more heavily and starting to purchase and move into these type of communities,” Ziegler continues. “Everything that they grew up with, they’re planning to bring with them.”

Elizabeth Beard is Managing Editor of Parks & Recreation.