Pickleball, America’s fastest-growing sport, is also gaining popularity on the Route 1 corridor.

A low-impact combination of tennis, ping pong and badminton, pickleball has been around since the mid-1960s, but over the last two years the number of people playing it has grown 39 percent, making it one of the fastest-growing activities of the pandemic.

Because its perforated ball makes it less intense than tennis, pickleball is a popular sport among seniors, with more than half of its core players over the age of 55.

Though lately, the sport has seen a surge in popularity among younger players, too. Ben Johns, currently the highest-ranked men’s player in the world in three divisions of pickleball, is a senior at the University of Maryland, where the sport is now played in an intramural league.

There is growing interest along the Route 1 corridor as well. Two tennis courts in the 6500 block of Queens Chapel Road in University Park have been marked so that they can be used for pickleball, while the College Park Recreation Center offered a weekly pickleball court before the pandemic.

Some players have even used sidewalk chalk on local tennis courts to create their own makeshift courts.

A report from the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission identified pickleball — along with futsal, cricket and disc golf — as “emerging sports” in Prince George’s County that are seeing high demand.

While building a new pickleball court can cost as much as $30,000, simply repainting an existing tennis court to convert it for pickleball is only a few hundred dollars. In some areas, the court is painted in two colors to allow both sports to be played more easily.

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