Pickleball on the rise in Mayo with Clew Bay Club

It's the fastest growing sport in America and it’s now on the rise this side of the Atlantic as well. Every Friday afternoon the new Burrishoole community centre is filled with the sound of squeaky sneakers and a plastic ball being struck by the paddle as the new sport takes root in West Mayo.

When The Mayo News visited, the Clew Bay Pickleball Club had a fantastic turnout as usual. All three courts were occupied with more players also waiting for their chance to step onto the floor. Sue Steer was immersed in the action. She has been a member right from the moment the club was formed.

“It was a friend who asked me to come and play pickleball? I looked at her and said: ‘What on earth is Pickleball?’ But I thought why not and had a look” said Sue who has turned into one of the regulars.

“In my younger years I was sporty but then I didn’t really have the time. My husband died three years ago and life got lonely. Pickleball was a good chance for me to be more social. I’ve made a lot of friends here.”

Sue pointed out that she is also competitive and states that her skills have improved, but that’s not the main reason for her coming every Friday:

“I do it because I enjoy the sport. Not just the exercise, I enjoy the company and the numbers participating are going up. Some people might find squash or badminton too hard or tennis is hard to learn because you have to serve over the head so pickleball is easy to get into,” she added before another devotee took up the story.

“Pickleball is played on a court which is about the same size as a badminton court. It has a tennis like net and you play with a paddle, a bit bigger than in table tennis and the ball is a hollow plastic ball. The rules are when you serve like in tennis you have to serve on the hand, and then the returner has to let the ball bounce before returning” explained Phil McHale.

Phil is also one of the early converts to the cause of Clew Bay pickleball. He used to play badminton and a year ago saw an advert for the new pickleball group in Newport and joined with his wife. Phil has since become an ardent ambassador for the game.

“It’s a great crowd here. We love it. We are competitive, we keep scores and we have talked about starting a round-robin between the local clubs because there are other clubs in Westport and Louisburgh for example. And then we'll see how we are getting on.”

There are a number of stories hinting at where pickleball got its name from. The offical version to be found on the 'USA Pickleball' website recounts that one of the founders Joan Pritchard had come up with the name 'pickleball' - a reference to the thrown-together leftover non-starters in the 'pickle boat' of crew races. But rumour has it, that some of Joan's neighbours stated the game was named after her family dog 'Pickles.' Decades of controversy ensued with a high probability leaning towards version one.

Be it as it may, we know for sure that pickleball as a sport was founded in 1965. And for the Clew Bay Pickleball Club it all started in February, 2023, ith only one court to play on. Then, in December the new Burrishoole Community Centre was opened, which increased the number of available courts to three for the pickleball enthusiasts.

Declan Holmes, incoming chairperson of the Burrishoole Community Centre, stated:

“This is only phase one, we have a basketball-court-sized hall and a community pitch outside. This facility is used for pickleball, GAA, soccer, badminton and athletics as well. And then we’re going to have phase two which will involve a meeting room, kitchen and changing rooms. That will take another year or two to finish.”

Holmes expressed a big thank you to the whole community in Newport: “We went from door to door and asked people to commit money to it. We got help from a local development company, we got funding for €300,000 and we got town and village funding for another €200,000,” he added.

It’s all paying off now with an ever-growing pickleball crowd for the Clew Bay Pickleball Club where the sense of competitiveness merges with a sense of fun and friendship every Friday afternoon.

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