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Pickleball is becoming a very familiar sight in Arizona with courts popping up all over the place. The Association of Pickleball Professionals (APP) has unveiled updated pickleball participation research which reveals that 48.3 million adult Americans – nearly 19% of the total adult population – have played pickleball at least once in the past 12 months. The study also revealed that the average age of pickleball players is 34.8 years, considerably younger than previously assumed, highlighting the growth of the game, in particular, among people between 18 and 44.

If you want to practice your dink or get a volley in then you can contact the Verrado Pickleball Club via Facebook. They are a thriving group of Verrado enthusiasts with over 250 members! The group meets for Pickleball Monday through Saturday from 7am to 1pm - as long as noone wants to play basketball at the same time. Sadly here in Verrado there are no permanent pickleball courts (unless you happen to live in Victory) and the only place for the club to play is on the basketball court behind The Center on

Main. Using nets that have to be assembled and disassembled every time, the club was looking forward to having a home of their own in the park at Indian School road but those plans have now been shelved. As residents they are working hard to get dedicated courts, but so far without success.

The founding members of the club are Cathie (Cat) Pitts, Pam and Dave Katz (Dave is a Verrado HOA board member) and Gloria Martin. The club was started about 2016, as far as they can remember! If you are new to the sport they recommend you take a class through the City of Goodyear or Surprise, hopefully beginner clinics will be on the menu in Verrado soon! Once you have the basics down pat you can join the group. Dues are $20 per year which helps pay for new balls and the nets. They also have monthly happy hours rotating through the members’ homes.