Editorial: Too Much Fluff, Too Little Substance Pickleball in the Valley

Beau Toepfer, News Editor

Originally published in Mountain Pearl Magazine on March 1

Since its debut it 1965, pickleball has slowly accumulated a strong following, skyrocketing in recent years, and becoming a beloved pastime for Americans and locals in the valley.

Pickleball has united players accross the country and locally here in the valley. It draws in players from all ages and walks of life, bringing them together under a shared pleasure for a competitive hobby. From teachers to students to grandparents, friendships and teamwork abound.

Pickleball was invented on a summer afternoon by a congressman and his businessman friend in 1965. The sport took a lot of inspiration from badminton, but quickly developed a unique set of rules and playstyles. The first tournament was held by 1976, but had yet to grow to a sophisticated sport. In 1984, a rulebook was published. By 2013, the USA Pickleball Association (USAPA) grows to over 10,000 members. Over the next five years the sport grows exponentially, including nationally televised tournaments and a magazine. The name, which stems from a reference to the games creation using mis-matched equipment from the shed, now prevelates most peoples vocabulary. A shared passion and surprisingly competitive community has sprouted, paving the way for new generations in the future.

In the Roaring Fork Valley a dedicated and talented community of pickleball players is flourishing. Many of the teachers in the Aspen School District are avid players. Several even compete competitively and play in tournaments. Some students have taken up paddles and a pickleball club has grown over the years. The community dynamic is powerful, and a strong sense of competitiveness exists within its members. AHS students like Haley Schmela immediately fell in love and made it into a favorite pastime.

“It’s very competitive,” Schmela said. “You wouldn’t think it but it’s really competitive group of people. My family and a couple other families would get together every Sunday, we would have dinner at the tennis courts and we would play pickleball all summer and we had tournaments.”

Most people got into pickleball seemingly by chance, maybe they wanted a new hobby or were invited by people they know. If you are just looking for a new hobby, you can find when and where people are playing on the Roaring Fork Pickleball website. Families and friends are a major influence in pulling more people into the sport.

“My brother forced me down to the tennis courts one day when I didn’t want to, and then I realized that I had a passion for pickleball,” Schmela said. Besides students, a large population of adults in the valley play often, and they are always looking for more players. The recreational leagues work together with the rec centers to garner interest in players and to grow the community. Amy Roth leads a lot of the efforts here in the valley alongside her partner Karen Hawkes.

“We [Roth and Hawkes] are the pickleball ambassadors,” Roth said. “So we just really helped promote the sport and we help work along with the Rec Center to disperse information about where you can play in Aspen and Snowmass. Kind of be a cheerleader for the sport.”

As we can see in the diverse playerbase in the valley, pickleball really is for everyone. The quickly growing community has everyone from octogenarians to middle schoolers. It’s easy to learn and easier to fall in love with. With how widespread courts and players are becoming its an good way because it occurs so often. News outlets may try and make an event seem more original by twisting one part of it - or in some extreme cases - fabricating parts of the story. to get out and meet new people and get some exercise.

With some exceptions for the nation’s largest and most reputable news outlets, most of the headlines that prevelate local newspapers lack any depth. In a lot of smaller, corporate owned newspapers, journalists hold back from being provocative. Unfortunately in some of the cases this is a result of reporters having to be careful to avoid warranting backlash from higher-ups in the organization, against the foundation of journalism. In other cases, including for many journalists on our own Skier Scribbler, the effort required to write an investigative and provocative article is trumped by the ease and excitement of a fluff piece. Simply writing surface level reviews or attention grabbing, funny pieces, will be better received by readers and takes minimal effort. Provocative pieces won’t always be the most attention grabbing.

“One of the things that I love about it is you can be out there playing and there could be somebody in high school and then someone that’s up into their 80s that are playing.” Roth said. “It’s super inclusive. I just love that, grandparents can play with their grandchildren. Moms and dads can play with their kids. You can play with your contemporaries. It’s a sport for everybody.”