Pickleball clubs play, recruit in local parks
For many who play, it took only one game of pickleball to get them hooked.
“It’s one of the fastest-growing sports right now,” said Tom Hincy, 74, of South Strabane.

Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Tom Hincy of South Strabane, an organizer of a pickleball group, taps paddle ends to signify the end of a match with others who played in the mixed-doubles sets.
The tennis-like sport has been taking over local parks in the past two years, including South Strabane’s Community Park, where Hincy plays. It’s almost like being shrunk and placed on a ping pong table. It’s played with paddles and a ball that resembles a Wiffle ball.
According to USA Pickleball Association, the sport was created in 1965 by three fathers whose children were bored that summer. They created the game and named it pickleball because one of the family dogs, named Pickles, would “chase the ball and run off with it,” according to the association’s website.
Hincy plays with about a dozen people every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at Community Park, where South Strabane Township has recently had pickleball court lines painted on the basketball court. Hincy brings his own portable nets.
He said in the last two years the sport has really taken off among older generations. The group he plays with has an average age of 70. They started playing at the Wilfred R. Cameron Wellness Center, but now they have space to play outside to “get more of the senior population involved and out in the park,” Hincy said.

Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
South Strabane Township painted pickleball lines on the basketball court at the community park off Floral Hill Drive. The players bring their own nets and other equipment each time they play.
“It’s a sport that older people can do and can do well,” he said. “It keeps you young, too, believe it or not.”
Because the court is smaller than tennis and typically requires two people on each team, there’s less ground to cover, and the paddles and ball are lighter than those used in tennis.

Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Cheryl Hewitt of Washington, left, serves during a doubles match with Judy Johnson of South Strabane.
“There are so many tennis players that get injuries, and as they get older, this is less impact for them,” Hincy said.
Canonsburg has a large group of pickleballers who play in the evenings, Monday through Thursday, in Canonsburg Town Park. They started playing in one of the parking lots in 2016, with portable nets and painted lines.
Now, they are working to raise money and secure a state grant to get three permanent courts put in with new paving and fencing, according to one of their members, Doug McKenery. So far, they’ve raised about $11,000 of the approximately $70,000 needed.
“It’s a game that has a lot of social benefits,” McKenery said. “We took a dead area in the park, and now we have a big group that goes there.”

Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
The game of pickleball is played on a badminton-sized court with a low, tennis-like net, with paddles similar to table tennis paddles and a plastic ball with holes.
McKenery, 68, retired from Canon-McMillan as a physical education teacher in 2008, after 38 years. He had never heard of pickleball.
“That’s what’s amazing, because if I had known it existed I would have started that,” he said.
McKenery played for the first time in 2015, and now he often competes in regional tournaments.
“I ran into someone who said, ‘You have to try pickleball,'” he said. “I played one time, and that was enough. What caught me on was I enjoyed playing ping pong and I grew up playing tennis. If you play tennis or ping pong, you’ll catch on quick.”
McKenery was instrumental in establishing the Canonsburg pickleball group, which now has 48 members who play at the park and the Armory Youth Center. He said they’re constantly recruiting more people.
“We pick up people throughout the summer,” he said. “People walk through the park, ask us what we’re doing and then they come back and play.”
That’s exactly what happened with Brad and Cindy Hina of Canonsburg last summer.
“We came down to the park to walk and get some exercise,” Brad said. “Everybody was out here playing, and they said, ‘Come play, come play.'”
They tried it and have been playing ever since.
Similarly, Tom Terling of Canonsburg was on his way out of the park following a concert last year when he saw people playing pickleball. He asked what they were playing.
“They put a racket in my hand and pointed out the basic rules of the games,” he said. “Two days later I had my own racket and I’ve been playing ever since. They’re a nice group of people. It’s not just a sport or activity, but there’s a social aspect to it.”
That social aspect is what brought Gloria Dunkle to the park last year. She and her husband, Kevin Dunkle, moved to Canonsburg last year from Houston, Texas, where he had played competitive pickleball. He found the pickleball group and decided to join.
“We were really glad to meet everybody, and it was a really great way to transition to the Canonsburg community,” Gloria said. “You meet a lot of different people at pickleball. It’s an intercultural sport with all walks of life and all age groups.”
Gloria said that when they first started attending pickleball in the park, she was “an observer” for most of the summer, until one day they were down a player.

Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Tom Hincy, left, vollies with Judy Garcia of Canton Township as they play pickleball at South Strabane Community Park.
“So, I got a racket and played, and I can’t believe I missed out on that fun all summer,” she said. “I was addicted after one time.”
The sport has reached Greene County, as well, with courts available at the new EQT Recreation Center in Waynesburg. Kevin Brumley, the sports and recreation manager for the center, said people play pickleball there Thursday nights and Monday afternoons.
“We wanted to get the adult community involved, and it just took off,” he said. “I didn’t really envision it being this big. One Thursday we had over 30 people here just for pickleball.”
Ron Headlee of Waynesburg is one of the people who plays there. He is a former physical education teacher at Jefferson-Morgan who started incorporating the sport into his classes. When he started playing a few years ago, “there was no one else playing it.”
“I’m trying to build it up in this area,” he said.
Headlee is in conversations with the county’s parks and recreation department to try to replace one of the tennis courts near the historical society on Rolling Meadows Road with a pickleball court.
“We get more pickleball play around here than tennis,” he said.
Headlee said that though the sport has specific attractions for older generations, he said it’s “trickling down.”
“It’s going to get younger with more families that play with their kids,” he said. “Everybody can play with each other and still have a good time.”