Pickleball is one of the fastest growing sports in America, and now some of the best players in the world are about to serve up competition in Cincinnati.
The Association of Pickleball Players Vlasik Classic returns to Sawyer Point next week with pros, amateurs, food, music, family fun, and yes, a whole lot of pickleball.
Tour Pro Kevin Dong said the Association did research a few years back and found that some 50 million American adults have at least picked up a pickleball paddle and tried it once.
"I mean, courts are still getting built, it's still growing and growing in terms of like the regular playing population," he said.
He said it's even growing internationally. His sponsor recently sent him to the Philippines to help sell paddles and play a tournament.
"People over there in Asia are just insanely passionate as well about pickleball, and they treated us like true celebrities, which is wow, craziest experience of my life," Dong said.
This year, the APP Vlasic Classic returns to Cincinnati's Sawyer Point for the fourth year.
Gary Lessis, the president of Pickleball at Sawyer Point, says the location is a great fit.
"The beautiful Cincinnati riverfront location with the city of Cincinnati as the backdrop, our facility that's become known nationwide," he says. "As a matter of fact, Pickleball Magazine selected Sawyer Point as one of the top 25 locations in the, in the country."
Lessis says the game is very easy to start playing.
"But the misconception is that it stays easy," he says.
"Imagine, like, tennis on a tennis court," Dong says. "It's pretty hard to, like, be a total beginner and start rallying with a friend. But pickleball, you can start right away."
Dong says people have this conception that if anyone can play right away, it must be easy. But he says it gets harder as you play more.
The Vlasic Classic will feature a mix of players, from professionals competing for serious prize money to amateurs competing in age and level divisions.
Click here to get ticket information for the tournament, which runs from June 11 through June 14.
