ST. LOUIS — When Linda Anglo began teaching pickleball to beginners, she provided them with their very first paddle. In return, she asked them to pass those paddles to someone else after purchasing their own.
“It’s funny to see those paddles in new people’s hands. It’s amazing to see it,” Anglo said.
As of April 2023, St. Louis is among the top five cities in the nation for pickleball, according to Anglo, who is a USA Pickleball Association ambassador for the St. Louis Metropolitan Region.
That ranking is no surprise with the number of courts popping up in the area to meet the rising interest of the sport. Players say they are drawn to pickleball for the exercise, health benefits, socialization, camaraderie and because it is easy to learn.
“Pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in America. There are an estimated 36.5 million pickleball players in the U.S., making it one of the largest sports in America by participation. There are 10,320 pickleball facilities nationally,” according to Pickleheads, a national online resource about the game.
Pickleball, a cross between ping-pong, badminton and tennis, was invented by three vacationers near Seattle in 1965, according to Pickleheads.
Anglo has been no stranger to paddle sports as she played racquetball and tennis in college, where she first came across pickleball. Anglo said she rediscovered pickleball seven years ago when she was going through a difficult time in her life.
“I remember back in college there was a game called pickleball and I thought it was fun,” she said.
Anglo then started playing at the YMCA in south St. Louis County and at the Affton White-Rodgers Community Center. In 2014, when the sport was relatively new to the area, Anglo said there were no courts dedicated to pickleball.
“You literally would have to walk on tennis courts and take either painter’s tape or chalk to outline pickleball,” she said, noting that players also would have to adjust the net height.
Mike Najjar also experienced Anglo’s struggle of trying to find a place to play. After learning how to play in October 2014, Najjar said he and his wife loved it.
“When I first started playing, there weren’t that many places to play, and a lot of them were gyms,” Najjar said.
Due to limited space, he recalled lines of people waiting to play pickleball at the Riverchase Rec Center in Fenton, which is now a YMCA.
Lovingly known as “the pickleball guy” at Vetta Sports, he was the only instructor when he started there in 2017.
Since then, the pickleball staff has grown to 18 employees with “literally hundreds of people who play at Vetta every week,” Najjar said, noting that players now must register in advance due to limited courts.
“It’s grown enormously in the few years that I’ve been playing,” he said.
Michele Christian, a pickleball instructor at Vetta Sports Concord, said Najjar is a funny, nice guy who worked hard at growing pickleball.
“He got lots of people interested, including the owner(s), Pete and John Spano, to kind of buy into it,” she said.
Now, all Vetta Sports locations offer pickleball clinics, leagues, individual and semi-private lessons, and large events where people can learn to play and socialize, as well as junior pickleball.
“It’s kind of morphed into way more than I think (Najjar) ever dreamed it would be,” Christian said.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, she said eight to ten courts are usually full of people playing pickleball. And on Friday nights, 12 courts are normally full, equaling 65 people, according to Christian.
“It has really grown by leaps and bounds,” she said.
Thanks to the work of pickleball ambassadors, instructors and players, the sport in St. Louis has grown over the past several years and continues to soar as new courts take shape and new venues, such as Chicken N Pickle and The Real Dill Pickleball Club, are planned for the area.
There is even a Major League Pickleball team in St. Louis called the St. Louis Shock.
Missouri has a total 269 pickleball courts, ranking the state at No. 18 in the nation with the most courts, according to Pickleheads. St. Louis is the second most popular city in the state to play.
Increasingly, parks throughout the St. Louis area have been adding pickleball courts. In late April, five new permanent pickle courts were unveiled at Kirkwood Park and there are now four outdoor pickleball courts at the Chesterfield Valley Athletic Complex.
“There’s places to play in every park now,” Anglo said. “It’s not just pop up a net; it’s now dedicated courts.”
Bill Gilley started playing pickleball almost two years ago after watching people play at Kirkwood Park, across from where he lives. He said he feels fortunate that the city installed pickleball courts at the park.
“Unfortunately, we were having to share space with tennis players and it always was a little uncomfortable doing that,” Gilley said.
He noticed that new courts have been packed since they have opened. By playing pickleball, Gilley has met a new group of friends where they keep in touch through a blog and hang outside of the court.
Each time he plays, Gilley said his goal is to become 1% better at pickleball.
“I do get a pretty good workout at it, but it’s not as intense as tennis and for someone my age,” he said. “Unfortunately, I have osteoarthritis in my knee as well, so I can only go so far, and so this works for me.”
Pickleball drew retired school guidance counselor Marianna Justice in for the same reason as the sport gives her a good cardio workout without the strain on her knees from running.
Other health benefits she has received from playing include weight loss and not needing her blood pressure medicine anymore, Justice said.
Besides learning a new skill, she learned something new about herself.
“I never knew that I was competitive until pickleball,” retired guidance counselor Mariana Justice said. “My daughter played competitive sports … So I always had that sport-drive in me, but I never played myself. So, being able to be competitive in a sport was kind of cool.”
Justice mentioned that being able to compete has made her feel younger. As players like pickleball for being a low-impact sport, it is suited for ages 5 to 95, according to Pickleheads. That is true for one St. Louis resident who is a 98-year-old man able to play and enjoy the sport, according to Anglo.
“You could keep on playing until you can’t play anymore,” she said. “I see grandparents playing with grandchildren. It’s just a great family sport.”
Anglo noted that the YMCAs have started having pickleball on certain mornings and evenings to keep up with the demand.
Mike Chapin, an ambassador for the International Pickleball Teaching Professional Association (IPTPA), was behind Tilles Park establishing six dedicated pickleball courts, according to Anglo.
“Those were old tennis courts that were cracked and nobody was hardly using them,” she said. “He basically went to the city and got six dedicated courts there.”
Tilles Park is now one of the top places to play in St. Louis, according to Pickleheads. The others are Tower Grove Park Tennis Center, Tower Grove Park, Carondelet Tennis Center and Forest Park’s Dwight Davis Tennis Center.
As pickleball continues to develop in the St. Louis area, Anglo said she would like to see more youth programs.
The Missouri Pickleball Club (MPC), located in Fenton, has 18 pickleball courts, as well as offering lessons, leagues and events. Anglo has been helping the MPC form a juniors program for ages 8-18.
Along with growing pickleball programs and promoting the sport, Anglo is involved in running tournaments and special events, as well as fundraisers for organizations such as the YMCA and the Backstoppers. She is in the process of putting together an upcoming Backstoppers fundraiser set for May.
Anglo noted there have been a lot more tournaments taking place as Lake Forest Country Club will host its annual one in July.
“The growth is here and it’s going to stay,” she said.
This summer, Anglo also plans to help with the Show-Me State Games in Columbia.
On an international level, she mentioned there are efforts to make pickleball an olympic sport, however, the sport needs to gain popularity in other countries.
Anglo is helping make St. Louis a pickleball-friendly spot for those just passing through as well. The app “Places to Play” lets her help players from other states find a court to play.
“Once you get playing, it is so much fun. It’s exhilarating, it’s fun,” she said.
