Here's why pickleball is so popular in Florida. It's not because of retirees
Pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in America. Participation in the nontraditional sport shot up by more than 158% over just three years, according to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association (SFIA).
Pickleball was seen as a retiree’s game until recently. The first wave of COVID sparked an obsession with the sport among a younger generation looking for fresh ways to socialize without being too close to each other.
In January, the 2023 APP Pickleball Participation report revealed that over 36 million Americans like to play pickleball. And online pickleball court directory Pickleheads says Florida is the second-best state to play in based on number of courts available.
Here’s what makes Florida one of the top states for pickleball players and how old the average pickleball player is in 2023.
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How popular is pickleball in Florida?
Pickleball is wildly popular in Florida. The Sunshine State may not have quite as many pickleball courts as California – which Pickleheads says is the state with the most pickleball courts – but Florida hosted the first nationally televised pickleball championship in 2016. And Anna Leigh Waters, a 16-year-old from Boynton Beach, is the youngest pickleball champion in history and a phenom in the sport.
Florida has been a haven for pickleball players for much longer than the current craze over the sport. The Sunshine State is known for being well-loved by retirees, and retirees were the primary age group playing the sport until recent years. The National Pickleball League, which is a division of pro pickleball players 50 and older, was founded in Naples.
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How many pickleball courts are in Florida?
Florida ranked as the most pickleball-friendly state on one pickleball stats-by-state list and third on another, but it has the second highest number of pickleball court locations in the country, according to Pickleheads.
California comes in first place with 794 locations, just 24 more than Florida’s 770 locations. According to the same data set, there are 10,320 pickleball courts in the U.S.
What is the average age of people who play pickleball?
The age of the average pickleball player is going down, according to Pickleheads and the SFIA Single Sport Participation Report on Pickleball.
In 2021, the largest portion of pickleball participants were in the age 55 and up age bracket, making up almost 20% of the people who played the sport. The average age of a pickleball participant was 41 years old in 2020.
Now, the average age of a pickleball player is around 35 years old.
“Counter to some preconceived perceptions of the sport, the average age of a pickleball participant is 35, while the age group with the most participants is 25-34,” SFIA’s website says. “The 18- 24 and 65+ age groups were tied for the second highest most participated age group.”