Pickleball

[Coyote]

Pickleball is one of the fastest growing sports



Pickleball is one of the fastest growing sports in the past two years, as the number of players has increased by 39 percent since 2021, with roughly 4.8 million players in the United States. “Pickleball is a combination of badminton, tennis and ping pong. Honestly, if tennis and ping pong had a baby they named it pickleball,” said Lifetime Fitness pickleball coach Sam Lapourmasilko. Lifetime Fitness in Omaha has added three courts in their facility to accommodate those players. They are looking to offer tournaments soon and for now they offer courses and lessons on the sport.

They say anyone can play no matter the experience level or the age. “It’s a great sport physically and mentally. I have had clients tell me they have lost weight and helps with their hand-eye coordination and this game helps build community,” said Lapourmasilko. One of those clients, 66 -year-old Greg Garth, has been playing pickleball for almost one year after he was randomly invited over to play one day. Now he plays about 10 hours a week and he says he's made plenty of new friends and has lost 35 pounds. “I encourage anyone to play. It's cheap - you just need to buy a paddle and you can play with anyone from any age,” said Garth.

[Coyote]

It's National Pickleball Month: 'The range is zero background in sports to the retired professional athlete'



April is National Pickleball Month.

If you haven’t heard of that sport before, it’s been gaining popularity over the last few years. It’s essentially a combination of tennis and ping pong, and players hit a ball, similar to a wiffle ball, back and forth until someone misses. Players we spoke to at Life Time Omaha say it’s addicting. “Once you get started, you will love to play,” Greg Garth said.

He picked up the sport almost a year ago on a whim when someone waved him into the pickleball courts at the gym. “I wanted to meet a new group of people, so I just decided to come in the gym and just start to play,” Garth said. He hasn’t stopped since, and doesn’t plan to anytime soon. Garth said he enjoys the competitiveness and strategy of pickleball, adding it reminds him of one of his other favorite sports: basketball.

[Uffda]

Omaha has a couple empty or almost empty dept stores

Breaking News: Pickleball venue coming to former Macy’s space at Regency mall

Richmond VA
A vacant department store at Regency will soon be filled with the popping sound of pickleball volleys.

Performance Pickleball RVA, an 18-court pickleball venue, is in the works at the ever-evolving western Henrico mall.

The facility will take shape in a 41,000-square-foot vacant space that was formerly the ground floor of the mall’s Macy’s North store that has been shuttered since 2016. Above that space, in the rest of the former department store, is entertainment venue Surge Adventure Park.

The venue would feature a mixture of indoor and outdoor pickleball courts as well as a pro shop, bar and restaurant. The investors behind the project say they believe the venue will be the largest of its kind in Virginia.

[Coyote]

Pickleball courts, new park approved by Omaha City Council



The Omaha City Council authorized three sanitary and improvement district park projects at Tuesday's meeting. At Cattail Creek Park, near 188th and Q Streets, two new pickleball courts are set to be installed. The courts will be just south of the park's playground. The project is expected to cost about $250,000. At the park, Christie Jenkins told 3 News Now she thinks her 11-year-old daughter will like trying out pickleball at the courts.

"I feel like it's a good chance for more people to get out and get physical and do stuff," she said. Just to the south of the Cattail Creek project, at Coyote Run, the playground equipment is set to be replaced, costing about $275,000. The Cattail Creek and Coyote Run projects are set to be funded with excess bond funds.