'It's so addictive': Montrealers of all ages are picking up passion for pickleball
New indoor court in Montreal seeing high demand, younger players
Dominique Hamel shuffles along the small court with ease, swinging what looks like an oversized Ping-Pong paddle and thwacking a yellow plastic ball with a crisp "tock."
She rallies with a partner — lobbing, volleying and backhanding the ball over the net in rapid exchanges.
Three years after discovering pickleball, this Monday afternoon session at a new indoor court has become part of the 58-year-old's routine. She plays three times a week and has no plans of stopping.
"I've done many sports in my life and I love doing sports. But this sport is special. There's something that hooks you the first time you play. And I'm not the only one," Hamel said.
Combining elements of tennis, badminton and Ping-Pong, pickleball saw a surge in popularity across North America during the pandemic that has continued to grow ever since.
The craze has officially come to Montreal, and the demand for courts designated for the sport has spiked.
Across the city, public tennis courts are being shared with pickleball players and small indoor courts are cropping up, but Hamel says it's not enough to satisfy the demand.
That's why she's thankful to have found Centre Pickle, a new 14-court indoor pickleball centre located in the Mercier—Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough.
"Now we don't have to share. We can play all day long," Hamel said.
More young people playing
The centre opened its doors to the public at the start of November, and its co-founder Valérie Lapointe says interest has exceeded her expectations.
"We did an open house … and we had 600 people coming in two days. So that was insane," she said.
Lapointe says it was a family project that she started in March with her husband and two young kids after discovering the sport only two years ago.
"Pickleball was always in the background, so we knew about it, but we never tried it because it was kind of like, 'Oh, that's for old people,'" she said.
But after a road trip to the U.S., the family was floored by how the sport has been embraced there. "It was so young, so dynamic, huge communities. So it's when we basically fell in love with the sport," Lapointe said.
A 2023 national survey conducted by Pickleball Canada revealed the fastest growing age group in the sport is players aged 18 to 34. The survey also found the number of female pickleball players increased by nearly 50 per cent from the previous year.
Lapointe says the number of young players at her facility has been "very surprising," with over 50 per cent of participants under the age of 40.
Coach and professional pickleball player Jordann Vigna said she "can't keep up" with the amount of people who want to join, older and younger alike. She trains about 40 people a week on her own and another 100 or so at the Centre Pickle's academy.
"You have fun at every level, but then there's also like this rabbit hole where you can go a lot further with the sport, so it's like people can get addicted," she said.
Vigna says the sport is accessible for everyone thanks to its simple rules and affordable equipment. It's also less physically demanding than many other sports at its base level.
Addictive and social
Richard Gontarski, 54, has been playing pickleball for about five years and plays four to six times a week.
"It's so addictive that you come back and your level of play rises very quickly. So it makes you come back even more, so you keep improving," he said.
Gontarski said many of the people he's played against have gone from other sports like tennis, badminton, squash and racquetball, but that the beauty of pickleball is you don't need to be an athlete to enjoy the game.
It's not just the game that keeps Gontarski coming back, but the social connections he's built while playing.
"You come here, you play, you chill if you're not in a hurry … It's just fun, social, and you can bring it to whatever level you want," he said.
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