Why Is Everyone So Passionate About Pickleball In Deep East Texas?

Pickleball is the phenomenon that seems to have come out of nowhere. We've had it around the Deep East Texas area for a few years now, but people are all about it in our neck of the woods. Nacogdoches has its own league, and if Lufkin doesn't, I would be shocked.

Get our free mobile app

I realized how big of a deal this sport was whenever the tennis courts at Maroney Park in Nacogdoches were all converted to pickleball courts. And when I say all, I mean ALL. They completely changed every court over. But I still have questions...

My Take on Pickleball.

I played a little bit of tennis growing up. I mean, I didn't play competitively, but I had the equipment and we would go spend a few hours every week playing back and forth. It was a fun-time, pretty laid-back, no worries type of activity.

I'm actually a bigger fan of ping-pong - or table-tennis, whichever you prefer. I spent hours on hours playing, all the way through college. That was a more competitive venture than my time playing tennis.

READ MORE: Excitement Builds for Nacogdoches Niners Opening Night

Now enter, pickleball. Pickleball is - in my opinion, don't lose your mind on this take - kind of mixture of those two. The pickleball court is bigger than ping-pong, but considerably smaller than the tennis court. Also, the rules, as far as when the ball has to bounce, etc. come across as somewhat of a blend of tennis and ping-pong.

So, Here's the Real Question...

Now I'm probably going to really unleash the beasts...this is my honest question...Is pickleball really worth the hype? The people that I know that play it are die-hard fans of it. I'm positive that they would tell me it was worth it without even having to think.

But where do any of you guys land on the subject? Is pickleball really that earth-shattering and worthy of all the competition? Or is it just a kind of take-it-or-leave-it deal?