What is it about?
Pickleball, a paddle sport that combines aspects of tennis, badminton, and table tennis, is one of the fastest growing sports in America. The sport is especially popular with older adults as it provides a means for both competition and exercise. Limited research is available on the motivation and perceived benefits of participants in this unique and growing community.
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Why is it important?
This is the largest peer reviewed study (3,012) on pickleball participants to date. Participants reported being more task oriented than ego oriented, suggesting that pickleball may effectively satisfy the need for persons to be engaged in physical activities that allow for the ongoing development of personal mastery. This finding is supported by respondents noting that their primary motivation to participate in pickleball involved mastering difficult training techniques. However, participants cited competition as the top perceived benefit to their participation. This result supports two possible conclusions that motivation and benefit are different and potentially disconnected constructs or that the benefit of competition among this sample of older persons is understood through the lens of personal mastery, whereby the demonstration of that mastery is only possible through competition.
Perspectives
Pickleball became an area of interest for me when I was approached to teach the sport as a college wellness course. As a former college athlete who was no longer actively engaging in competitive sports, I immediately fell in love with the game. Pickleball offered me the perfect combination of a sport that provided substantial exercise, but relied less on athleticism and more on strategy and skill. The pickleball culture I experienced at tournaments and recreational play was truly unique and it inspired me to learn more about their motivations. This may be the only sport where grandparents, parents, and grandchildren can all play together, with peak effort, and the game can feel competitive. That phenomenon alone makes pickleball a winner.
Armand Buzzelli
Robert Morris University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Examining the Motivation and Perceived Benefits of Pickleball Participation in Older Adults, Journal of Aging and Physical Activity, April 2020, Human Kinetics,
DOI: 10.1123/japa.2018-0413.
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