Welcome back to The Pickleball Clinic Newsletter!
How many of your friends and family members play pickleball? Today, we'll check out exactly how many millions of people play in the U.S., discover the AI technology that may change pickleball for good, learn how to generate crazy topspin, and a whole lot more.
Let’s go! 👇
We all know about pickleball's rise in popularity from virtual obscurity to household name in just a few years.
But what does the actual data say? And is pickleball still growing? The Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) tracks these numbers and recently released its annual pickleball player participation data.
According to its findings, the total number of pickleball participants in the United States during 2025 was 24.3 million.
Of that total, approximately two thirds (16.8 million people) are considered to be casual players, meaning they played between 1 and 7 times during the year, while the other third (7.5 million people) are considered to be core players who played 8+ times.
As you can see in the chart above, since 2020, there has been a steady climb totaling a 5-Year growth of +479% between 2020 and 2025.
The SFIA also tracked player participation in the U.S. for tennis and padel, a trendy racket sport that's become very popular in Europe and is supposedly getting big here as well.
Let's look at padel first. Despite it being portrayed as a new up-and-comer here in the states, only 1.07 million Americans played padel in 2025, which includes both casual and core players.
As for tennis, the SFIA reports that 27.3 million Americans played in 2025, which topped pickleball by 3 million people. But The Business of Pickleball predicts that pickleball will overtake tennis in participants by the end of 2026.
You Don’t Have to Aim for the Lines to Hit a Great Shot!
A shot that lands just a foot inside the sideline or baseline is just as effective as one that’s a couple inches from the line. In fact, aiming for the line increases your chances of missing. Consistency is the real key in pickleball—you don’t need to be perfect to win matches!
When you’re the face of the sport, and your partner says “me,” you can just go ahead and veto that. 😀
The Pro V Has Arrived
In case you missed it, the biggest paddle release of the year happened just a few weeks ago when JOOLA released its new line of paddles, the JOOLA Pro V. It's the hottest paddle on the market, and that's because it uses kick-point engineering inspired by golf clubs and hockey sticks, which allows it to flex and recover during impact, giving it more power and control than ever.
Plus, the Pro V introduces a NEW shape, the Kosmos, a combination of the Perseus and Scorpeus shapes, and used by Federico Staksrud and Tyson McGuffin, below. Grab your JOOLA Pro V right here.
Welcome back to the section where we define a word or term that is widely used in the pickleball world…
Banger (noun)
A banger is a term used to describe someone who is always hitting the ball hard no matter what. It generally has a negative connotation because this type of player is either unaware of the reasoning behind hitting softer shots (like dinks, drops, and resets) or if they are aware, they are either unwilling or unable to hit them.
Disclaimer: Hitting the ball hard on many shots, including drives, serves, and volleys, is very important, and of course all great players do that. But great players would not be considered "bangers" because while they can hit the ball hard, they don't do it at the wrong times, like when the ball is way below the height of the net or if they are in a defensive position during a dink battle.
The Eye in the Sky
It's been a part of many professional sports for years, including the NFL, NBA, and professional tennis. Heck, it's about to enter Major League Baseball too, which is saying something since baseball is traditionally the slowest to modernize.
What is this thing we speak of? Automated calls. Years ago, review could only be done with slow-motion video, but it's 2026, which means that AI can now be used on top of video footage.
And that is precisely what is about to happen next week in Zion, Utah, where for the first time ever at a Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) Tour event, AI video review will be used.
The AI company is called Owl AI, and it partnered with the United Pickleball Association (UPA), which is the parent company of Major League Pickleball (MLP) and the PPA Tour.
The Owl AI platform uses advanced generative AI and computer vision to analyze line calls and to provide other important data analytics.
“It is paramount for MLP to strategically align with innovative companies like Owl AI to enhance the reliability of our challenge system and the overall production quality of the on-court product,” said MLP Commissioner Samin Odhwani.
"This partnership will not only enhance the integrity of line calls and challenges for players," said Josh Gwyther, CEO of Owl AI. "But [it] will also create a more engaging and transparent experience for the millions of fans watching.”
How exactly will the Owl AI technology differ from the standard video review? And will it affect the number of challenges each team gets per match? We'll find out next week in Utah!
Yup, we’ve all been there. 😄
If you want to have a good drive, like one that’s effective at a 3.5 level and beyond, then you need a few things. It's got to be low over the net, it should be pretty hard, but just as important as hard—and probably more so—is that it needs to have topspin. Topspin makes your drive dip over the net, which makes your opponent have to hit their shot up. Here's coach Matt to show you exactly how to generate that heavy topspin. 👇
Charlotte Pressley, 19, is believed to be the first student to receive a pickleball scholarship in the United Kingdom. She is in her first year studying sports coaching at Canterbury Christ Church University in Kent. "I wasn't aware pickleball could get a scholarship because it's a new sport in the UK; I got the scholarship and it's gone absolutely wild from there," she said. Pressley recently won a bronze medal at the 2025 English Nationals playing doubles with her coach Mollie Knaggs.
"The scholarship helps me with my sport," said Pressley. "But also stuff like mentoring, nutrition, and helps me financially too.” In case you're wondering, yes, American students have received pickleball scholarships. However, because pickleball is not yet an official NCAA sport, the scholarships are not massive and they are usually provided by the pickleball club teams. But they are scholarships, nonetheless. 🎓
Hope you enjoyed the read. See you next week!
- Your Friends at The Pickleball Clinic
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