五十年前，我开始玩这项鲜为人知、名字有趣的运动。现在，它彻底火了 | 盖茨笔记

I’ve been a little stunned—and delighted—by the sudden popularity of one of my favorite pastimes, a game with a funny name and strange terminology, such as, “dink,” “kitchen,” and “skinny singles.”

我最喜欢的一项休闲活动突然流行了起来，这让我有点惊讶，也很高兴。这项运动有个有趣的名字和许多奇怪的术语，比如“丁克球”、“厨房”和“瘦子单打”。

Largely confined to the Pacific Northwest for decades, it has now emerged as America’s fastest-growing sport.

几十年来，这项运动主要局限于太平洋西北部地区，而现在已成为美国发展最快的运动。

I’m talking about pickleball.

我说的就是——匹克球。

It’s best described as a mash up of tennis, badminton, and ping-pong. And if you haven’t heard of it, I expect you soon will.

对它最好的形容就是——它是网球、羽毛球和乒乓球的混合体。如果你还没听说过这项运动，通过本文的介绍你很快就会了解它。

I’ve been a “Pickler,” as people obsessed with the game like me are known, for more than 50 years.

50多年来，我一直是一名“匹克乐”——这是对像我这样痴迷于这项运动的人的称呼。

And if you and your family are bored and looking for something to do this summer, I encourage you to become one too.

如果你和家人觉得这个夏天很无聊，想找点事情做，我鼓励你也成为一名“匹克乐”。

Boredom was what got this sport started in 1965.

这项运动诞生于1965年，起因是源自无聊。

Three dads living on Bainbridge Island, near Seattle, came home one summer evening to find their children complaining that there was nothing for them to do. So, they found a net, a Wiffle ball, some ping-pong paddles, and created a game on an old badminton court that the entire family could play together.

住在西雅图附近班布里奇岛的三位父亲在一个夏日的傍晚回到家，发现孩子们在抱怨无事可做。于是，他们找到了一张球网、一个威浮球和一些乒乓球拍，在一个旧羽毛球场上创造了一种全家人可以一起玩的运动。

It was a hit.

这项运动大受欢迎。

Over the next year, the three friends worked together to develop a set of rules, formalize the court layout, and introduce a larger plywood paddle that was good for striking the ball. And they decided to call it pickleball. (The name’s origins remain a matter of debate. Some believe it was named after a dog. Others say it’s a reference to a “pickle boat,” a thrown together boat made from the leftover rowers in crew races. I don’t know. I prefer to just play the game and stay out of the fray.)

在接下来的一年里，这三个朋友一起制定了一套规则，规范了球场的布局，并引进了一种更大的有利于击球的胶合板球拍。他们决定将这项运动命名为匹克球。（该名称的起源仍有争议。有些人认为它是以一只狗的名字命名的。还有人说这指的是“泡菜船”，一种由划船比赛中剩下的运动员拼凑而成的“杂牌军”。我不知道答案是什么。我更喜欢专注于比赛，远离有关名字起源的争议。)

Meanwhile, word slowly spread in Seattle of this odd new pastime.

与此同时，这种新奇的休闲运动在西雅图慢慢传播开来。

My dad was friends with the game’s inventors, Joel Pritchard, a state legislator and later Washington’s lieutenant governor, Barney McCallum, and Bill Bell. He learned about their creation and by the late 1960s, he got inspired to build a pickleball court at our house. I’ve been playing ever since.

我父亲与这项运动的三位发明者——乔尔·普里查德（前州议员，后来的华盛顿州副州长）、巴尼·麦卡勒姆和比尔·贝尔是朋友。他听说了他们的发明并受到启发，在20世纪60年代末，在我们家建了一个匹克球球场，从那之后我就一直在玩。

“I doubt there were more than a thousand people in the Seattle area who had ever seen the sport when my family picked it up.”

“我猜在我的家人刚开始接触匹克球时，西雅图地区就已经有超过一千人见识过这项运动。”

At the time, the pickleball community was very small. I doubt there were more than a thousand people in the Seattle area who had ever seen the sport when my family picked it up. And I don’t think anyone expected it would ever become a national phenomenon.

当时，匹克球爱好者规模还很小。我猜在我的家人开始接触匹克球时，西雅图地区已有超过一千人见识过这项运动。我想没有人会想到它会风靡全国。

Today, there are more than 4.8 million players nationwide, a growth of nearly 40 percent over the last two years. And I expect it will only get bigger. (I knew things had gotten serious for pickleball when I opened up The Economist and found a story about the game’s newfound fame.)

如今，全美有超过480万名匹克球爱好者，参与人数在过去两年内增长了近40%。我认为这个数字只会越来越庞大。（当我打开《经济学人》，看到一篇关于匹克球流行的报道时，我就知道这项运动已经名声在外了。）

I don’t know exactly what’s driven this recent surge in interest in pickleball, but I think the fact that it’s so easy to play is one big reason. People like to say a lot of sports—even hard ones like golf—are “easy to play,” but in the case of pickleball, it’s true. Everyone from the super young to the super old can take part. It takes minutes to learn the basics, games are short, and all you need is a net, paddle, and ball to get started. It doesn’t take much skill to hit the ball, either, because it doesn’t move as fast as a tennis ball. The best thing about pickleball, however, is that it’s just super fun.

我不知道到底是什么让人们最近对匹克球的兴趣激增，但我认为这项运动易于上手的事实是一个重要原因。人们总喜欢说很多运动——即使是像高尔夫这样的有难度的运动——都“很容易上手”，但就匹克球而言，这的确是事实。从年纪很小到年纪很大，每个人都可以参与其中。学习基础知识只需要几分钟，比赛时间也很短，你所需要的只是一张网，一个球拍和一个球。击球也不需要太多技巧，因为它不像网球移动得那么快。然而，匹克球最棒的地方在于它超级有趣。

I look forward to playing a pickleball game with friends and family at least once a week and more often during the summer. I’m also a lifelong tennis player, and for me, the games complement one another. Pickleball has helped me become a better tennis player and tennis has done the same for my pickleball game.

我期待着每周至少与朋友和家人打一次匹克球，夏天则会玩的更多。我同样是一名终身网球爱好者，对我来说，这两项运动是相辅相成的。匹克球帮助我提升了网球水平，网球则同样帮助我提升了匹克球水平。

Still, I’ve spent a lot of time explaining and defending pickleball to newcomers, especially tennis players. Many people are confused by the unfamiliar court and a little skeptical of the strange terminology. There’s an area of the court within 7 feet on either side of the net called “the kitchen” or non-volley zone. And a key to being a top player is to master something called the “dink shot,” a soft shot that arcs over the net and lands within the opposing team’s kitchen. While playing doubles is most popular, singles games, including a version played crosscourt, called “skinny singles,” is another option.

尽管如此，我还是花了很多时间向新手，特别是网球爱好者介绍匹克球。许多人对陌生的球场感到困惑，对奇怪的术语也有点疑虑。球场上球网两侧7英尺内的区域被称为“厨房”或非截击区。成为顶级球员的关键之一是掌握所谓的“丁克球”，一种以弧线过网并落在对方“厨房”里的吊球。虽然双打是最受欢迎的，但单打比赛，包括一种被称作“瘦子单打”的半场单打比赛，也不失为一种选择。

Despite its silly terms and funny name, pickleball is actually quite a sophisticated game. I enjoy watching YouTube videos where I can learn about tactics and strategies from the best players. It’s amazing to see pros like Ben Johns play the game. Given all the rage about pickleball, I expect someday soon it may end up as an exhibition sport at the Olympics.

尽管匹克球的术语很滑稽，名字很有趣，但它实际上是一种相当复杂的运动。我喜欢看YouTube上的视频，从最好的球员那里学习战术和策略。能看到像本·约翰斯这样的职业选手打比赛真是太棒了。鉴于匹克球风靡一时，我预计不久后的某一天，它可能会成为奥运会的表演项目。

Nearly everyone in my family plays and we’ve had great fun in matches against one another over the years. We’ve all played so much that we can sometimes get very competitive. If we ever lose a game to visiting players, we’re always a little surprised and vow to take the next match more seriously.

我家几乎每个人都会玩匹克球，多年来，我们在彼此对战中获得了巨大的乐趣。我们都玩得很多，所以有时会变得非常争强好胜。如果我们输给了来访的球友，我们总会有点惊讶，并发誓要更认真地对待下一场比赛。

Win or lose, I can’t think of a better way to spend a summer day than as a Pickler.

无论输赢，我想不出比打匹克球更好的方式来度过夏日时光了。

If you decide to give pickleball a try, I hope it brings you as much joy as it has my family and me.

如果你决定尝试一下匹克球，我希望它能给你带来像带给我和我的家人一样多的快乐。