I read a post on RV Picklers about how pickleball has changed over the last 7-10 years. I wanted to learn more, so I contacted Steve Paranto. Steve is one of my mentors and is the best person I know who can speak to pickleball’s evolution.
Pickleball 1974
Steve was introduced to pickleball in the fall of 1974 at Green River Community College in Auburn Washington. It turns out that pickleball was a fairly popular recreational sport at the college and even was offered as a physical education course. Each year there were four intramural tournaments as well. Steve and his tennis buddy won all the tournaments during his two years at Green River, so he became an assistant teaching coach for pickleball classes offered by the college.
1980’s Pickleball Rules
I asked Steve, what are some of the biggest changes he recalls. Steve noted there were several significant rule changes:
In the 80’s, we had the first governing body for tournaments and a few rules were different. The only rule related to the serve was that contact had to be below the waist. You could even have one foot inside the baseline when you served. Another difference related to forward momentum at the non-volley zone. If a ball was dead you cold then fall into the kitchen…though we didn’t call it the kitchen back then. We also thought that the non-volley zone line extended beyond the sidelines….so you couldn’t do an Erne shot.
I realize paddles have changed a lot, but I asked Steve, “Were the courts the same?”
We certainly didn’t have dedicated pickleball courts, so most often we were playing on indoor badminton courts. Some of the courts were even carpeted with indoor/outdoor carpet. Typically the standards were right on the sideline, and often the nets were connected to each other. Because of that, we couldn’t hit a ball around the post.
Of course paddles were wood and did not have the control, touch or power of today’s paddles. In 1985 I played in the then US Open in Tacoma. In the men’s doubles, I once again played with my old tennis partner, Rick Skevington. We were the first to use composite paddles in a tournament. This is when my dad created Pro-Lite.
How Pickleball has Changed
I asked Steve how today’s game is different from years past.
Today strategy and shot selection has improved drastically. Today’s dinking is absolutely superior to the early days. Players today use control, touch and placement much more. We never drilled in the early years of pickleball so players did not work on such a wide variety of skills. In the early years, players favored power over finesse…we took big swings. We also lobbed from anywhere on the court, even the baseline. Today’s top players lob from the kitchen to catch their opponent by surprise.
We first used a third shot drop in a tourment in 1986. This changed the game. Very quickly, everyone began using a third shot drop to get to the kitchen. The big difference today is now players can reset every point if needed and turned it back into a dink. The dink will always be an important shot. If you can dink short and block you can beat a lot of teams.
Big Moments in Pickleball
I asked Steve to reflect on some of his major pickleball tournament moments.
It is always fun to win a tournament with a good friend. In addition to Richard, I won 3 national championships in my age group playing with Randy Bither. I had taught him how to play in the late 80’s. In 1991, I think, we were the first team to ever stack because Randy is left handed and we wanted our forehands in the middle. At that time, we only stacked when we served. Some time later we noticed teams from Seattle stacking even when they were returning serve.
I also remember beating Earl Birdsall in the singles final around 1986. At the time, Earl won nearly all the single tournaments.
I want to thank Steve Paranto and all the pickleball pioneers for contributing to this great game. Even though pickleball has changed, our love for the game never changes.
