The fastest growing sport

"Did you see how awesome that lob was?" a pickleball player called out excitedly.

Last week the Green River Pickleball group hosted a clinic at the Green River Recreation Center. Pickleball professionals Maureen O'Malia and Tracey Swenson came from Park City, Utah to teach local players how to improve their game.

"We wanted to give them some instruction and have a question and answer and try to help them out as much as we could," Swenson said.

During the clinic, participants worked on skills including dinking, drops, volleys, overheads, serves, returns, core positioning, and "just how to be a little more assertive and aggressive on the courts," according to Swenson.

The pros were invited to come after several Green River residents attended clinics held in Park City. Some of the local pickleball enthusiasts who went to Park City and then helped make the local clinic happen were "the Sandys" - Sandy Dempsey and Sandy Owens.

The Sandys are members of the Green River Pickleball group, which meets almost every day to practice.

"It's a combination of ping pong, badminton and tennis," Dempsey said, explaining what pickleball is. "But it's with a paddle and a wiffle ball and a smaller court."

"I think it's pretty neat because [pickleball has] been around for about 50 years, and I'd say in the last 10 years it's really taken off," Swenson said.

According to a report from the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, pickleball is the "fastest growing sport in America."

"I think it's really fun to see the growth of it," Swenson said. "I hope to see it in the Olympics soon."

Swenson thinks some of the reasons pickleball is growing in popularity is because it has an easy learning curve, it has a smaller court so it's less physical and has less injuries, and people of all ages can play together.

"If people are in their 70s, they can be playing with their grandchildren," Swenson said.

Many seniors are also seeing the benefits of pickleball as a way to exercise, according to Swenson. This is true in Green River, where many of the players are seniors who come out both to get exercise and make friends. However, the group isn't limited to seniors.

"Anybody can play," Owens said. "And even if they don't know how they learn really fast."

The Green River group has also seen an increase in the popularity of the sport. The group usually has between 10 and 16 people come to play, and had up to 18 for the clinic. Since four people can play the game at a time, and the Rec Center is currently set up with four courts, some weeks people have to wait their turn to play. Still, the group hopes to keep expanding and having more people and more opportunities to play.

"If you look, everybody's got smiles on their faces," Green River Mayor Pete Rust, who is part of the local pickleball group, said at the clinic. "They enjoy it. It's a social experience, besides being a good physical experience."

The Green River Pickleball group plays at the Rec Center on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., and they meet most Tuesdays and Thursdays around 8:30 a.m. to do drills. Anyone who wants to play can just show up without scheduling, Owens said, and there are paddles and balls available.

"You don't really need to bring anything other than yourself," Dempsey said.