(Pullman, WA) For decades, researchers in Washington State University’s Sports Science Laboratory (SSL) have been studying bat and ball collisions.
The researchers are now going to delve into the red-hot sport of pickleball to better understand and perhaps better standardize the sport. Funded by Selkirk Sports in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, a new $65,000 grant for the first time will address questions about the performance of pickleball paddles and balls. Selkirk is the largest manufacturer of pickleball paddles in the country.
“Pickle paddles are allowed to be weighted,” said Lloyd Smith, SSL director and a professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, “but nobody has quantified the effect of weight on performance. I think we will find that adding that weight is a hack around their standard.”
While pickleball has exploded in popularity in the past decade, the sport was actually invented 60 years ago in Bainbridge Island, Washington, inspired from a badminton court, ping pong paddles, and a perforated plastic ball. Pickleball now has about 8.9 million players in the United States and is only increasing in popularity.
As part of the project, the researchers are testing and comparing pickleball balls, studying the impact of adding weights to paddles and how that might change performance.
“What is their elasticity, their hardness, or their durability? How do they heat up when a ball impacts the surface?” said Smith. “These are the driving questions of the ball performance.”
The researchers will conduct both controlled laboratory tests on equipment and field studies with human players to gather data. Laboratory tests are done using a stationary paddle and firing balls at it with a cannon. Field studies are tracked using markers on paddle and ball movements to better understand real-world performance.
This grant sparks just the beginning of pickleball research, says Smith. As the sport evolves, the research will probably evolve with it to better inform players, manufacturers, and federations.
“If this ends up being similar to softball and baseball, there are going to be other questions that come up, other innovations that need examination and then there may be opportunities to study those as well,” said Smith. “If there are challenges or interest to things we can study and write papers on, then we’ll keep going with it.”