Pickleball at Fenway Park | CTV news

Boston –

The pickleball craze is hitting the big leagues.

Hybrid tennis/badminton/ping pong courts were built at Fenway Park on Tuesday in preparation for a weekend where fans of the sport will have the chance to watch the pros play or even try it out for themselves in the outfield of the Red Sox historic home .

“It’s not just pickleball, the fastest growing sport in the U.S., but it’s pickleball at Fenway,” Pickle4 America president Ben Weinberger said in an interview while standing where the Red Sox right fielder would usually play. “We welcome hundreds of amateur athletes over the next four days. To give them the opportunity to enter the field, as we do now, is quite special for us.”

The Pickle4 Ballpark Series, which runs Wednesday through Sunday, includes an exhibition featuring top players from the Professional Pickleball Association Tour; spectator tickets go for as little as $10. But amateurs of all skill levels can also reserve time on one of the dozen courses for $200 per person, which also earns them a racket.

Weinberger said pre-registration for the spots over what was originally four days filled up so quickly that they added a fifth; that was also sold out. When they’re done in Boston, they’ll do the same at the San Francisco Giants’ Oracle Park.

“We’ve tried to make this so that anyone can come if they want to play,” Weinberger said, adding that there will be a free kids’ clinic with the pros. “We really want to give the pickleball ecosystem this incredible sort of iconic opportunity and all the experiences that come with it.”

Fenway, the oldest ballpark in the major leagues, has hosted the Red Sox as its main tenant since the week the Titanic sank in 1912. But it has long been borrowed by other sports, including the NFL and college football, boxing, soccer and hockey.

Since the team’s current owners took over the team in 2002, Fenway has expanded its portfolio to include ski jumping and speed skating, Top Golf and an obstacle course race, Irish hurling and Shakespeare in the Park, films and a total of over 100 concerts.

This winter alone, more than 120,000 people passed through the park for off-season events—even as the Red Sox missed the postseason—and thousands more joined the tours that make Fenway one of New England’s top tourist attractions.

“We are always looking to broaden our creative minds and find new things to do for Fenway,” said Mark Lev, the president of Fenway Sports Management. “Baseball is at the heart of everything we do. But as far as we can use it for other events, it’s a great thing.”

Pickleball is played in singles or doubles, on a court that looks like a shrunken tennis court. Playing with the hard paddles and brightly colored, perforated plastic balls is fast, but requires less running than tennis.

The sport was originally invented in 1965 by some vacationers in Washington State, including a former US Congressman who – depending on which origin story you believe – couldn’t find a badminton shuttle or just wanted to entertain their bored kids. It started during the pandemic, when it gave confined quarantines a chance to go out with minimal equipment, with some big names starring in television shows to spotlight the sport.

While the courts often lie over repurposed tennis courts, which could lead to conflict with tennis players or neighbors who are bothered by the loud popping of the plastic ball, the Fenway courts will rest on plywood and a layer of plastic designed to protect the ballpark. to protect. grass.

Lev said the organization’s priority remains the baseball team, which returns from the All-Star break and a six-game road trip on July 21.

“Our most valuable player is Dave Mellor, our gardener,” said Lev. “We wouldn’t do this unless Dave was confident the ballpark could be made ready to play again.”