Des Brown grew up playing football. As the Charleston native got older, he sought another recreational activity that was just as competitive but easier on the body. To his surprise, he found all that and more in pickleball.
"I fell in love instantly with pickleball," Brown said. Story continues below It's a sport he can play with his children and his mother. She's 73 and has never played a sport in her life, he said.
"That's what makes pickleball so beautiful, so attractive," Brown said. Like thousands of others who picked up a paddle and made pickleball the fastest-growing sport in the country for the last three years, he started playing the game during the COVID-19 pandemic when most sports and social activities were inaccessible. But today Brown and other pickleball fans in Charleston can hardly find a spot to play a match.
The lack of court space has created unexpected tension with the city's tennis players as pickleballers moved in on their territory for space to play. The city has just four dedicated pickleball courts across two parks. Both are on the peninsula.
"I don't think that the city was prepared for the growth of pickleball," said Brown, who runs WePickle , an organization that offers pickleball clinics, tournaments and summer camps in the Charleston area. "Just the amount of people that were introduced and fell in love with the game in such a short period of time, it's difficult to kind of keep up with places for us to play," he continued. Markus van Eeden reac.
