"Like chess on a court": Why has pickleball become so big in Melbourne?

We spoke to a pro player in one of Australia’s fastest-growing sports.

Author

Matthew Sims
May 23, 2025

The precision of table tennis, the power of tennis and the fast-paced nature of badminton. Mix all these sports together and you get pickleball.

The Eastern Melburnian spoke to the founding secretary of Pickleball Victoria, a Pickleball Victoria ambassador and the Melbourne Mavericks captain Aaron Blitz.

Blitz told the Eastern Melburnian he became interested in the sport after receiving a tip from a 70-year-old American while they were playing tennis.

“We were like, no one else is doing this, why don’t we just start a club?” he said. “So we started with one net, four paddles and the rest is kind of history.”

Blitz said more than 100,000 people currently play pickleball in Australia.

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What is pickleball?

Pickleball is played between two players in singles or four players in doubles, and the players use flat paddles to hit a plastic ball with holes over a net.

“Pickleball is a mix between table tennis, tennis and badminton,” Blitz said. “It’s played on a badminton-sized court with a lowered net.”

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Still working as a full-time high school teacher in Pearcedale in Melbourne’s southeast, Blitz said he travels far and wide to compete, including a trip to New Zealand last month.

“There’s a lot of prize money in pickleball right now, especially in the US and across Asia and Australia,” he said.

“The main reason why I love it is it’s just so inclusive and fun. It’s a sport where you can jump on with three of your mates that have never played a racquet sport before and you can still have a fun game.”

Blitz said pickleball doesn’t require a lot of athleticism, and people can play into their 80s. The average age in Victoria is 57.

“You’ve got people from the ages of five playing in the sport,” he said. “Our oldest member is 85.”

The pro said about 200 venues in Victoria host games and training, and that Pickleball Victoria has some 3,000 members.