Pickleball has become increasingly popular in the United States, Asia, and Europe.  It is a mash-up of tennis, badminton and ping-pong, and it is fun and easy to learn. It is an indoor or outdoor sport where two players (singles), or four players (doubles), hit a perforated hollow plastic ball over a 36-inch high (0.91 m) net using solid-faced paddles made of wood or composite materials. Opponents on either side of the net hit the ball back and forth until one side commits a rule infraction. It is played on a court that is roughly the size of a badminton court; four pickleball courts can fit inside a basketball court.

The racket sport was created in 1965 by Joel Pritchard, a congressman from Washington state, and Bill Bell, a businessman. The two friends were trying to come up with a new game that could be played by both adults and children, and they began experimenting with a badminton court, a wiffle ball, and some paddles. The result was a game that quickly caught on and soon became popular throughout the Pacific Northwest. The game was initially called “Paddle Tennis” but was later renamed “pickleball” after Pritchard’s dog, Pickles, who would often chase after the ball and run off with it.

Pickleball has become America’s fastest growing sport with millions of people playing the game on a regular basis. According to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, there were over 3.3 million pickleball players in the United States in 2020, up from just 2.5 million in 2019. It is particularly popular among older adults, who appreciate the game’s low-impact nature and social aspect. In addition to recreational play, there are also numerous competitive pickleball tournaments held throughout the country, with thousands of players competing for cash prizes and national championships.

Pickleball is also gaining popularity in Asia and Europe, with players in countries like Japan, South Korea, and China taking up the game in increasing numbers. Pickleball has become particularly popular in Spain, Italy, and the United Kingdom, with a growing number of tournaments and clubs popping up across Europe. The growth of pickleball in these regions can be attributed, in part, to the sport’s simplicity and accessibility, as well as the fact that it can be played by people of all ages and skill levels.

At the Asia Pickleball Open (APO) held last March 14-18, 2023, at the Thanyapura Premier Sports Resort in Phuket, Thailand, Amiel Carbonell Sarion took the silver medal with his doubles partner. Sarion, 48, based in New York City, is a colon cancer survivor. An intrepid entrepreneur, he is the owner and founder of Azia New York, a campground and events place in the Catskills region of New York state.

Sarion, whose parents are from Naga City, Camarines Sur, founded the Islas Filipinas Pickleball League (IFPL) to make the sport more popular in the Philippines. During his team Filipinas first ever competition in the international stage, the team brought home six gold medals, six silver medals, and reached the quarterfinals in the Country Team Competition against Hong Kong and India. Many team members advanced to the semifinals in singles and doubles. Unlike the pickleball tournaments played in the US, the players competing in APO are much younger, mostly in their 20s.

During the Islas Filipinas Pickleball League victory party held last March 23, 2023, at Treston International College Manila, Sarion, in his inspirational speech (see below), talked about his passion to make pickleball more accessible among Filipinos and expressed his deep gratitude to those who have supported him in his mission. 

Hello everyone, my name is Amiel Sarion. I would like to thank all of you for your presence to celebrate with us for representing our country at the recently concluded Asia Pickleball Open in Thailand and winning gold and silver medals. Before we celebrate, I just want to share with you a little bit about myself and my mission.

When I was 33 years old, I was diagnosed with colorectal cancer, and my doctor said I had less than two years to live. I couldn’t accept that. So, I told my wife to buy a notebook. In that notebook, I started to write my plans for my life after I turned 35. I am 48 years old now and I am living my best life. Almost everything I wrote in that notebook has already come true and I am living my dream life. 

Basketball was my first true love. I loved it so much that I was able to play for both high school and college varsity teams. But after beating cancer, I had certain limitations, and I couldn’t play basketball at the level that I wanted. As the years went by, I lost my passion for sports and went on to concentrate on building businesses. I never thought that I would ever play competitively in any sport again.

My business partner Henry Chuang and I own Azia New York in the USA. It is the biggest campground in the Catskills. We offer all outdoor adventures from A to Z.  For a Filipino, the best part about Azia New York is its Philippine-like ambience.

Since we opened our campsite, people have been asking if there were pickleball courts in our facilities. I did not know what pickleball was. It did not take long before I got interested in the sport. I googled it and found out right away that it is the fastest growing sport in the world. I was very curious and interested to try it. So, like everyone else in the USA, I went to Amazon and looked for a pickleball set. On September 10, 2022, my Amazon delivery arrived, and we drove to AZIA New York to play pickleball. We got to Azia around 2 a.m. and we played pickleball until 5 a.m. After that day, I never played basketball again. I was completely hooked.

Pickleball has ignited my passion for sports again. It brings me so much joy and happiness whenever I play.  I soon realized that this is my calling. I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to share my story about living a life full of gratitude. My mission is to encourage people to dream as big as they can. I want to be able to use pickleball to spread my message that nothing is impossible. We can accomplish everything with God in our hearts. Believe in God and in yourself. Believe it to receive it. I am here to tell you to dream without limitations. Believe more in your dreams than in your doubts. We can all make our dreams a reality.

Let us spread and grow our pickleball community all over the country.

I was very surprised to win silver for our country and even more surprised that we won gold and silver medals. I felt I did an excellent job representing our country. I even feel more confident now, more than ever, that we, Filipinos, can be and will be the best pickleball players in the world.

That is the main reason why we need to have the Islas Filipinas Pickleball League. This league will serve as the main professional league in the Philippines with its own ranking system through IFPL tournament results. IFPL’s main mission is to elevate the level how pickleball is played in the Philippines, while at the same time increasing the number of certified pickleball instructors and professional pickleball players. We will build courts everywhere in the Philippines. My vision is to create as many pickleball courts as basketball courts in the Philippines. The reason for this is because we want to be able to give back to the community by feeding the underprivileged kids and spreading the spirit of gratitude. At the end, anything is possible with God.

This sport is for everyone. I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels that this game is too easy to play for all ages, and even if you have never played sports before, you can be great at pickleball.  Let us all work together to make this Islas Filipinas Pickleball League dream a reality.  We are already building pickleball courts and have plans to make more this year.

We built our first pickleball court on Mike Swift’s property in Lipa, Batangas. It was donated by the Philippine American Pickleball Association of New York Foundation to host mini pickleball clinics and tournaments. I created PAPA NYF to help fund our IFPL to be able to make more and more courts.

IFPL is working with many partners who share the same goals as us. IFPL will work with every pickleball organization in the Philippines and internationally as well. We are here to bring everyone together and to help the Filipinos unite and work together to make our pickleball dreams a reality. We will launch a Philippine pickleball tournament to invite international professional pickleball players from all over the world. We plan to hold this in Boracay with the help of our amazing team IFPL.

We are all working very hard and enjoying every moment building this dream together. I would like to thank my brother, Blake Sarion, CEO, and Film Director of Sarion Films, and Ms. Stella Almeda-Lopez Lavy, back-to-back silver medalist during the recent Asia Pickleball Open 2023, for helping me make this happen and for inviting me to participate in the 2023 Asia Pickleball Open in Phuket, Thailand. I would also like to thank our IFPL TEAM. Thanks to Direk Carlo Maceda, film director, entrepreneur, founder and president of the Community Basketball Association. He has a brand-new hotel in Boracay.  Thanks as well to Har and Ela Lee, owners of Ultra Lagree and Ultra Boxx. We are planning to build a brand new pickleball facility in Boracay to host the Philippine pickleball open.

Thank you, Ms. Sheryl and Sir Gerwin See of Treston International College Manila, for opening their doors to PAPA NYF and IFPL. We appreciate you so much. Treston will be the home of IFPL.

Thank you, Ms. Analei Atienza of Singapore school, for embracing pickleball and wanting to implement it right away as a part of their sports program. We would like to thank Ayala Market for expressing huge interest in working with us to organize cancer awareness events to help cancer patients receive more help.

I would also like to give special thanks to Congressman Eric Martinez of Valenzuela City District 2 for coming here today to celebrate with us and work with us to have pickleball in Valenzuela.

We are working hand in hand with great and amazing people and organizations to make more pickleball projects.

I’d like to thank my mother, Amylou Sarion, my mother-in-law, Zonette Suarez, and most especially, my wife, Anna Suarez-Sarion, for all the love and support.

Dreams do come true every day. Believe it to receive it. This is our main message to the world.

Thank you all so much for coming, and now it is time for us to celebrate our victories in the Asia Pickleball Open.

Video Tutorials: How to Play Pickleball