Gen Z discovers pickleball, bocce and other senior-friendly games, sending sales through the roof – San Antonio Express-News
With four children ages 3 to 10, Emily and Michael Granberry are understandably deliberate about where they spend those rare date nights.
So when they went out one recent Friday, they headed to the Chicken N Pickle restaurant and entertainment complex on UTSA Boulevard to play their favorite new sport: pickleball.
“We were in Pennsylvania this summer for my parent’s 50th anniversary, and all the adult cousins played,” said Emily, a stay-at-home mom. “It was so much fun, we wanted to play some more.”
Both 42, the Granberrys are part of a wave of new, younger players who’ve helped make pickleball, once the exclusive purview of retirees, the fastest-growing sport in the country, according to The Economist magazine.
But pickleball’s not the only sport that’s attracting a younger demographic. Bocce, stereotypically favored by elderly Italian men; horseshoes, usually associated with older country gents; and other gentle backyard games are all becoming more popular with the younger set, in part because of the ongoing pandemic.
“People started looking for something they could do safely outside with other people,” said Herb Markwort Jr., president and CEO of St. Louis-based Markwort Sporting Goods Co., explaining these games’ sudden popularity. “They started playing games like horseshoes, which has been our No. 1 (product line). Our sales of whiffle ball sets have doubled. And we’re also selling more backyard games like badminton, volleyball and croquet.”
Brothers Kevin, left, and Derek Gay play a game of bocce at Chicken N Pickle. Typically the sport of elderly Italian men, bocce is growing in popularity among a younger demographic.
Billy Calzada /Staff photographer
Most of these are being purchased, he said, by younger adults for themselves and by parents for their kids.
Pickleball
None of these games have soared in popularity quite like pickleball, however, which, for those who’ve never played, is a hybrid of tennis, pingpong and racquetball, while being easier to play than all three.
“The paddles are smaller and solid, so you have better control than you do when you hit with a stringed tennis racket,” said Toni Mansker, 53 who was playing on one of Chicken N Pickle’s 11 pickleball courts recently with her husband as well as her daughter Catie and a friend, both 21. “And the court’s smaller so you don’t have to run as much. Even the net’s lower.”
It’s also a blast to play, they said.
Kennessey Hartley returns a shot during a pickleball match at Chicken N Pickle while visiting San Antonio. She lives in Florida and plays several times a week, calling it “addictive.”
Billy Calzada /Staff photographer
“You don’t even realize you’re working out when you’re doing it,” said Catie, who reserved the court after seeing it mentioned on Instagram. “We’re definitely coming back.”
While backyard and street versions of pickleball are available, many prefer playing on courts specifically built for the game.
When Michael Castillo bought FIT High Performance Tennis Academy & Pickleball Fitness Center in Windcrest in December, he upgraded the nine pickleball courts the facility already had, resurfacing them and adding lights and windscreens to enhance the playing experience.
“The sport is growing so fast, it made sense to make the investment,” he said. “While we’ve got plenty of retirees who play, we also have kids as young as 5, 6 and 7 years old.”
Castillo said you don’t have to be very athletic to enjoy the sport. “It doesn’t take more than 10 minutes to learn, and you can even play if you have bad knees because there’s not as much running involved,” he said. “We have players who play with their grandkids.”
In fact, despite its reputation as the official game of Boca Raton, many of pickleball’s newest adherents are decades from retirement.
According to the latest Sports Participation in the U.S. Report from the National Sporting Goods Association, a trade association for sporting goods retailers, dealers and manufacturers, members of the 12-to-17 age group are 55 percent more likely to play pickleball compared to the average population. By comparison, only 44 percent of those 75 and older and just 29 percent of those 65 to 74 are more likely to play the sport.
Locally, the San Antonio Parks and Recreation Department has taken notice of pickleball’s growing popularity, adding six new courts citywide since 2019, giving the city a total of 20 outdoor and three indoor courts. “And we’re looking for opportunities to add more,” said the department’s marketing manager Connie Swann.
To attract beginners, both both Fairchild Park and Hamilton Community Center are also staffed and have equipment available to borrow for free.
Bocce
Another sport that is becoming more popular among the younger crowd is bocce.
“When COVID hit last year, everything got real quiet,” said Richard Parrella, vice president of Massachusetts-based EPCO Manufacturing. “And then, boom, sales of our bocce sets went crazy. We’ve been making them for 40 years, and sales are up 250 percent from 2019.”
Chicken N Pickle also has several bocce courts, where the Gay family was recently playing, with sons Derek, 25, and Kevin, 23, going against their parents. “I love yard games, like cornhole and Kan Jam, so I had a feeling I’d enjoy this,” said Derek.
There’s also been an upswing in demand for high-end backyard bocce courts, according to David Spradling, owner of Bocce Pros of Texas.
Bocce is a game typically associated with seniors. but it seems to be gaining popularity with younger people.
Billy Calzada, Staff / Staff photographer
“We’ve been doing more of them recently,’ he said. “We’ll probably build 10 to 12 this year alone, even though we recently raised our prices due to an increase in material costs.”
According to the company website, the basic price for a regulation court with a limestone border and crushed gravel surface is $13,500, but prices go as high as $40,000 or more for more specialized courts, such as those with crushed oyster shell surfaces and Texas red cedar end boards.
“Our clients usually come from California or the East Coast, so they’re more familiar with bocce,” he said. “Usually, they already have a pool and hot tub in their backyard. Maybe a tennis court. They’re looking for another game venue.”
Chris Bailey had a court installed with a crushed granite surface and limestone block edging in his backyard in Keller, north of Fort Worth, about a year ago and said he plays two to three times a week.
“When I was in high school, I played bocce at my uncle’s house in Las Vegas,” he said. “I always said that if I ever had the space, it’d be really neat to have one.”
He likes bocce because it’s a social game, like golf, but it’s easy enough to play so even his 5-year-old can be competitive against his older brothers.
As with outdoor dining, working from home and fist bumps, no one knows if the pandemic-induced popularity of these games will continue once things return to normal.
But Herb Markwort of Markwort Sporting Goods, who was considering dropping several lines of backyard games, including bocce, from his offerings, has reversed himself. He’s betting that the age of slow, backyard fun is here to stay.
rmarini@express-news.net | Twitter: @RichardMarini