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Members of the Bainbridge Rotary Club gathered for their weekly meeting at the Kirbo Center on Tuesday. The guest speaker of the day was Mike Albritton, Bainbridge’s Community Ambassador for USA Pickleball, who gave the Rotarians more information about the sport.

Albritton described the sport as the fastest-growing sport in the country, with 48.3 million adults reportedly having played at least one game within the past year. He described the sport as less like tennis, and more like ping pong, as well as badminton.

“Really, if you can play ping pong, you can play pickleball,” he said, “but it has aspects of tennis in it, because obviously you’re just on a smaller court.”

He gave a brief history of the sport’s creation, which he cited as being created in 1965 on Bainbridge Island, Washington. He also showed the gathered Rotarians a video explaining the basic rules of the sport, as well as a diagram of the court, and even brought several paddles and balls to show off.

“Pickleball’s more about thinking,” Albritton said. “It’s about where you’e putting the ball, versus just trying to hit the ball really hard. It’s really more about placement and where you should be at when the ball’s coming at you.”

According to Albritton, there are three pickleball court locations in Bainbridge for those wanting to play: the Potter Street tennis courts, the Bill Reynolds Tennis Center, and the Bainbridge YMCA.

Following the presentation, Albritton took questions from the audience.