WATCH: Fairfield's Newest Sport, Pickleball

Easy on the knees and elbows but still capable of producing fast-paced play, Pickleball -- a cross between tennis and table tennis -- has been introduced in Fairfield.

Diane Sullivan, the lower Fairfield County ambassador for the USA Pickleball Association (USAPA), has established the game at the Fairfield Senior Center and is hoping the rest of the town will catch on.

Sullivan, a certified tennis pro with a bad knee, discovered Pickleball during a trip to Florida, where it is very popular. As ambassador, she is promoting the game and its popularity right here in Connecticut.

"Unlike tennis, it's not a lot of grips and how you hold it and the form -- you just grab the paddle and hit it back and forth and get used to it," Sullivan explained during a Pickleball demonstration at the Fairfield Senior Center this month.

"That's the beauty of it. You're getting exercise, but you're not going crazy."

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Check out the Milford Patch interview with Diane Sullivan to learn more about Pickleball. ________________________________________________________________________________________

Pickleball can be played on an indoor or outdoor court that is about a third of the size of a tennis court. The portable net is set at a height of 36 inches at the sidelines and 34 inches at the center of the court. Players use paddles and a slow moving, perforated plastic ball (basically, a whiffle ball) and can play as singles or doubles.

Players get one underhand serve, returning the ball after the bounce. Once each side has returned the ball, play continues as in tennis, players are permitted to play the ball in the air (volley). The court includes a non-volley zone bordering the net.

For the complete rules set forth by the International Federation of Pickleball, click here.  

The game is gaining popularity with at the Senior Center.

"People like something that is new and different," Teresa Giegengack, Fairfield's Director of Human and Social Services, said at the demonstration, which was well received.

It's a sport that players of all ages can pick up easily and -- unlike its more rigorous counterpart, tennis -- won't exacerbate joints or old injuries. It was invented upon the principle that the whole family enjoy playing the game, according to the USAPA website

The game was officially created in 1965 by former U.S. Congressman Joel Pritchard of Washington. He and businessman Bill Bell had tried to put together a game of badminton for both their families to play at Pritchard's home, but couldn't find a full set of rackets.

The men instead fashioned wood paddles, used a perforated ball that bounced well on a hard surface, and lowered the badminton net to 36 inches. Pritchard and Bell's friend, Barney McCallum, joined in on creating the new game. The three men made up rules, keeping in mind the original goal -- creating a game for that "the whole family could play together," according to the USAPA website.

During play, Pritchard's cocker spaniel Pickles would snap up the ball anytime it would come his way (it was Pickle's ball, after all), and so Pickleball was aptly named.

The USAPA was organized nearly 20 years later, in 1984. In 2008, Pickleball was included for the first time in the National Senior Games Champion Festival, and in 2009, the first USAPA National Tournament for players of all ages was held in Arizona. 

And now, the game has become a weekly activity at the Fairfield Senior Center and has been introduced to seniors in Milford, Norwalk, and Trumbull.

Fairfield Warde High School Physical Education teacher Marty Kirchhof said the game has has been introduced at both the high schools and is a regular gym class activity in the springtime.

Catch a demonstration at the Fairfield Senior Center on Fridays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.