Located at 300 N. Main St. in Florence, Mass. is Look Park — the home of Northampton’s open-play pickleball group.
According to Julia Hyde, one of the original members of the group, “Northampton Picklers isn’t really an organization, it’s just a great way of building community and finding other players.”
Created in 1965 by Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell and Barney McCallum in Seattle, WA, Pickleball was intended to be a simple fun game for their kids to play during the summer. The namesake: their family dog, Pickles. This game has now become a popular pastime for many — such as the Northampton Picklers.
Pickleball is a racket sport — more specifically, a paddle sport — that can be played on an indoor or outdoor court. These courts are shorter than tennis courts and contain what is known as the “Kitchen,” a 7-foot stretch of court surrounding the net. One of the most important rules of the game is: Do Not Step in the Kitchen.
The goal of the game is to reach 11 points first; but, like tennis, you have to win by at least two points. It is a fast-paced back-and-forth sport that allows players to play multiple games with different partners at any given time.
It is similar in nature to other racket sports, like the aforementioned tennis and badminton, with skills that are easily translatable to the Pickleball court.
Hyde explained, “With badminton, when you get good, you learn how to do a drop shot. It’s not all about wanging it to the back of the court. Same thing with pickleball and with tennis, you have to learn backhand, and it isn’t something that just comes naturally to people. So learning to do that and overheads, that’s a tennis thing.”
The Northampton Picklers play what is known as “open play,” allowing different players from beginner to advanced, young to old, women, men and non-binary people alike to all play at Look Park with the Picklers.
“It’s all ages, all genders, all persuasions, all temperaments, all everybody. It is a very unusual mixing up of every kind of person who lives in the community […] You have the strong players and the new players and the children, even children can play!” said Hyde.
The Northampton Picklers was launched by Joan Chaffee on Facebook in 2015. She wanted to create a space that promoted Pickleball playing in the area. The group was later taken over by Julia Chevan when Joan moved away. Ultimately, after trying a few different online platforms, the Picklers decided on TeamReach to coordinate open play times and different Pickleball-related events happening in the area.
As of Sept. 2024, the TeamReach has 668 members, all of whom participate actively.
“The other thing that’s so unusual about pickleball is that it’s drop-in. And I love that, and I think everybody loves that, that you don’t have to do it on a schedule, and you don’t have to have your partner lined up in advance,” Hyde explained. “You just have to have some optimism that you’re not going to be the only one.”
Whether it is Sunday at 10:00 a.m. or Wednesday at 8:30 a.m., people in the group are outside and open-play ready at Look Park.
There are two groups built under one large umbrella of the Northampton Picklers. One is the Friends of Northampton Picklers, who are getting the new courts built in Northampton. Designated as a 501 (c) (3), it is an organized group to raise money to create new courts and the amenities that come with them. The Friends of the Northampton Picklers raised over $50,000 to put the new courts in Look Park with construction scheduled to start in October.
“Northampton Parks and Recreation Department is building new courts at the Ellerbrook Fields. These courts are being funded by Community Preservation Funds and by fundraising efforts through the Friends of Northampton Pickleball,” said Julia Chevan. “I have connections into all of these groups because I’m a representative on our Parks and Recreation Commission and I serve on the CPC.”
The second component of the Northampton Picklers is the group of people in Northampton who get together to play Pickleball at Look Park.
“Why do I play? Because it’s so much fun and so intergenerational!” exclaimed Chevan.
Pickleball has become an increasingly popular sport to play, whether it be younger kids, college students or retirees. The Friends of Northampton Picklers were able to fundraise so much money exactly because of this; people love Pickleball and they want more courts to play on.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had the experience before, ever out of all the things I’ve done in my long life, all my community things, all my organizations, all my social things,” Hyde said, “I’ve never had this kind of opportunity or experience, of the magnetism of the game that draws people in.”
