"[Study] Montana ranks #1 least pickleball obsessed state in the U.S."

What does this mean exactly?  Assuming that long Winter months take away a lot of court time, some reading this may not even know what Pickleball is altogether, but I'd describe it as a triple combination of tennis with a lower net, fatter smaller paddles very similar to ping-pong or tennis-table racquets.

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PICKLEBALL OFFICIAL COURT / ON A TENNIS COURT

Credit: Canva
Credit: Canva
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So above is a copy of the actual pickleball court configuration which is the dimensions and size of a pickleball court, which is literally the SAME as a Tennis Court. The quickest answer is, yes, you can play pickleball on a tennis court. That's huge for pickleball fans since it makes the game much more accessible. In fact, the Tennis Industry Association estimates that there are 270,000 tennis courts in the United States alone. Interestingly enough short of adding up each city in Montana, where there is no data to find how many in our total State, However, I can tell you that there are approximately 6 in Billings, MT, found only 3 in Bozeman and the rest is hard to track down.

PICKLEBALL HIGH FIVE AFTER A FINISHED MATCH/GAME

Stagwell Pickleball Clinic
Credit: Getty Images for Stagwell
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This would make complete sense as to exactly why Montana is the least-ranked Pickleball obsessed state.  Just pure math would make the most sense. However, they write an entire article without telling the whole story.  I personally grew up playing both 3-wall and indoor 5-wall Raquetball.  So, this seems like a less intensive but more social type of sport but likely needs better weather or more indoor courts to allow for a Pickleball Association.

FRIENDS POSING FOR ANOTHER STATE'S PICKLEBALL TOURNAMENT

Stagwell Pickleball Tourney
Getty Images for Stagwell
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If you're a Pickleball Player and know of any local tournaments or round-robin playing matches, I'd certainly give it a shot.  A lot of my friends in both Alaska and Arizona play a lot of Pickleball.  Let me know, do you feel this is a real sport or just a social event to get a little exercise?  Would love to know your thoughts and opinions.

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