Started in 2022, the new sport of pickleball is now spreading in Phan Thiet and other districts and towns in the province, considered a "new breeze" to the mass sports movement in the province.
Appeared in Tuy Phong since 2018
When it comes to this sport, we must mention Phan Ri Cua town (Tuy Phong district), which is considered the cradle and first playground of pickleball in the country. At the end of 2018, Ms. Truong Thi Lien - an overseas Vietnamese in the US, a daughter of Phan Ri Cua town, brought this new sport to Vietnam. She pioneered in transmitting all the techniques, rules, rackets, and balls for free, and invested in building 2 outdoor courts at Phan Ri Cua Sports Center in April 2019, with the desire that people here can access pickleball as soon as possible. Currently, Ms. Truong Thi Lien is a senior coach of the IPTPA (International Pickleball Teaching Professional Association), in charge of the Southeast Asia region. From a few initial members, this sport has now attracted many local people to participate. After that, these members participated in exchanges in many provinces and cities to learn experiences and spent their own money to attend a training course in Ho Chi Minh City and were granted a coaching certificate by the IPTPA Association to train and coach new players. At that time, the whole country had only 15 people granted a level I coaching certificate and Mr. Dang The Hung (Phan Ri Cua) was one of them.
Introducing this new sport, Mr. Dang The Hung added: “Pickleball is a sport with a court size, gameplay and rules quite similar to tennis. Pickleball can be played both indoors and outdoors depending on weather conditions, needs or preferences of the player. Considered a “new breeze” to the mass sports movement in the province, pickleball initially attracted a large number of people to practice, contributing to the development of the sports movement in the province. Currently, in addition to Tuy Phong and Phan Thiet, which have played quite early, other districts such as Tanh Linh, Duc Linh, and La Gi have also begun to have courts for fans of this sport.”
In 2022, in Phan Thiet City, there was also a group of people playing this sport at Phan Boi Chau High School, taking advantage of the badminton court. Because there was no specialized court for this sport, at that time, few people paid attention to pickleball. Ms. Le Thi Loan - Owner of Loan Sport shop, one of the pioneers of playing pickleball in Phan Thiet said: “At that time, only a few people knew about this sport. I spent my own money to go to Ho Chi Minh City to study a course on techniques and then returned to instruct everyone in the group. Gradually, the number of players increased, most of whom were long-time players of tennis and badminton who switched to this sport because it was easy to play. Due to the high demand, in the past 2 months, Phan Thiet has started to have the Hoa Phat court cluster with 6 outdoor courts and Tuong Phan Thiet with 3 indoor courts put into operation, attracting many young people, adults, and children to participate in playing. In addition, Binh Thuan Military Bank also built its own stadium, promoting sports movements for officers and employees in the industry.
Spread throughout the province
According to sports shops in Phan Thiet, recently the number of people buying rackets and balls to play this sport is quite high and the cost of playing this sport is also affordable. A new player only needs to spend a few hundred thousand to 1 million VND to buy shoes, rackets, balls, and rent a court to play. On average, a racket ranges from 300,000 VND to several million VND, a ball ranges from 20,000 - 50,000 VND/ball, the court rental price ranges from 80,000 - 120,000 VND/hour. Therefore, this sport does not cost much, suitable for families with children practicing with their parents, siblings practicing together, including young students who are also interested in getting acquainted. Currently, Phan Thiet has a few coaches who directly instruct beginners to improve their skills.
Mr. Le Tin - one of the coaches at Phan Thiet pickleball courts shared more: “Compared to other sports, which require many factors in terms of skills, physical strength, finance, time... to practice and compete, pickleball is simpler, but requires dexterity and rhythmic technique. Players only need to practice 2-3 sessions to be able to basically play pickleball. This is also a sport that rarely causes injuries because the court is small, the racket and ball are light, suitable for many people, so it is likened to a "family sport".
Pickleball players in Phan Thiet have established the Pickleball Phan Thiet City group to gather into groups to play, share, exchange techniques, practice tools, and interact to play pickleball professionally. With the benefits that pickleball brings, this new sport not only helps people entertain and develop physically but also contributes to promoting the diverse development of the province's physical training and sports movement.
Pickleball rules stipulate that the maximum score for each set is 11 points and must win by one point. If the result is 10 - 10, the match continues until one of the two teams wins by 2 points. Pickleball can be played as a singles match (reaching 11 points), doubles match or team match (reaching 15 points). The special point in the scoring rules of this sport is that only the serving side can score points. When winning a game, the player does not score points but will gain the right to serve in the next game. The score will be recorded on the player's turn to serve.
Pickleball was born in 1965 in Washington (USA). In Vietnam, this sport was introduced in 2018 and has spread more and more widely to localities. In 2018, the World Pickleball Federation was born and now has 60 member federations. In addition, this sport is also managed by the International Pickleball Federation (IPF) founded in 2010, the Global Pickleball Federation (GPF) and the Pickleball International Committee (PIC) in 2023. However, all of the above federations have not been recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), so there is no global competition system for pickleball. If there is management by the State, specifically the Department of Sports and Physical Training, pickleball will certainly have more specific regulations on rules, regulations, culture in competition...
Source: https://baobinhthuan.com.vn/phong-trao-choi-pickleball-dang-lan-rong-123893.html
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