- One, zero, two.

(paddle claps) Oh!

(laughing) - It doesn't take a great deal of strength, conditioning, and you can have a lot of fun at it right away, and I think that appeals to a lot of people.

- [Stefanie] Head to Mt.

Pleasant's Island Park and odds are, you'll find their pickleball courts packed with players who all found themselves drawn to the sport in their own way.

(player speaking indistinctly) - I had a good friend, a retired teacher of mine, and she was talking about it all the time, and I'm like, "Pickleball is kind of a strange name, "but okay, I'll try it."

So she and I came down, and we did a couple of practice sets and I thought, oh yeah, I like it, bought a paddle that day, and I've been playing ever since.

- [Player] Oh yeah!

- My friend and I, we were looking at things to do, and they had a beginner pickleball clinic and so we decided, we were like, "Oh, might as well go give it a try."

So we went, and we became instantly addicted.

- [Stefanie] Safe to say, once you start, it's hard to stop.

It's a similar story for Al Montoye Once he the ropes and rules, he couldn't get enough, so he contacted the city, and together, they established several pickleball courts, bringing with it even more fans eager to play.

- But it wasn't long before the first two painted courts were inadequate.

In about a month, we had to paint the other two courts to accommodate the number of people that were interested.

From there, it just exploded.

Then we had people waiting for a long time to play, and eventually, the city decided that it would be worthwhile to invest the money in rebuilding the entire Island Park facility, and that's what we have behind us here today.

There are six courts here.

There are lines painted on the other two tennis courts, which will accommodate portable nets.

If we get to the point where we have a larger tournament venue, we could have up to 10 courts.

- [Stefanie] Pickleball isn't a new sport.

According to USA Pickleball, it began as a game born out of boredom in 1956 by then Congressman, Joel Pritchard and businessman, Bill Bell.

They used a hodgepodge mix of various rackets from sports like ping pong and badminton and a perforated plastic ball.

The idea was to make it easy to play for everyone, young and old.

It evolved rapidly into a more specialized racket and wiffle ball.

Today, it's considered one of the fastest growing sports in the country, with tournaments held nationwide.

- You can play it at many different levels.

Of course, the professionals look like professional tennis players.

They're very athletic, and they have all kinds of skills, but that's a small part of the sport.

The majority of this sport are played, I hate to say it, but some of the older folks.

It appeals to retirees a lot, because they can play during the day and so on.

I think the most popular part of it is that in a very short time, you can be having fun at this game.

You don't have to spend years developing a stroke like you would in golf or in tennis in order to start having any fun.

So to get to the higher level skill levels, it takes a long time as it does in any sport, but.

- [Stefanie] As I learned during a brief tutorial, the game looks and feels similar to tennis with a shorter net and a smaller court.

The rules and score keeping differ, but it really takes just a few swings to get the hang of it.

- You only get one serve as the server, unlike tennis where you get two chances to put the ball into play.

But most pickleball is played as doubles, so they can be played as singles, but most is played as doubles, and you can only add a point to your score if you win that point on your serve.

So if they both lose their points, then the serve goes back over to the other side.

You must serve into the opposite rectangle from the serving side.

Everyone knows that's what it is, so you're not allowed to be in the kitchen unless the ball bounces in the kitchen first, then you can go in and hit it.

- [Stefanie] If you're new to pickleball, learning the game with a group in Mt.

Pleasant is as easy as just showing up.

Odds are someone will have a paddle for you and teach you the ropes.

While the game does require some level of physicality, the social factor also helps this sport shine.

- They're really great people, honestly.

(laughing) And I don't know, just the rush of getting a point or just the teamwork you have between everyone, and it's just a lot of fun.

- I think my favorite part is just being around the energy of the people and just being active in a different way.

- One thing that's unique about Mt.

Pleasant, and I've played many other places in the country, the attitude here is that we're here to have fun.

We're accepting of anybody who wants to come and play and learn to play.

- [Player] Good game.

(people speaking indistinctly)