Pickle Ball draws all ages to Huntley

The court is sized like badminton but the net is closer to tennis height. Players are armed with oversized ping-pong paddles and they volley with a whiffle ball. The sport: pickle ball. The players: anyone.

From ages 13 to 87, men and women converged on the Huntley Park District recreation center Sunday for the finale of a two-day tournament. It was the first USA Pickle Ball Association-sanctioned event in Illinois and what organizers hope turns into the first of many on the Huntley courts.

Priscilla Scott, 58, helped start a pickle ball program through the Huntley Park District five years ago. She has since moved out of the area, but organized this tournament in Huntley nonetheless.

“It was my program,” Scott said. “I want to see it thrive and I want to see pickle ball spread.”

Sebastian Krzywicki, 24, and Anthony Cartwright, 23, took the gold medal in the highest level men’s doubles competition Sunday. They were two of the youngest players in the weekend tournament, coming from Mount Prospect to play.

Cartwright said they were teased about their youth as the key to their skill, but said they went up against fierce competition.

In the end, they did what they came to do.

“We went for gold — that was the plan,” Krzywicki said.

Players competed in three different skill levels, with gold, silver and bronze medals awarded for men’s and women’s doubles on Sunday and mixed doubles on Saturday.

In the end, 67 people registered from Arizona, Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana and all over Illinois.

Pickle ball is a fast-growing sport in the 55-plus age group, but many of those involved are trying to spread it to a younger generation. A July 30 tournament in Rockford will feature an intergenerational bracket with a required 18-year age difference between partners.

“The sport has got amazing potential,” said John Musto, of Lake in the Hills, a referee for the weekend tournament.

Visit northernillinoispickleball.com for more information about where and how to play.