November 3rd, 2026Fastest-growing sport in Australia: Pickleball Pearls & Paddles @ ChillOut

Mark Roy is a member of the Central Highlands Pickleball Club which runs sessions on a Saturday between 3pm and 5pm at the ARC in Daylesford.

The club is based in Ballarat but also runs games in Clunes and Daylesford. Mark said his pickleball journey started two years ago when he saw a post on Facebook by Wendy Vorstenbosch (see her story opposite) that she was getting a group together to try the sport at the ARC.

“They were really good introductory sessions, you learn the rules and Wendy sets things up. After that I started exploring other options – one of those was Central Highlands and then we got enough people to start running a session with a more intermediate range of players on the Saturday afternoon out of the ARC.

“We have about 12 to 24 people on a Saturday afternoon to play what we call the King of the Court or the Queen of the Springs. It is basically a competition that keeps tab of your score but you’re playing against lots of different people and then at the end of the session, which goes for about two hours, the king or queen, is based on the highest score.”

Mark said a lot of players came from backgrounds in tennis and squash. “I was a very poor tennis player and now that I’m 56 playing tennis is pretty exertive and you really need to put a lot of effort into it with your shoulders…

“So while you certainly work up a sweat with pickleball it does seem a bit easier because the court is slightly smaller and there’s more focus on technique. I’ve really enjoyed pickleball because it’s what I would call fresh. It’s quite a diverse group of people as well so it doesn’t really matter what your background is. And it is probably a more mature age group so it fits with my age group.

“Having said that there are certainly plenty of junior activities available. It’s also a great way to socialise, and I work from home, so it was good to get out and do something different. And it’s easy to slip into another club like Ballarat, Mt Macedon or Clunes for my pickleball fix.”

Meanwhile, Mark is also involved in creating a pickleball event for ChillOut 2027.

There will be: a Free Intro to Pickleball on Saturday, February 27 from 3pm-5pm (free – registration required); Paddle Play session for Juniors: Thursday, March 4 from 4pm-6pm (free – registration required); and Pickle Pearl Slam competition, Saturday, March 6 from 9am-4pm (registration required.

Link: www.courtflow.com.au/Tournaments/Details/pearls-and-paddles Left, photos from last week’s pickleball at the ARC, Daylesford Words: Kyle Barnes | Images: Contributed