June 23, 2026 • 9 mins
Pickleball is one of the fastest growing sports and has taken off all over the world, so I thought it was about time I see what all the fuss is about.
I headed out to "Love Pickleball", Upper Hutts brand new Pickleball dedicated facility - and the largest in Australasia.
I toured around the location, home to ten courts, a shop and cafe and equipped with all the gear you need and coaches.
I met with programme manager and coach Will Dewhirst for a crash course of the basics. And find out if Pickleball as great as everyone claims it to be.
Check out the video on our Facebook - Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from News Talk SIB.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Now I've been talking about it all morning.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
I've been talking about it all day yesterday after I
went and played pickleball. So I'm sure you've heard about
the latest sports craze. It's all over the globe and
if you haven't heard about it, you soon will. It's
called pickleball, the American sport for all ages is blown
up in New Zealand. Even Mike Hoskins obsessed. He talks
about it all the time. It's basically patt of tennis,
but it's described as a mix between tennis, ping pong
(00:36):
and babington. Ben Stiller is even making a movie about
it called Dink Dink, and it sounds looks pretty good
in the movie.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
By the way.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
And our own region lies a brand new dedicated pickleball facility.
Love Pickleball is right behind Brutown and Upperhart and get this,
it's the largest in Australasia. This is a growing trend.
Trust me on this. They've got ten courts, a shop,
a cafe and it's all dedicated to pickleball, opened by
locals who loved the sport and the indoor area has
(01:06):
been open for a few months months now, so we
decided to take a look and go out and visit it.
So out we drove to our part. We met with
Love Pickleball's programs manager and by the way, he's the
national pickleball team captain Will Dewhurst. To find out what
the sport is all about. Why does some people absolutely
rave about it and going crazy about it.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Let's play and see what all the fuss is about.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
So we've been invited out to Patta tennis Patda tennis
on steroids. It's called pickleball, Love pickle Gosh, this is
an amazing setup.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
I've just walked in and I've been freaked out.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
It feels like a massive stadium, really like a stadium.
Explain it to me, come on, give me, give me
the rundown.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
So, if we're just saying the basics, this says like tennis,
but smaller, bigger than table tennis on a badminton court.
So it combines all the best elements of three sports.
Check it on like Patti tennis in the past and
two v two go.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Play, so it can it be played singles as well?
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Completely definitely played singles, but to be honest, ninety five
percent of the time you're playing doubles.
Speaker 5 (02:15):
This is a social sport first, So it's about having
a head out, head and giggle I call it.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
Sometimes you want to get out there have some exercise
with your mates while still you know, just throwing some
banter and we can.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Hear them come. Yeah, yeah, it's good as we're chatting.
Speaker 5 (02:30):
There you go, yeah, hitting giggle.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Yeah, someone's having a lot of fun out there.
Speaker 5 (02:34):
Yeah, one hundred percent. Yeah, And that's what it's about.
Fun first.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
So what does it cost? So to get on our courts.
We have a bunch of different sessions, so we have
some memberships. But if you get the basic membership twelve
dollars fifty right for most of our sessions.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
And how long does a session last for? Is it
a game or is it time things? Two hours?
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Yeah, So like pickleballers are crazy, that's not enough for
some of them. So when you get onto a pickleblele court,
it doesn't feel like you're doing exercise. You are, but
you can totally play the sport for two hours straight
if you wanted to age group all three generation sport.
So the way I see the sport as it's a
low impact sport, so it's not about huge movements, it's
(03:12):
about technique. You often meet people that want to tell
you about how good they were at sport. I say,
come play pickable and you can show me. So eighty
year olds we have playing. We have eight year olds playing.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
So is this the sport that Andrea Garsi is into?
Speaker 5 (03:25):
Is that?
Speaker 3 (03:26):
I mean every time I turn up them in social media,
I see Andrea Garcian doing is it?
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Yeah, Legacy is straight into this. He's already playing some
of the pros. He's reliving his tennis days. And that's
the thing. You'll see people that have come from other
sports and showing what they can do on the pickaball court.
Because it combines other sports. You can tell straight away
who played tennis, who played badminton, squash, the rest of it.
Because there's something in all of these games that can
(03:50):
be brought into pickaball, which is awesome.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
I can see potential in a social outing for work
or a sports team bringing them out here and having
a bit of fun.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Is that something that's happening.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
So like this is veggas in the US, so it
was made in the US. A lot of the universities
use pickleball to test who is the true sportsman. So
they will bring all the different sports teams down and go, okay,
get them on the pickle court. Let's see who's the
actual best team. And the good thing is the rules
of the pickleball. The first two shots have to bounce
the serve and the return have to bounce serves under armed.
Speaker 5 (04:23):
So it sort of sets the rally.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
The average amount of shots you'll get and a lot
of pickable rallies, is about five, so straight away it's
trying to get you playing the sport rather than ending
the rally right from the serve.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Great idea, let's go and have a lot. Let's have
a feel.
Speaker 6 (04:38):
I'm pred disergress here. I'll be commentating this match. Nick
is playing well and I have to say he's a natural.
It seems to be an easy sport to get a
handle on quite quickly. Oh my gosh, he just hit
five sex in a row and he failed, but he's
done pretty good for first time.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Now I'm playing against will Now he's one of the coaches,
he's one of the organizers, and I am puffing.
Speaker 5 (05:04):
A little bit.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
But should I I enjoyed it? Should I enjoyed it.
I reckon it was a lot of fun.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
It's a good fun a just straight on court and
you can see straight away you can get out there
and play.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Yeah, I reckon it'd be great for fitness too, and
getting the steps up, wouldn't it.
Speaker 5 (05:18):
Oh yeah, one hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
So when I'm coaching or playing, if I do honestly
three four hours of this in a day, I'm easily
over twenty thousand steps.
Speaker 5 (05:26):
And you see that for a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
For sure, I kind of I thought it was a lot,
a lot of fun. I mean, I'd go and do
it again. I would definitely go and do it again.
Speaker 5 (05:34):
Oh well, come on down.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
I mean, we'll match you up with different people. You
don't need to come down with a partner or anything.
We'll just get you in there, will help you out,
and you'll be away fantastic.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
It does feel like you're definitely doing your exercise. It
definitely feels like you're doing exercise. I'm pumping to steel.
But I'd thoroughly enjoyed it. I really wanted to get
into it.
Speaker 5 (05:52):
That's the thing. The ball keeps coming back.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Well if you're playing so indecent.
Speaker 5 (05:55):
But yes, well, all games. That's the thing.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
Because of the rules, and as you can see with
the kitchen, it just opens the space for rallies to continue,
and that's what you want.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Do you believe this could be a new phenomenon. I
really do think it could be.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
I think it's something that somebody that could really really
catch on.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
So if you're just looking at how Pickable's taken off
over the last even five years, scram just from the
US to worldwide and as the biggest social sport in
the US now one and seven people play it over
there and around the country, even in New Zealand. So
I've been playing it since twenty eighteen. It started in
New Zealand in twenty fourteen. It has exploded. We had
(06:33):
maybe ten clubs at around twenty eighteen. How we're up
to fifty plus and multiple facilities that have started just
even the last couple of years as permanent Pickable facilities.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Amazing, Thank you very much. Really enjoyed it. I thought
it was.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Fabulous and facilities fabulous' even got a cafe up there.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
It just feels like a fun place to be.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
Oh one hundred percent. We want to be socializing, we
want to have a good coffee, maybe even a bear
in the afternoon and play some pickle.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Thank you enjoyed it, you see.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
I mean I've been hearing Mike Hoskin talk about it
all the time, think Kate plays it or someone he
knows plays it. And I've been hearing it, and I've
been hearing about the courts, you know, you know, being
set up all over Wellington area. But to actually go
and see it in this facility feels like it's been
made specifically for the sport. I mean, it probably was
(07:25):
a warehouse and they've converted it, but the courts were beautiful,
brand new, beautiful courts. The facility was really really good,
and I think the sport's going to grow. I love
playing padda tennis at school. I was a pata tennis
player at school, you know, lunchtime, you know, whatever, you've
got a chance, you play pat at tennis. You played
(07:45):
with a tennis ball and a small court that this
court's almost exactly the same size and as a pata
tennis court. And for a movie star like Ben still
had to be doing a movie. Dunk think I think
it's called Dink shows you how big are phenomenal and
there's world Champs and there's New Zealand Champs. I mean
the facility we were at the Australia Australasian Champs. There
(08:09):
they had hundreds of people trying to compete every day
and when we left they were training. These people training,
and apparently you can pay five dollars and go and
get a lesson to start you off. And you know,
I'm not fifteen anymore, but the people that were training
or taking a lesson were quite a bit older than me,
and they were being taught and they were enjoying it.
(08:31):
It was really easy to learn. The front part of
the nets on both sides you're not allowed to hit
the ball on the fall, so you can't bash anyone.
And they call that the kitchen, which I found.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Was really weird.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
But that little area in front of the net you
can't hit it on the fall. Very simple, non energetic.
You serve underhand, which was easy. I didn't miss a
serve anytime I served it. You know, and you normally
take a bit of time to actually to learn how
to serve. You'd be thinking I don't want to do
this because I don't want to serve. Serve underhand, very
very simple. A lot of fun and a time. We
(09:05):
talk about a lot of things on this show that
are really stressful and really hard and really sad. I
just thought it was a fun thing to do, and
I would suggest anybody I just make a phone call.
And I think I particularly love Pickleball and Upper Heart.
They were really really friendly and warm, and I'm sure
that all the pickleball facilities would be the same. They
(09:25):
want to get people into it and it is going
to be a phenomenon and I'm looking forward to taking
my family out for an afternoon and I think all
ages could play it. You'd have a lot of fun,
really simple, clean, good idea. And this is not an ad.
I'm not getting paid to say this. I'm just saying
you know, I've heard about it and I actually enjoyed it.
And you can watch me make a fool of myself
(09:47):
on our Facebook page if you want to, because they
filmed it.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills, listen live
to news talks they'd be Wellington from nine am week days,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from News Talk SIB.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Now I've been talking about it all morning.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
I've been talking about it all day yesterday after I
went and played pickleball. So I'm sure you've heard about
the latest sports craze. It's all over the globe and
if you haven't heard about it, you soon will. It's
called pickleball, the American sport for all ages is blown
up in New Zealand. Even Mike Hoskins obsessed. He talks
about it all the time. It's basically patt of tennis,
but it's described as a mix between tennis, ping pong
(00:36):
and babington. Ben Stiller is even making a movie about
it called Dink Dink, and it sounds looks pretty good
in the movie.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
By the way.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
And our own region lies a brand new dedicated pickleball facility.
Love Pickleball is right behind Brutown and Upperhart and get this,
it's the largest in Australasia. This is a growing trend.
Trust me on this. They've got ten courts, a shop,
a cafe and it's all dedicated to pickleball, opened by
locals who loved the sport and the indoor area has
(01:06):
been open for a few months months now, so we
decided to take a look and go out and visit it.
So out we drove to our part. We met with
Love Pickleball's programs manager and by the way, he's the
national pickleball team captain Will Dewhurst. To find out what
the sport is all about. Why does some people absolutely
rave about it and going crazy about it.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Let's play and see what all the fuss is about.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
So we've been invited out to Patta tennis Patda tennis
on steroids. It's called pickleball, Love pickle Gosh, this is
an amazing setup.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
I've just walked in and I've been freaked out.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
It feels like a massive stadium, really like a stadium.
Explain it to me, come on, give me, give me
the rundown.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
So, if we're just saying the basics, this says like tennis,
but smaller, bigger than table tennis on a badminton court.
So it combines all the best elements of three sports.
Check it on like Patti tennis in the past and
two v two go.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Play, so it can it be played singles as well?
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Completely definitely played singles, but to be honest, ninety five
percent of the time you're playing doubles.
Speaker 5 (02:15):
This is a social sport first, So it's about having
a head out, head and giggle I call it.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
Sometimes you want to get out there have some exercise
with your mates while still you know, just throwing some
banter and we can.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Hear them come. Yeah, yeah, it's good as we're chatting.
Speaker 5 (02:30):
There you go, yeah, hitting giggle.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Yeah, someone's having a lot of fun out there.
Speaker 5 (02:34):
Yeah, one hundred percent. Yeah, And that's what it's about.
Fun first.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
So what does it cost? So to get on our courts.
We have a bunch of different sessions, so we have
some memberships. But if you get the basic membership twelve
dollars fifty right for most of our sessions.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
And how long does a session last for? Is it
a game or is it time things? Two hours?
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Yeah, So like pickleballers are crazy, that's not enough for
some of them. So when you get onto a pickleblele court,
it doesn't feel like you're doing exercise. You are, but
you can totally play the sport for two hours straight
if you wanted to age group all three generation sport.
So the way I see the sport as it's a
low impact sport, so it's not about huge movements, it's
(03:12):
about technique. You often meet people that want to tell
you about how good they were at sport. I say,
come play pickable and you can show me. So eighty
year olds we have playing. We have eight year olds playing.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
So is this the sport that Andrea Garsi is into?
Speaker 5 (03:25):
Is that?
Speaker 3 (03:26):
I mean every time I turn up them in social media,
I see Andrea Garcian doing is it?
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Yeah, Legacy is straight into this. He's already playing some
of the pros. He's reliving his tennis days. And that's
the thing. You'll see people that have come from other
sports and showing what they can do on the pickaball court.
Because it combines other sports. You can tell straight away
who played tennis, who played badminton, squash, the rest of it.
Because there's something in all of these games that can
(03:50):
be brought into pickaball, which is awesome.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
I can see potential in a social outing for work
or a sports team bringing them out here and having
a bit of fun.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Is that something that's happening.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
So like this is veggas in the US, so it
was made in the US. A lot of the universities
use pickleball to test who is the true sportsman. So
they will bring all the different sports teams down and go, okay,
get them on the pickle court. Let's see who's the
actual best team. And the good thing is the rules
of the pickleball. The first two shots have to bounce
the serve and the return have to bounce serves under armed.
Speaker 5 (04:23):
So it sort of sets the rally.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
The average amount of shots you'll get and a lot
of pickable rallies, is about five, so straight away it's
trying to get you playing the sport rather than ending
the rally right from the serve.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Great idea, let's go and have a lot. Let's have
a feel.
Speaker 6 (04:38):
I'm pred disergress here. I'll be commentating this match. Nick
is playing well and I have to say he's a natural.
It seems to be an easy sport to get a
handle on quite quickly. Oh my gosh, he just hit
five sex in a row and he failed, but he's
done pretty good for first time.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Now I'm playing against will Now he's one of the coaches,
he's one of the organizers, and I am puffing.
Speaker 5 (05:04):
A little bit.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
But should I I enjoyed it? Should I enjoyed it.
I reckon it was a lot of fun.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
It's a good fun a just straight on court and
you can see straight away you can get out there
and play.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Yeah, I reckon it'd be great for fitness too, and
getting the steps up, wouldn't it.
Speaker 5 (05:18):
Oh yeah, one hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
So when I'm coaching or playing, if I do honestly
three four hours of this in a day, I'm easily
over twenty thousand steps.
Speaker 5 (05:26):
And you see that for a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
For sure, I kind of I thought it was a lot,
a lot of fun. I mean, I'd go and do
it again. I would definitely go and do it again.
Speaker 5 (05:34):
Oh well, come on down.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
I mean, we'll match you up with different people. You
don't need to come down with a partner or anything.
We'll just get you in there, will help you out,
and you'll be away fantastic.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
It does feel like you're definitely doing your exercise. It
definitely feels like you're doing exercise. I'm pumping to steel.
But I'd thoroughly enjoyed it. I really wanted to get
into it.
Speaker 5 (05:52):
That's the thing. The ball keeps coming back.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Well if you're playing so indecent.
Speaker 5 (05:55):
But yes, well, all games. That's the thing.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
Because of the rules, and as you can see with
the kitchen, it just opens the space for rallies to continue,
and that's what you want.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Do you believe this could be a new phenomenon. I
really do think it could be.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
I think it's something that somebody that could really really
catch on.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
So if you're just looking at how Pickable's taken off
over the last even five years, scram just from the
US to worldwide and as the biggest social sport in
the US now one and seven people play it over
there and around the country, even in New Zealand. So
I've been playing it since twenty eighteen. It started in
New Zealand in twenty fourteen. It has exploded. We had
(06:33):
maybe ten clubs at around twenty eighteen. How we're up
to fifty plus and multiple facilities that have started just
even the last couple of years as permanent Pickable facilities.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Amazing, Thank you very much. Really enjoyed it. I thought
it was.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Fabulous and facilities fabulous' even got a cafe up there.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
It just feels like a fun place to be.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
Oh one hundred percent. We want to be socializing, we
want to have a good coffee, maybe even a bear
in the afternoon and play some pickle.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Thank you enjoyed it, you see.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
I mean I've been hearing Mike Hoskin talk about it
all the time, think Kate plays it or someone he
knows plays it. And I've been hearing it, and I've
been hearing about the courts, you know, you know, being
set up all over Wellington area. But to actually go
and see it in this facility feels like it's been
made specifically for the sport. I mean, it probably was
(07:25):
a warehouse and they've converted it, but the courts were beautiful,
brand new, beautiful courts. The facility was really really good,
and I think the sport's going to grow. I love
playing padda tennis at school. I was a pata tennis
player at school, you know, lunchtime, you know, whatever, you've
got a chance, you play pat at tennis. You played
(07:45):
with a tennis ball and a small court that this
court's almost exactly the same size and as a pata
tennis court. And for a movie star like Ben still
had to be doing a movie. Dunk think I think
it's called Dink shows you how big are phenomenal and
there's world Champs and there's New Zealand Champs. I mean
the facility we were at the Australia Australasian Champs. There
(08:09):
they had hundreds of people trying to compete every day
and when we left they were training. These people training,
and apparently you can pay five dollars and go and
get a lesson to start you off. And you know,
I'm not fifteen anymore, but the people that were training
or taking a lesson were quite a bit older than me,
and they were being taught and they were enjoying it.
(08:31):
It was really easy to learn. The front part of
the nets on both sides you're not allowed to hit
the ball on the fall, so you can't bash anyone.
And they call that the kitchen, which I found.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Was really weird.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
But that little area in front of the net you
can't hit it on the fall. Very simple, non energetic.
You serve underhand, which was easy. I didn't miss a
serve anytime I served it. You know, and you normally
take a bit of time to actually to learn how
to serve. You'd be thinking I don't want to do
this because I don't want to serve. Serve underhand, very
very simple. A lot of fun and a time. We
(09:05):
talk about a lot of things on this show that
are really stressful and really hard and really sad. I
just thought it was a fun thing to do, and
I would suggest anybody I just make a phone call.
And I think I particularly love Pickleball and Upper Heart.
They were really really friendly and warm, and I'm sure
that all the pickleball facilities would be the same. They
(09:25):
want to get people into it and it is going
to be a phenomenon and I'm looking forward to taking
my family out for an afternoon and I think all
ages could play it. You'd have a lot of fun,
really simple, clean, good idea. And this is not an ad.
I'm not getting paid to say this. I'm just saying
you know, I've heard about it and I actually enjoyed it.
And you can watch me make a fool of myself
(09:47):
on our Facebook page if you want to, because they
filmed it.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills, listen live
to news talks they'd be Wellington from nine am week days,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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