Are you interested in Pickleball and have often thought ‘where can I buy my next pickleball equipment’? We have all the basic information on pickleball equipment here including where to buy pickleball equipment.
Pickleball’s a fun ball game that is played for both leisure and competition. It’s a game played by all ages, by men and women, has no age limit, is played, throughout the USA, on vacation, at college, at sport’s clubs and in back yards. It’s played for fun, for fitness and competitively, and there are several tournaments throughout the year.
Pickleball is not just a great alternative to tennis or badminton, it’s a sport all of its own. There are several similarities to the games of tennis, badminton and ping-pong and it is a game of skill, speed and we have to keep saying, fun.
This sport is easy to play in that it does not require a lot of equipment and once you have the equipment, there is no set up that needs to be done. One can just arrive.
Table of Content
What is the Pickleball Equipment needed?
- Pickleball court (sort of!)
- Pickleball net
- Pickleball paddles
- Pickleball ball
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Let’s take a look at the individual components:
Pickleball Court
Well, technically, a pickleball court isn’t quite an ‘equipment’ but it’s one of the very important components needed to play pickleball.
The court is 20 feet wide and 40 feet long. It has a modified tennis net right in the centre, which separate the two halves. Four Pickleball courts can fit into a standard tennis court and Pickleball courts are pre-built or pre-designed, with red paint defining the parameters.
As a player, you do not have to set up the court and in order to understand where to find pickleball courts near you, you can check out our guide here.
What’s interesting to note is Pickleball can also be played on normal tennis courts.
The dimensions are obviously quite different but by spending a few hundred dollars, a tennis court can be transformed into a multi-sport court that can then be used by Pickleball players as well.
Experts reckon if the tennis court has baseline and sideline painted white, the pickleball court can be painted a different shade from white and from the colour of the court to allow the players to adapt to the colours.
Pickleball Net
This is similar to a tennis net. It must stand 34 inches high, right in the centre of the court. If you are playing Pickleball at a club, the net should be set up for you in advance. However, you can also purchase a pickleball net online and use it to play other racket sports as well.
The advantage of owning your own pickleball net is you do not have to rely on the clubs, just set it up in your backyard as well, and try and get some practice on.
Some of the best Pickleball nets include the 3.0 Portable Pickleball Net System, Picklenet and Classic PickleNet Pickleball Net System among others.
Pickleball Paddles
If you are wanting to play Pickleball on a regular basis, it’s a good idea to have your own Pickleball Paddle. You can buy Pickleball paddles online, or at a sports club or specialist sports equipment store.
There are a variety of brands, mostly made out of aluminium or graphite.
A paddle is smaller than a tennis racket, but larger than a ping pong bat, between 8 and 15 inches long. There are various sizes of Pickleball paddles, depending on the age, size, strength and needs of the person playing.
As you become a better player, you will want a better Pickleball paddle. You may even want two.
Pickleball Ball
A Pickleball is pretty unique. Pickleballs are similar to whiffle balls but are much hardier. They are made of plastic, have holes in them, and are the same or similar size to a baseball.
Pickleballs come in white or yellow, and there are in fact different balls depending on whether you are playing an outdoor or an indoor game. Balls can be purchased in packs, usually six at a time. The good balls are USAPA approved.
That is all that is needed. Except for you and an opponent or opponents if you are playing doubles.
You, a good pair of sports shoes and a hat if you’re playing outside. Some Pickleball tournaments have strict rules about attire, others are more relaxed. It’s not like Wimbledon though where one has to wear all-white. There are rules and they must be followed, the game is strict, but it is a lot of fun.
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Where to Buy Pickleball Equipment in USA?
So where does one buy the pickleball equipment? Here’s our list of our best options where you can buy your pickleball equipment.
Amazon.com
It is one of the easiest, straightforward and usually the most trustworthy way to buy any sporting good, pickleball equipment included.
It would be fair to assume most readers of this blog would have heard of Amazon but for those few who might not have do so, Amazon is an online store that sells everything under the sun from pokemon cards to pajamas and pickleball equipment, and more often than you can expect it to be the most economical option as well.
Their delivery is typically free and if you are an Amazon Prime member, it might even get delivered quicker than usual.
Get Your Pickleball Equipment on Amazon Here.
DicksSportingGoods.com
Dick Stack started off this company in 1948 in New York after he was taunted by the owner of the shop he worked and today, the company has grown to level where it’s listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Since it specializes in sports equipment for those in the USA, it covers the breadth and depth of sporting goods sold in its stores and online.
Just search for Pickleball on their website and you can choose the pickleball paddles, balls and accessories like nets for yourself and get it delivered.
PickleballCentral.com
Now, while Amazon and Dicks Sporting Goods are excellent options to choose from as far as buying sports equipment is concerned, why not try a store which is dedicated to the sale of pickleball equipment only. The Pickleball Central store is located in Kent in Washington, but delivers your pickleball paddles, balls, nets and other equipment to your homes for free if your order is over $69.
What more, they have a 30-day guarantee on their paddles, with a full refund in case the purchaser doesn’t like it. To go with that they have a price-match guarantee too, which you can read more about here. If you are a pickleball beginner, you cannot have too many excuses to not play the sport.
You can also try and get your PickleballCentral coupon code by googling for it and checking out some of the latest available such codes; there are quite a few available online.
Pickleball.com
The original inventors of the sport, Pickleball.com have been in the game, literally and otherwise, for a long time. They operate from a huge facility in Kent, in Washington and have built the Pickleball Hall of Fame and Museum.
More importantly, for those looking to buy pickleball equipment, they have free shipping for a minimum purchase of $39 and have pickleball paddles, balls, nets and other gear on their e-store. They also have an ambassador program which allows USAPA-recognised ambassador a discount of 30% for the work they have done in spreading the game of pickleball far and wide.
GammaSports.com
Gamma is a racquet/racket-sport specialist – in that teeny-weeny way they have that in common with us! – and they focus on tennis and pickleball as their two main sports. According to GammaSports, a Pittsburgh-based company, they have been changing the way these two sports are played with their innovation and technology, and that also reflects in their prices with a lot of higher-end paddles available in the line-up of their online store.
ShopPickleBallOnline.com
The Li-Ning Pickleball Superstore has its dealers all over the USA, and the best part about it is you can either use their website ShopPickleballOnline to buy the pickleball equipment or you could hunt for a pickleball dealer near you.
They have also a dealer status legend with dealers marked anywhere between Silver and Platinum based on the selection of equipment they have – with Silver being the most basic selection while Platinum implying the dealer has the best possible selection. Using this option you can not just search for ‘pickleball equipment near me’ on sale but also understand how far the dealer is from your zip code and what is the kind of pickleball selection the dealer has.
PickleBallWholesale.com
This company is operated by the same management that looks after the running of PickleballCentral.com mentioned elsewhere in this piece, but as the name suggests, it deals with those selling Pickleball equipment rather than the end users – the Pickleball players themselves.
They possess over 1000 products in their warehouse and they don’t just sell the pickleball paddles, balls and other accessories but are also involved in the designing and building of the products, with their end users being those who further sell pickleball and other sports goods equipment in their stores or online.
ProlitePaddles.com
Started in 1984, ProlitePaddles.com kick-started the production of the world’s first ever composite pickleball paddle. They cater to both online customers and dealers who can further sell these pickleball paddles, which include Polymer Fiberglass paddles, Carbon Fiber paddles, Graphite paddles and Recreational paddles among others.
usgames.com
An American, sports equipment company that might not really focus on Pickleball but has a variety of options associated with this sport. It has a 30-day return policy but it needs to happen in accordance with their Return Policy.
PickleballParadise.com
An online store dedicated to Pickleball, first started by Midwest Sports more than 30 years ago.
Apart from Pickleball equipment, they also sell shoes and apparel for the sport and there is free shipping for anything over $49.95 too, which makes it better than PickleballCentral in case you are a pickleball beginner looking to start off with something more basic at this stage of your career.
Depending on which state you live in the US, they have a standard, estimated transit time for the delivery of your equipment as well, so you can be sure of how much time it would take beforehand.
BellRacquetSports.com
The kind of e-store we love because it deals in all sports, rackets including pickleball, tennis and racquetball. It is based in New York and apart from rackets and balls, it also deals in apparel, strings, stringing machines (for non-pickleball sports obviously) and injury and fitness-related equipment for sport like different kinds of braces. They also have a price match policy, so rest assured you can get yourself the most economical deal in USA.
PlayersPickleball.com
Based out of Bellingham in Washington, PlayersPickleball has scores of options as far as pickleball paddles are concerned. Incidentally, this company super-specialises in pPickleball paddles (unlike some others which specialise in the sport but sell everything related to pickleball). Based on a data-driven method to create paddles, their scientific approach to manufacturing paddles has led to the creation of what they define as “several bespoke test fixtures that allowed us to test and measure paddle traits at a solid level of detail”.
EngagePickleball.com
Engage is another US-based company that manufactures pickleball paddles. They claim all of their paddles manufacturing happens in the US itself, including design and innovation. To go with manufacturing and selling Pickleball equipment, they are also wholesalers for dealers, and organisers of pickleball camps and an academy. Sound like a one-stop shop for all things pickleball if you are looking to seriously advance your career.
PingPongDepot.com
This company is based out of Quebec in Canada, and specialises in ping pong (table tennis) and pickleball equipment. It has some of the best products, best prices and reward programs to go with it. It purportedly has a software to check on the best price available in the market and offers its equipment at that price. More interestingly, the price guarantee is for 90 days after the purchase, so even if the prices go down in that period, the company is willing to refund the difference.
head.com
Head is a UK-based sports equipment company which has operations in other parts of Europe, Hong Kong and the US as well. It supplies sports gear of all kind including tennis, squash, racquetball and pickleball, not to mention other non-racket sports as well.
Walmart
Pickleball equipment is available in almost all Walmart stores and is probably one of the most inexpensive option as well. There are options for one-day deliveries if you order online and Walmart allows for free pickup as well, possible only thanks to their omnipresence.
Target
Most Target stores, like Walmart have brick and mortar stores which keep pickleball equipment. You can also order them online with Target.
Ebay.com
Ebay is another American e-commerce company but more importantly it also allows individuals to buy and sell semi-new products. It was one of the first online auction websites online back in the 1990s and you can look to buy second-hand pickleball equipment on it, it might not be such a bad option if you are just starting out and without too much cash.
SillyTown.com
Found this company while researching on places to buy pickleball paddles from but it has a broken contact us page, making it tough for us to say much about it. If you have had any experience with them, let us know.
Pickleball Equipment in Australia
Here’s a list of places you can buy your pickleball equipment in Australia. Pickleball paddles typically cost a minimum of AUD 50 for Selkirk Club and obviously lower for wooden paddles.
- PickleballSuperStore.com.au
- Decathlon.com.au
- PickleballPerth.com.au
- MantaSportOz.com.au
- NetWorldSport.com.au
Pickleball Equipment in UK
If you are looking to order for your pickleball equipment in the UK, following is the list of websites you can look at. You can obviously also look at Amazon and eBay apart from these companies.
- TennisNuts.com
- Pickle-Ball.co.uk
- Dropshot.co.uk
- StringersWorld.com
Conclusion
Statistics show there are close to half a million Pickleball players in the USA and the popularity of the game has spread to Canada. It’s one of the fastest growing ball games there is, there are Pickleball courts (an estimated 15 thousand) all around the USA, and you too can play.
You don’t have to be a tennis or a ping pong player, you just have to have a love for sport, action, fun and fitness. It’s a great way to get fit and to make new friends.
Now that you have a fair, basic idea about the equipment, we will update you with the best of the equipment which can be purchased in a separate article. What we would like to add here is along your equipment, do carry your pickleball etiquette to the courts too!
On-court etiquette, for whichever sport, deserves an article of its own but basically don’t be an idiot on the court, act respectfully towards everyone including your opponents and those watching and remember, winning is not everything.