The Lesson of America's Fastest-Growing Sport

Two friends had returned from a morning golf outing and were now sitting around a home on Bainbridge Island — just west of Seattle — with absolutely nothing to do.

So, they decided to head down to a nearby badminton court hoping some competitive rallies might be the solution to their boredom. But when they got there, there was no equipment to be found.

Desperate, they went to a nearby shed and grabbed some ping-pong paddles and a perforated ball and began hitting back and forth.

They had more fun than expected, but thought their ping pong-badminton-tennis hybrid could stand to improve, so they got their handyman pal to make them better equipment and assist in devising some logical rules to their fast-paced game.

That was 1965, and 57 years later, what the trio of Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell and Barney McCallum invented out of desperation is now the fastest-growing sport in America: Pickleball.

Tom Brady, Resy co-founder Gary Vaynerchuk, LeBron James and best-selling author Brene Brown are among its several marquee-name investors.

But beyond the fact pickleball is now being played by 4.8 million Americans or that it seems to be a nice exercise alternative for people over 55 years old is a key leadership lesson.

Many times, we come up with ideas that we’re convinced have potential. A dynamic offense bound to put more points on the board, a great new marketing campaign, a more efficient business strategy that should make our lives easier.

But the concepts we may think are transformative aren’t always met with open arms by our peers and can face major skepticism. The negative feedback can be incredibly deflating and affect our confidence.

But sometimes, what we think is great work really is great work — regardless of the response — and it just takes longer than we expect to be celebrated.

In its first year, Paolo Coelho's The Alchemist sold just 900 copies (it's now sold over 150 million). Starbucks didn't open its fifth store until 13 years in. J.K. Rowling's pitch for Harry Potter was rejected by 12 different publishing houses.

Pickleball isn’t new. It’s been around almost six decades. What elevated its popularity was the pandemic and the quest of many to find a safe physical activity. Now, it's a sensation.

If we're not hearing what we want or getting the results we desire at the moment, that doesn't necessarily mean our idea is terrible or that we need to abruptly abandon our vision.

Our concept may just need a little more time to be recognized.