Do you know pickleball (匹克球)?Much like tennis and ping-pong, it's a popular new sport in the United States.
Pickleball is easy and fun to play. It is played on a court(球场) in the size of a badminton court, with a lower net similar to that of tennis. There are two or four players in a game. Players hit a whiffle ball (塑料空心球) over the net with bats. The bats are made of wood, and they are larger than ping-pong bats. The rule of the game is that if a player (or a team) first gets 11 points and also leads (领先) the other side by at least 2 points, then he wins the game. For example, if it's 10 to 10, one player has to make it 12 to 10 to win the game.
The game was invented in the 1960s.Several parents were on vacation in Bainbridge Island, Washington, the US. They wanted to find an activity that their families could enjoy together. So the ycame up with the sport.
No one is sure how the sport got its name. Most people believe it was called pickleball because of a dog named Pickles. He kept running after the ball when the inventors first played the sport, so everyone called it Pickles' ball.
Kara Foster, a 60-year-old lady from New York, tried the game this year. Like many others, she fell in love with the sport and now plays it every day.
"It helps me keep healthy," she says. "Best of all, it's much easier for me to chat(聊天) with my friends while playing the sport."
