Players may have traveled from places that couldn’t be more different, but ask anyone on the pickleball courts at the fifth annual Founders Tournament at Battle Point Park over the weekend: pickleball means community.

The tournament, an international contest hosted by the Bainbridge History Museum that took place between Aug. 7-11 drew hundreds of contestants and enthusiasts from as nearby as down the street to as far away as Thailand. The event is a museum fundraiser and a way to honor the birthplace of the fastest-growing sport in the nation, but pickleball is so much more than a sport—it’s a lifestyle that includes friendships and hope.

Bill Knopp, retired physical therapist from Surprise, AZ, first encountered pickleball in 2014 with his wife in Utah. They now travel the country spreading the pickleball gospel — they’ve been to all 50 states as of January. People everywhere are “great”, but it was his first time at the Founder’s tourney, and it was “wonderful” to be here, he said. He was selling shirts and hats with the slogan, “Pickleball saves lives.”

“It gets people active, you can lose weight, it can cure depression, [and] the sociality of it is really good,” Knopp said. “So many sports have more of an aggressive competition aspect, but there’s not this kind of animosity in pickleball.”

The social sentiment of pickleball is so strong that organizers created a new accolade for the tournament: the “Keeping the Spirit” award.

“We’ve handed out a couple each day,” tournament organizer Bill Covert said. “It’s for players who are having fun, sharing their enthusiasm, making sure their competition is having fun, and building up the community.”

Pickleball’s trademark community and kindness didn’t come out of thin air — it’s engrained in the sport’s culture, Lindsay Ogle of the Bainbridge museum said. “Founder Joel Pritchard used to make politicians who didn’t like each other play pickleball ‘like it’s 1965,’ because it’s a teambuilding exercise, but it also humanizes people,” Ogles said of the former state leader who was one of the three who invented the sport. “The sport bridges gaps because it’s approachable, it creates a sense of community, and it’s accessible — there’s not many sports you can play into your 80s and 90s. It’s touched so many lives.”

Jon Hussey, a BI resident who competed in senior men’s doubles, took it a step further: teamwork is built into the game. “When I play with a new partner, I always ask their strengths and weaknesses. That way you can play off each other and figure out your best shot to optimize the court,” he said. “Communication with your partner is the number one thing.”

Pickleball’s lifesaving capabilities are not just literal. Maui-based contestants Carol Wallack, Lou Hassan and Nancy Beach see potential for the sport to help revitalize the island after the devastating Lahaina fires last year. Pickleball — or “pukaball,” as it’s known in Hawaii, after the holes, or “puka,” in the ball design — was embraced in a big way during COVID. Pickleball created a way for people who don’t often end up in the same social setting to cross paths, Wallack said. People of all ages and economic backgrounds were able to safely enjoy spending time together playing the game.

Hawaii’s location often draws international competitors from Asia and the South Pacific who wouldn’t otherwise compete in the United States. Despite living across the world from each other, the core of pickleball stayed the same: Wallack remembers some women from Taiwan — “they brought the heat and speed, but after the game, it was all love,” she said.

Attending the 2023 Founder’s Tournament inspired Beach to take action. She was touched by BI’s community spirit. Returning to Lahaina, she thought by building a pickleball facility to host competitors from around the Pacific Rim, the sport could draw revenue for the island and build up Maui’s community at the same time.

“It’s about providing a quality thing for locals. It’s huge to get the kids going, playing it, because most activities are in the ocean, and there’s very little at night,” Beach said. “It’s important to have something wholesome for families to do.”

Aloha Pickleball, Beach’s facility, is slated to break ground soon. Beach hopes to include an “island to island” wall with memorabilia to demonstrate the influence of BI’s spirit on the sport.

The BI touch is well-known here, said tournament management service specialist Mike Hoxie of Pickleball Is Great. “It’s special to the Bainbridge pickleball community. It’s alive everywhere, but it’s a focus here,” he said.

Sandy Capello faces off against Kazue Wickens in the Founders Tournament.