While the name might conjure images of vinegar-marinated cucumbers, pickleball is a sport similar to tennis, played on a smaller court and with light plastic balls that are more like whiffle balls than tennis balls. Over the past few years, pickleball’s rise has been meteoric; according to the Associated Press, the number of players nationwide “soared from nearly nothing to 13.6 million” from 2021 to 2024.
With the sport taking hold in localities across the United States, Brookfield has been no exception. Luke Gundersen, the village’s parks and recreation director, said his department has adapted to the trend.
“I want to say we started offering pickleball last year,” he told the Landmark. “It exploded, and with that popularity, our response was offering more pickleball programs. … A lot of our programs are filling up, which is great.”
Source: https://www.rblandmark.com/2025/05/19/pickleball-sweeps-brookfiel/