Every Wednesday at 11 a.m. a group gathers on the pickleball courts at Telephone Pioneers Park in Phoenix, ready to dink, volley and have fun. Many have never met before, but they have one thing in common: They're looking for an inclusive environment to play recreational sports.
The participants are a part of Ability360, a center for independent living in Arizona that advocates for people with disabilities. Ability360 provides sports and fitness centers specifically designed for participants of all abilities, as well as events that keep members active through a range of activities.
One of these events is pickleball, which is held throughout the spring. The instructor, Kinh DeMaree, realized there was a need for adaptive pickleball while looking at sports for her nine-year-old daughter, so she joined Ability360.
"I started in tennis when I was a kid and I think pickleball is a lot more accessible in terms of cost, courts available and finding players," DeMaree said. "And then also because you don’t have to cover as much court, I think that it can be better for adaptive sports as well.”
DeMaree's daughter Lex participates in the event each week, and any time she's not playing, she helps her mom by managing the equipment on the sidelines. If DeMaree and her daughter are both immersed in the game, DeMaree's mom, Hanh-Huy Phan, is there to pitch in as well, and DeMaree loves the family support.
"Being able to cater to all types of physical or other disabilities has been nice... having my whole family participate, my mom and my daughter, it has been so amazing getting to do it together," DeMaree said.
Ability360's pickleball event is organized into two separate time frames based on skill level. The first hour is for intermediate and advanced participants, and the second hour is for beginners. This format gives returners a chance to stick around and teach newcomers who are eager to learn.
DeMaree also mentioned that the event is constantly bringing in new faces. Pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in America for the third year in a row according to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association's Topline Participation Report from November 2024.
The sport grew 51% in participation from 2022-2023, and 223.5% in total over a three-year timespan. Every age group has seen an increase in participation over the last few years, with the most populated age range, 25-34 years old, accounting for about 2.3 million players.
One of the group's most recent newcomers is 81-year-old Barbara "Bobbi" Maldonado Forner, who graduated from ASU in 1965 and has been a season ticket holder for Sun Devil football since 1968. She taught physical education at Sunnyslope High School for 35 years and has always enjoyed staying active, which led her to several of Ability360's events.
"It's wonderful," Maldonado Forner said. "In fact, I was just golfing at Encanto (Park) with that group this morning. They do a ride and row with bicycles, and the rowing on Tempe Town Lake, and three weeks ago I went skiing."
In 2021 Forner contracted West Nile Virus from a mosquito bite, leaving her partially paralyzed from the waist down. While Forner is still new to the adaptive lifestyle, she fully embraces it.
"I do tennis on Monday night, and then today was the golf and the pickleball, and then I play softball with the big 16-inch ball," Forner said. "I just try to stay active."
One of the reasons pickleball translates so well as an adaptive sport is because of the equipment available. In the adaptive version, suction cups are specifically made to be placed at the end of the paddle handle so balls can be picked up from a sitting position. There are also ball retrievers, which act as tubes so players can collect and store several balls at a time without having to bend over.
Almost every event hosted by Ability360 includes adaptive equipment like this, and it's all part of the independent living center's mission to help participants regain aspects of life that previously seemed to be lost for good.
Will Osborne, a sports journalism student at ASU, interned on the marketing side of Ability360 in 2024. Osborne's time there opened his eyes to the world of adaptive sports and gave him an in-depth look at what Ability360 does for its members.
"The events at Ability360, the many that I did, they were all really well organized and they really were focused on making sure that they were adaptive, not only for people with disabilities but people of all ages and groups," Osborne said. "It's a very inclusive place. It really is a welcoming place to go."
In Forner's case, Ability360 has made it possible for her to continue to do what she loves.
"(Ability360 is) so encouraging and helpful," Forner said. "They want people to come out and be involved. I don't know what I would have done, being so active and not being able to do anything, without 360."
Edited by Henry Smardo, Sophia Braccio, Tiya Talwar and Natalia Jarrett.
Reach the reporter at holtzingerethan@gmail.com and follow @EthanZinger6 on X.
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Ethan is a sophomore studying sports journalism. This is his first semester at The State Press. He has also worked at Blaze Radio.
