Thwip. Thwock. Pop. Whack.

Past the El Camino College South Gymnasium, where the tennis courts are, the sound of whipping rackets and crackling plastic balls echoes energetically in the early morning air.

But it’s not tennis, it’s pickleball.

The sport is easy to tell apart from tennis because the courts are much smaller. One could fit three pickleball courts in a full tennis court.

Pickleball sounds different because, instead of using rackets and fuzzy rubber balls, it uses thick, short rectangular paddles and hollow, perforated hard-plastic balls, which makes a sharp pop when struck together.

El Camino College offers a pickleball class for beginner and intermediate levels. Students of both skill levels practice together from 9:35 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays with instructor Thomas Hazell at the ECC tennis courts.

Pickleball has kept its reign as the fastest-growing sport in the US for the past four years, according to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) Topline Participation Report for 2025.

The sport started in the mid 60s by businessman and congressman Joel Pritchard at his home on Bainbridge Island, near Seattle, Washington, who was looking for an activity to pass the time with his family, according to USA Pickleball.

Rackets are more commonly made from graphite, fiberglass or carbon fiber now, however when the sport first began they were wooden paddles similar to those used in ping pong.

“The popularity kind of spread out to [ECC], I’m really glad that a lot of people are starting to come out. Since this is the second semester, there has been a huge growth in the number of students that have joined the class,” sociology major and pickleball student Jagger Tavai, 21, said

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the participation rate in pickleball grew drastically by 40% between 2019 and 2021, according to the Journal of Student Research.

“Right out of COVID, social distancing was a thing. Pickleball is kind of a sport where you can be distant at the same time while playing the game, just hitting the ball with the paddle,” Tavai said.

The class was officially added as a physical education course for the fall 2024 semester and has been continuously offered since with the exception of the spring 2025 semester.

“The general goal is for them is to learn the game of pickleball, develop the skills necessary for them to be very competitive of pickleball and get getting experience,” instructor Thomas Hazell said.

Hazell said that practices usually consist of serve practice, different shot drills, ground strokes and practice games.

“I know a lot of people are not very familiar with the sport, but Coach Hazell did a really good job with executing the instructions and just allowing people to be inclusive with one another and just to have fun,” childhood education major and pickleball student Lata Lameta, 28, said.

Lameta said the sport is very inclusive.

“It doesn’t matter the age, it doesn’t matter your background in sport like learning pickle ball is something that is very … interesting to learn,” Lameta said.

Since its origin, pickleball has become what Pritchard intended the sport to be, “a game the whole family could play together.”

For the students taking the class, it is not just a means of exercise.

“It’s not just a sport,” Tavai said. “But something you can be social with like making friends, new relationships…exercise. You’re being social. You’re having fun.”