When Ayala Land chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala’s family was visiting one of their daughters in the United States, they discovered pickleball, a fun and easy racquet sport that mixes elements of ping-pong, tennis and badminton.
“It's like the fastest-growing sport there, so my sister mentioned that it would be a great way for our family to come together,” says Mariana Zobel, the eldest of JAZA’s three daughters.
The Zobels are so enamored of pickleball, in fact, that they’ve decided to turn the Ayala Malls into “Picklemalls,” where Filipino families and friends can pick up and play the sport.
“The attraction of pickleball is you don't need to be an expert,” Mariana continues. “Anybody can pick up a paddle and just have at it and start having fun.”
JAZA’s family proved it when they played a pickleball exhibition at Greenbelt 5, where a green hardcourt had been set up overnight. While JAZA partnered with Mariana, his wife Lizzie teamed up with son Jaime Alfonso for a friendly doubles match.
It definitely looked easier than tennis, which I used to play as a kid, because the court is smaller, and the serve is underhanded, like in ping-pong, and whoever scores 11 points first wins. The Zobels looked quite athletic as they zoomed around the court — Mariana used to play competitive tennis in high school — but they were having so much fun that I wanted to join in and try my hand at it. All four displayed competitive spirit but not killer instinct — they weren’t smashing balls so their opponents couldn’t hit them — but playing as a bonding activity and for the pure joy of the sport.
“It's not about competition,” notes Mariana. “It's really about community. It promotes physical fitness, camaraderie and a sense of community. And what I'm personally most excited about is the fact that it's very inclusive. I've seen people of all ages, from grandparents to younger children, engage and enjoy the sport. It's much more forgiving than other racquet sports and some people ask, is it like tennis? Is it like paddle badminton? It's much easier to set up and get involved in. I've seen streets around the Philippines be converted to pickleball courts — it can really be actually drawn on any concrete, and there are a whole range of paddles at all different price points. So we feel that it's a unique sport that can bring lots of different types of people together. And in my eyes, this fits perfectly into what we want Ayala Malls to be: a place where everyone feels welcome and at home.”
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Philippine Pickleball Federation president Armando Tantoco said pickleball started in 1965 in the United States, becoming popular among senior citizens. “It's because it's that easy to play,” he says. “Then Millennials got ahold of the sport and it spread from the US to Canada then worldwide.”
Pickleball started in the Philippines when one of the badminton players in Tantoco’s group immigrated to the US, took up pickleball and became one of the champion players. “She’s a Cebuana and not even five feet tall,” Tantoco says, so if somebody like her can pick up a ball and excel in it, I think most Filipinos can excel in it.”
Toby’s Sports president Toby Claudio, a self-described “tennis snob,” claims, “Pickleball is my new favorite sport. And I’ve played many racquet sports. Over the years I've been from tennis, also badminton, and in our 45 years in business, we've seen so many sports come and unfortunately go. And I really am going out on a limb to say that I think pickleball will be the next big sport. The only problem is there are not enough dedicated pickleball venues, so that's why what Ayala is doing is really great for participation and hopefully growing the sport.”
Ayala Land head of marketing and communications Chrissy Roa affirms that Ayala Malls are now conducting regular pickleball clinics at places like Circuit Makati: “We're going to have a rotating or traveling pickleball clinic at Ayala Malls, and by November we're going to have an inter-mall tournament where all our customers can join.”
“I really want people to feel excited about coming back to the mall,” Mariana says. “We're doing that on the retail side, but I really feel that the mall can serve a different meaning for people in terms of community and activity, and so we're really happy that this is taking shape.”
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Market! Market! Mall already features pickleball courts for players. Details about pickleball clinics and events are on Ayala Malls’ social media pages.