Pickleball was invented in 1965 by three middle-aged fathers in Washington state. One claimed they named the game after a family dog called Pickles who was with them at the time. It is a cross between tennis, ping-pong and badminton, played with a solid paddle and a perforated plastic ball and has a famously short learning curve. Steffi Pace brought the sport to Malta in August 2018 and founded St Andrews Pickleball school soon after. The sport has grown a lot in Malta since,