This intramural sport has nothing to do with eating pickles, but is a combination of pingpong, tennis and badminton that has been around for more than 20 years — it’s pickleball.

Pickleball got its name from a family dog named “Pickles” that would hide a ball in the bushes. It was first called Pickle’s ball.

Tuesday night at State Gym, the first night of tournament play proved to be quite interesting. Many players had their game faces on throughout the entire match. Shoe squeaks, strategy tips and the sounds of wooden paddles filled the gym during all of the games. Some of the players had droplets of sweat running down their faces.

This may not seem like an intense sport, but it is.

The players are extremely competitive; foul language shot out of the mouths of some of the players after missing crucial hits — hitting the ball out of bounds and not clearing the net are faults that definitely frustrated the more competitive players.

A lot of people play pickleball in their high school physical education classes.

Among them is Brett Buchheim, junior in finance, who said that being able to play competitively against other people is what he likes most about the game.

“I played for the first time my junior year in high school,” Buchheim said. “This is my fifth year playing. I like playing intramural sports competitively.”

“For some reason we get 50 to 60 people who want to play,” said Garry Greenlee, intramural coordinator. “But this is probably one of the very few things that I haven’t played.

“We just kept it going because they wanted to do it. It’s cheap to do because I have the badminton nets already,” Greenlee said. “I have the pickleball from Wiffle ball games. We just buy the paddles and offer another game.”

Pickleball is played with wooden paddles and a Wiffle ball.

The tournament matches were best two out of three games to 11 points. The court dimensions are identical to a doubles badminton court, but the net is hung closer to the ground than it is in badminton.

Pickleball player Derick Tallman, junior in management information systems, said he uses his tennis skills to help him win games. Tallman formed the tennis club two years ago.

“My skills pretty much come from tennis,” Tallman said. “I try to get out on the court every day and play. I pretty much formed the tennis club with some friends of mine. We go out and hit a lot. That’s where I get my skills from.”

Tallman was introduced to pickleball when he was younger and became interested again when he got to college.

“I played once when I was in middle school and stopped playing until I came to college,” Tallman said.

Doubles will be played in the spring and those games always have a large turnout.

“It can be competitive and fun. It’s a good workout all around,” Tallman said.