Pickleball might be the nation’s fastest-growing sport, but on a recent Monday afternoon at the Surf City courts it wasn’t so much the game itself that garnered the win, but the rapid willingness of players to explain the appeal of it to an unsure spectator.

“We never would have met each other if it wasn’t for pickleball,” said Kristen Talke, a Ship Bottom resident who had just wrapped up playing with three women to whom she referred. “Now, we’re friends.”