DALLAS, TX – Welcome to spring! The cold weather months are officially behind us (though I'm writing this wearing a sweater) and Daylight Savings has jumped ahead to get an extra hour of sunlight every day.

Which means, an extra hour to play pickleball.

Players across the country are slowly swapping their indoor pickleballs for their outdoor ones and hitting their outside courts again to soak up the sunshine and get some vitamin D.

Every spring, a new assortment of seasonal hobbies dominates American culture, including classics like gardening, hiking, and tennis, basically anything that gets people back outside in the warm weather before the summer heat kicks in.

But a new pastime is front and center again this spring – pickleball.

Pickleball is the perfect hobby to pick up this time of year because it gets you moving outdoors.

The vast majority of people work in an office setting or from home, sitting at a desk or table, and pickleball can provide relief from that 9-to-5 monotony with a little exercise and social interaction.

According to the National Recreation and Park Association, spending 20 to 30 minutes outside reduces stress levels. And I don’t know about you, but sometimes I need a de-stressor after a long day of work. Playing pickleball outside can be an excellent solution.

Americans also tend to have a more sedentary lifestyle due to their jobs requiring them to sit at their desks for the majority of the day. Moving around after clocking out is important.

Pickleball is the perfect physical hobby to turn the tables on that sedentary lifestyle and have fun doing it.

Pickleball is all about community, too, because you simply can't play alone, so pick up a paddle, call a friend, and go dink around in the beautiful weather. 

Trend-setting brands and companies are anticipating a boom in pickleball popularity for spring, too. Target offers an affordable pickleball collection in their dollar section, and stores like Anthropologie and Free People have released pickleball paddles, accessories, and athletic wear specifically for racket sports in their spring launches. 

Now that the weather is nicer and the days are longer, it’s the perfect time to play more pickleball... especially on a day when the sky is that perfect, cloudless blue and the birds are chipping along to the beautiful sound of pickleballs being hit back and forth.

Now, go hit the courts with a spring in your step!