If you want a better understanding of pickleball's remarkable growth in the U.S. in recent years, the concept of sports data storytelling and visualization can help.

On Monday, SportsBall published a uniquely creative video post on Instagram featuring narration and illustrations that detail everything you need to know about pickleball continuing to explode in popularity across the country.

"Let's talk about the rise of pickleball in America," opened the narrator. "The latest SFIA (Sports and Fitness Industry Association) report just dropped tracking nationwide participation trends across sports, and the numbers for pickleball are wild."

Now, watch and learn.

SportsBall outlined some key numbers, courtesy of SFIA, to accompany the video:

- In 2019, 3.5 million people played pickleball. Five years later, that number is nearly 20 million. That’s 16 million new players, which means around 5% of the entire country has started to play the sport.

- Growth spans both casual and core players, and infrastructure is racing to keep up. Over 70,000 courts now exist nationwide, up 50% in just the past year, with megafacilities emerging in states like Florida, Arizona and California.

- Pro leagues are scaling too. Major League Pickleball and the PPA Tour now share 150+ athletes, sponsorships are up 40% annually, and YouTube viewership rose 32% last year.

If you needed a visual aid to make better sense of the numbers, this post definitely has you covered.

Talk about a sport trending in the right direction.