Last weekend, I was having a rather wild Friday night.

I was drinking wine with my friend, Emma, and listening to Sabrina Carpenter’s new album while talking life, love, and the woes of being two single women on dating apps. 

Emma is practically falling over in distress at the lack of eligible bachelors who are swiping right on her profile. 

“Well, let me see your profile,” I ask. And we swipe through her humorous prompts and witty responses, coupled with adorable, but not over the top images of her best features. And of course, her adorable springer spaniel. 

“I just don’t get how I can’t get dates,” she mentioned. It's a complaint I’ve heard from every single woman I’ve ever met in my adult life. “Men just don’t want to ask girls out anymore.”

Funny, I thought. I had quite a few men respond to one specific prompt on my profile and quickly schedule dates within a week. 

“You need to put pickleball on your profile,” I said.

She looks at me quizzically. 

On my profile, I have a picture of me playing pickleball because it’s a massive part of my life. I’m playing pickleball a couple times a week with friends and family, I’m regularly traveling to tournaments, and I’m constantly listening to the latest Pickleballers podcast. 

Unknowingly, I’ve been conducting an online dating experiment. And by far the most responses I’ve received on my personal dating profile is the pickleball picture - not the incredible selfie, the cute photo with my friends, or even the epic ski vacation action shot. 

Nope. It’s the picture of me in a two-piece blue court outfit with a JOOLA. 

 “When can we go play pickleball?”

“What’s your DUPR?” 

“Wanna be my doubles partner?” 

Ladies, the right kind of man loves pickleball. He might not be as good as Ben Johns, but he will set up a pickleball date and show up to the court early. When I match with a guy, by the afternoon he’s sending me the location of a nearby court and a scheduled time within the week. 

Now, when I actually go on the pickleball date, that’s when it’s clear if he’s my doubles partner for life (so far, not). But it’s getting me out on harmless, fun, and extremely entertaining dates. 

So why is pickleball so effective turning online connections into in-person meetups? Maybe because it’s a free activity? Go to a local court with gear you already own and nobody needs to spend money on dinner and drinks or waste too much time making small talk. 

Or maybe it’s because it’s a social activity where you both can get a little exercise, talk, and get to know each other between points to see if their competitive drive matches yours. 

Or maybe it’s because it’s the best sport and we’re all just collectively looking for a doubles partner for life. 

Either way, pickleball is landing dates efficiently. 

So, what did we do? The next day, we go to a nearby court and we take a very simple photo of Emma in a pink tennis dress, a paddle, and we put it on her profile. 

And guess what? She’s going on a pickleball date next week. 

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