On the ever-expanding plane of club sports, it’s arguable that none among the dozens of niche masses have risen as meteorically as pickleball. For a game that can be explanatorily boiled down to tennis-lite, with paddles and hollow balls in place of rackets and the standard neon felt, the unprecedented growth can only be explained by the passion of those who play it. The game has become popular enough to host a national championship tournament as well as oodles of offshoots in local parks and on college campuses. Pickleball is a full-on phenomenon nationwide.