Pickleball — a fast-growing paddle sport that combines elements of tennis, badminton and ping-pong — has swept the nation and a strong community has embraced the game in San Diego.
But as more people pick up their paddles and hit the courts, players want to be represented.
That’s why some of them created their own pickleball emoji and are pressing Apple to include it in the upcoming iOS 19.
Apple offers over 30 sports-related emojis, covering everything from popular sports such as basketball (?) to more niche sports like lacrosse ( ?).
According to TeachMe.To, nearly 20 million Americans played pickleball last year, and 36.5 million tried it at least once — yet Apple has not introduced an emoji dedicated to the popular paddle sport.
Nick O’Brien wants to change that.
The president and chief operating officer of TeachMe.To, which helps users book private lessons in a variety of activities – yes, including pickleball – has spearheaded a petition to Apple on Change.org to approve the company’s design for a pickleball emoji.
Aiming to gather 25,000 signatures, O’Brien contends that a dedicated emoji would boost the sport’s online visibility and give players a meaningful way to express their love for it.
“It’s the fastest growing sport in the U.S., and even more so, it has outsized growth here in San Diego and Southern California as a whole because you can play year-round and you’ve got a racket sports community here. But all these people, tens of millions of people, are using a ping pong emoji and tennis makeshift emojis every time they’re texting or tweeting about it,” O’Brien said.
“So it’s (the pickleball emoji) going to change the way people are able to actually communicate about the sport. Even obscure sports like curling or all those Olympic sports have an emoji. So, we think it’s finally time that pickleball gets recognized.”
In today’s digital world, emojis are what people rely on the most to express themselves online and build human connections behind a screen. Emojipeida reports that over 90% of the world’s online population uses emojis.
A pickleball player preparing to strike. (Photo courtesy of TeachMe.To)O’Brien stresses how the absence of a pickleball emoji forces players to fight an uphill battle just to be seen online. By having a paddle-ball emoji of their own, he says it will instantly validate the sport and ensure a language online that reflects the culture.
With the help of graphic designer Michael Celedonia, TeachMe.To has presented Apple with its own design for the emoji, approved by the community itself.
This way, players can skip the confusion from combining a pickle (?) and ping pong (?) emoji and use for their own emoji, featuring the sport’s distinctive square paddle and yellow perforated ball.
Ultimately, O’Brien is hoping this small change will bring light to the pickleball community’s presence here in San Diego and around the globe. As someone who’s been playing the sport for five years, he says it’s about time pickleball is given the digital home that it deserves.
“It’s well over half of people who regularly use emojis daily in communication. So if they’re doing that and they’re playing pickleball, then they should want there to be a pickleball emoji to express themselves,” O’Brien said. “I would ask people if they’ve ever picked up a pickleball paddle or been on a pickleball court this year, they should help us get that.”
Since launching in mid-April, the petition has gathered over 50 signatures, with fellow pickleball players sharing their support online. To join TeachMe.To’s movement to push for an official pickleball emoji, sign their Change.org petition here.
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