Dinks On Tap: The Happy Hour Pickleball Podcast

Who Invented Pickleball? It wasn't named after the dog! What the Picklr Bankruptcy Means for Your Club, and Why the Pickleball Community Stays for Happy Hour

2026-10-22

How did a game three grown men made up on a badminton court, because a 13-year-old was bored, turn into the thing your group text runs on?

We found the kid who complained, and he still can’t believe it either.

In this episode, we get into our summer vault, full of conversations, stories, and a little pickleball drama we never got around to airing.

We sat down with Frank Pritchard, the bored kid himself, who can answer “When was pickleball invented?” because he was there when his dad, Bill Bell, and Barney McCallum made up the game on Bainbridge Island. We also cover Picklr’s Chapter 11 filing and the “is pickleball dying” headlines that followed, Genie Bouchard’s paddle-tap walkout and what it says about pickleball etiquette, and why the drinks after play keep the pickleball community together.

You’ll learn:

Why it's called pickleball, and the Pritchard family member who came up with the nameA firsthand account of who invented pickleball, from the teenager whose complaining started itWhat the original pickleball paddle was made of, and which founder designed itThe pickleball history most players don’t know, including how scoring and serving used to workWhy Frank took a 30-year break from the game, and what brought him backWhat Picklr’s Chapter 11 filing means for your local club, according to the general manager of the Picklr in DFWHow the pickleball business can struggle while the number of people playing keeps growingWhy Genie Bouchard skipped the paddle tap, and whether we think she was justifiedHow we won a tournament this summer by giving a screaming team a taste of its own medicine

This one’s for anyone who’s told the dog story at lunch with total confidence, and anyone who’s been on the wrong end of a scream across the net.

Cheers,

Casie and Lauren

Dinks on Tap

Let’s keep the conversation going! Connect with us:

Instagram: @dinksontap

Facebook: @DinksonTap

Website: dinksontap.com

No. of episodes

57

Latest episode

2026-10-22

Where can you listen?

Ever wondered what the big deal is about Pickleball?

Welcome to Dinks on Tap, where the pickleball paddle meets the margarita. We’re Casie and Lauren, your pickleball partners in crime, here to spill the beans on why pickleball is more than just a game. It’s that “more” part we’re so drawn to. That “more” part which we highly suspect is about rediscovering PLAY in our lives and bringing FUN into focus.

Let’s be clear, we’re not pros. We’re just a couple of recreational players who notice, marvel, and revel in the nuances that make up the juice to this fruit’s fine squeeze. In each episode we’ll look at the life breathing behind, within, underneath and alongside the game... That momentum shift on the court, (“Why am I so ‘off’ today?”), the Fourth Man Struggle (“Seriously, who else can we get to play?”), the camaraderie that turns strangers into friends (“Do you want to exchange numbers?”) and various other dynamics that go beyond the dink to make up the humor, heart, and hard-won wisdom we find between the lines.

So join us! Pour a glass, squeeze a lime, and let’s get under the hood of just how good it feels to rediscover PLAY in our lives.