Danni-Elle Townsend has been playing table tennis since she was six months old – and at a professional level for about half of her life. But the 21-year-old from Currumbin Waters on the Gold Coast has a new favourite sport: pickleball. And she’s not alone, as the American-made sport begins to really boom in Australia.

“It’s just a fun game,” says Townsend. “Anyone can pick up a racquet and play. It doesn’t matter your age or capabilities. I know a few people who play that are in wheelchairs.”

Townsend comes from a table tennis family – both her parents played at a national level – and she’s represented Australia around the world, competing in Portugal and Tunisia, and training in Japan. And, yes, her brothers used to hold her up so she could play as an infant, complete with a specially made paddle for her then-tiny hands.

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A couple of years ago, she started playing pickleball on the side with her mother and stepfather and quickly became hooked.

But how similar are the two sports? Pickleball has been described as a cross between tennis and table tennis, but it also has elements of badminton and volleyball. It was invented in the 1960s, combining bits and bobs of other games, including a carbon-fibre paddle and a wiffle ball.

“It wasn’t that easy transferring my skills from table tennis to pickleball,” she says. “I had to learn new skills. But when I get to the net I have skills that most players don’t, like movement and reflexes. Reflexes are hard to teach.”

The key dynamics of the two sports differ sharply, too. “You can only win a point when you’re serving,” Townsend says, “but the server is actually disadvantaged, unlike in tennis or table tennis. That’s the big difference. Your serve isn’t really an advantage, because you have to wait for the ball – you’re not allowed to get to the net straightaway. You serve from the baseline and then you have to let the next ball bounce, so you can’t serve and volley. And it’s an underhand serve.”

While the American game went pro in 1972, Australia’s National Pickleball League (NPL) only launched in late 2022 – but it’s grown exponentially since. It now runs two seasons annually across New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, and has found an important and like-minded partner in ahm health insurance – now the official sponsor of the National Pickleball League.

The health fund brings the same attitude to health insurance that pickleball brings to sport – offering straightforward cover without taking itself too seriously. And, as official sponsor, ahm shares the NPL’s goal of growing the sport in Australia, encouraging people to have fun while getting fit and healthy.

The cherry (or pickle) on top? Eligible ahm members can score a free six-month membership to the NPL, with perks like goodies and discounts so they can give the fun and inclusive sport a shot.

Townsend competed in both seasons last year, and she’s looking forward to doing the same in 2025. The first starts in mid-March, with 72 players competing across 18 teams. The NPL is working on deals with both broadcast and streaming outlets, so you’ll soon be able to see it on your TV screen (for now, you can watch the comp online). There’s big prize money to be won, plus a chance to enter the international competition.

So this isn’t just a casual bit of fun for Townsend – it’s a career.

“I do a lot of gym training on top of my pickleball training,” she says. “I like to train pretty much every day. If there’s rain, I’ll try to get even more practice in at the gym. I also do wall drills, hitting the ball against a wall and trying to get the foundations of fast hands and changing from forehand to backhand.”

But the main factor behind pickleball’s explosive growth remains the same: it’s a game for pretty much everybody.

“Anyone can play,” Townsend says. “And you’re in very close proximity to each other. So you can have a few beers and then play and banter with each other. No matter the skill level, you can have long rallies. The ball travels a little bit slower, so you have time to really load up and hit the ball.

“And it’s fun to try to hit each other,” she adds with a laugh. “That’s a part I really like. It’s either get out of the way or get hit.”

Townsend’s brothers, Wade and Kane, are both still table tennis pros; they’ve twice competed for Australia at the Commonwealth Games. But she thinks there’s room for them to become hooked on this quirky newer sport as well.

“I’m trying to convert them. We all love to play competitive sports, and pickleball has really brought us together again. We can all go and have a hit.”

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with ahm health insurance. The free six-month membership to the NPL is available to eligible ahm members with hospital only, extras only, hospital and extras, or ambulance only cover. To find out more, visit ahm.com.au/pickleball.