Pickleball actually draws a lot from the rules and regulations of badminton. In the summer of 1965, Washington state Congressman Joel Pritchard and his friend Bill Bell came home after a round of golf to find their families bored and with nothing to do. So, the two friends reinvented badminton, using the court on Pritchard’s property, and created what we now know as pickleball. The name is said to come either from the sport reminding Pritchard’s wife of a "pickle boat" in crew (where oarsmen are chosen from different boats, much like the mix of sports in pickleball) or after the family dog, Pickles.