Copyright timesnownews
The Global Pickleball Federation’s (GPF) Community Development Committee has partnered with "Pickleball for Good" to make pickleball more accessible across the world. The crowdfunding effort, called "Operation PaddleLift", is aimed at covering shipping, customs, and duties costs, as well as “other challenges that hinder the delivery of essential pickleball equipment to remote regions across the globe.” To kick-start the initiative, 100 paddles, donated by various individuals, have already been shipped to GPF members in Argentina, Oman, Ukraine, and Malawi. Additional funds will go toward kits containing 20 paddles, four nets, and 40 balls. Ghana has successfully received kits already. “Our push for grassroots development of pickleball in Ghana has been limited due to equipment,” said Dr. Kwabena Akufo, Founder, Ghana Pickleball Association. With the kits, “we were enabled to expand to more regions in Ghana that will help us in our drive toward formal recognition by the Ministry of Sports.” Each kit costs $1,000 to assemble and ship. The campaign is currently underway. Despite pickleball’s widespread popularity across the world, a gap remains, with players in several countries having little access to equipment. In least developed and developing countries, the shortage of equipment is acute, as players are often forced to play with desks functioning as makeshift nets, while a set of four paddles is shared among an entire village. Operation PaddleLift aims to raise critical funds to defray the high costs associated with shipping, import duties, and customs charges for pickleball equipment to remote, under-championed regions of the world. Every tax-deductible donation will go toward each Operation PaddleLift kit, containing 20 pickleball paddles, four pickleball nets, and 40 pickleballs.
