CANTON — In 1891, James Naismith, a physical education teacher at a YMCA in Springfield, Mass., wanted to keep his students occupied and fit during class.

So, he nailed a peach basket to an elevated track about 10 feet above the floor, and thus the origins of a new sport called basketball began.

In much the same way, a widely-growing, yet still obscure from the mainstream, sport of pickleball was formed.

According to the website of the sport’s sanctioning body, the United States of America Pickleball Association, pickleball’s origins date back to 1965.

That summer, Joel Pritchard, a U.S. Representative from Washington, came home after playing a round of golf one day. There was nothing to do to pass the time, but the family had an old badminton court on the property. Without a full set of rackets — the equipment they did have was damaged — they sawed off the shafts of the rackets and used a perforated plastic ball, similar to a whiffle ball.

After the rackets were ineffective, they created four wooden paddles and created a new game with rules similar to those of badminton, though they found that the ball bounced well on the asphalt court, so the net was lowered to 36 inches.

Pickleball’s name came from the Pritchard family dog, Pickles. The dog would often hide in the bushes during games, but would then chase after balls and take off with them. The dog chased after the balls as if they were his, and so they named the game after the dog.

Tom Earley, and his wife, Ann, brought the sport to Cherokee County after seeing it played at a resort on a two-month vacation in Arizona. The Earleys were both avid tennis players at the time and brought their tennis rackets with them on vacation.

Their plans for recreation changed, however, after they saw a game of pickleball.

“We took our tennis rackets there and were going to be there for two months,” Tom Earley said. “We planned on improving our tennis game, as well as watching some (baseball) spring training. We went out there for those two weeks, and said, ‘This is the reason to be out there for a couple more months.’

“We started playing tennis, and probably started playing tennis for two to three days. Then, we started hearing the click and the clack of whatever was going on. We didn’t know what it was, but we heard all of these people whooping and hollering and having a good time.”

The Earleys decided then to find out for themselves what all of the fuss was about and found something that would change their lives.

“So, we went back there to watch these people paddling the ball and playing pickleball,” Tom Earley said. “Having played other racket-type sports, this is something that we thought we could try. They were extremely friendly. We’ve noticed over the years that people who play pickleball are much more friendly and invite you in and want you to participate. Tennis players are usually more reserved.”

Now, the Earleys have four pickleball courts set up on their backyard two tennis courts. The pickleball courts are striped off with blue tape over the top of the typical white tennis lines on the ground. There is a badminton net attached in the center of each court, with a much smaller catch net behind each end of the court.

The game itself is played on a court that is 20 feet wide and 44 feet long, similar to the size of a doubles badminton court, and it is scored similarly to ping pong. Points are accrued by the serving side only when the opponent fails to return a serve or volley. If the serving side similarly fails, they lose serve, but no point is scored.

The game ends when one side reaches 11 and is ahead by at least two points.

Unlike both ping pong and volleyball, there is a 6-foot line on each side of the court that denotes a “non-volley zone,” where the ball can’t be played unless it bounces first, unlike the rest of the court. The rule is put in place to even the chances for the non-serving side.

Outside of the dynamics of the game itself, there is also a much more social, inviting nature to the sport that draws old athletes and players who may not enjoy sports at large. Though pickleball is mostly played by those over the age of 50, the game has also been introduced to schools in physical education classes across the county.

“One of the things we do is have potlucks,” said Bill Hess, about his group’s game in the Lake Arrowhead neighborhood. “It’s even more of a social thing because people come around the table with their wine, and some of the wives will come and sit around. Then, eventually, they will come to a court and hit the ball back and forth.

“It’s just a very relaxed atmosphere. You come to play, but playing is just part of it.”