Eden Prairie’s Chad Flynn a smashing success in pro pickleball

Like many others during COVID-19, professional pickleball player Chad Flynn discovered a new passion. For him, it just happened to stem from an old one.

“I used to play a lot of (United States Tennis Association) tennis,” he said. “And I couldn’t play at Life Time (Fitness) because they were closed.”

Instead of playing tennis outdoors, Flynn, 54, decided to try something else.

“I just said to my wife, ‘Hey, I’m going to go down to the local courts and try pickleball,'” he said.

That decision a few years ago has paid off for the Eden Prairie resident. He started playing singles and was soon entering tournaments. In his first tournament, he finished fourth. Things only got better from there, as he rose as high as No. 3 in the world senior singles rankings.

Origins of the sport

According to USA Pickleball, the national governing body of the sport, pickleball was invented in 1965 because of bored children. 

After golfing one day near his home on Bainbridge Island, Washington, state Rep. Joel Pritchard came home to find his 13-year-old son complaining about having nothing to do. Pritchard and his friend Bill Bell suggested badminton, but they couldn’t find the shuttlecocks. They improvised, grabbing a perforated plastic ball and table tennis paddles. The first game of pickleball was played that day. Soon, Pritchard and Bell asked their friend Barney McCallum to help them, and the three improved the equipment and came up with the rules.

Today, pickleball is played with lightweight paddles that are bigger than table tennis paddles but smaller than tennis rackets. The ball is made of hard plastic. The net is three feet high at the posts and 24 inches high in the middle. The object, like tennis, is to get the ball over the net so that your opponent can’t return it or commits a fault.

And the name “pickleball”? That came from Pritchard’s wife, Joan. The combination of sports thrown together at the game’s origin reminded her of “pickle boats,” the term used in rowing for boat crews made up of rowers left over from other boats.

Finding a love for the sport

As Flynn played more, he found a passion for the game.

“My wife (Twin Cities Public Television’s Mary Lahammer) is a television anchor/reporter. She just loves her job,” he said. “Every day, she has a smile on her face.

“I’ve never had that with anything, really. But I do with pickleball.”

When the National Pickleball League (NPL), a doubles league for players 50 years of age and older, was established in late 2022, Flynn decided to register to be eligible to be drafted by the league. He was chosen in the inaugural draft by the Indy Drivers. The first season didn’t go too badly for Flynn — the Drivers won the league championship.

Not surprisingly, Flynn says winning the team championship and reaching No. 3 in the senior singles rankings are the two accomplishments of which he is proudest so far in his career.

No repeat title, but an eye toward the future

The NPL season consists of six weekends of matches from May to October in cities around the country. This year’s championship weekend was in Cincinnati.

The Indy Drivers couldn’t win a second straight NPL title, finishing 10th in the season-ending championship weekend matches. The Boca Raton Picklers from Florida won this season’s championship.

Still, Flynn enjoyed the season and the bonds the Drivers formed.

“This year, I’m happy with our team and with the friendships we’ve made,” he said. “Our whole team kind of feels like a family.”

Flynn plans to return to the NPL next year as he works to build on the growth he’s seen in his own game.

“My doubles game has really stepped up,” he said.

That it has.

After the NPL season ended, Flynn won a professional senior doubles tournament on a different tour, securing a gold medal with partner Gonzalo Petschen at the Professional Pickleball Association’s Veolia Milwaukee Open on Nov. 17.