Bob Smith's involvement in his new passion came after his wife found herself in a bit of pickle.

Now, two-and-a-half years after saving his beloved from a key-related dill-ema, the president of the Mount Pickleball Club has learned to relish this novel sport.

'One day she went down and locked her keys in the car so rang me to bring the spare set,” Bob explains.

'So I went down and I thought to myself: ‘I have come all this well I may as well have a try at this new game'. 'I have been playing ever since.”

For the uninitiated, pickleball is a racquet sport mash-up. A hybrid of tennis, badminton and ping-pong, the sport can be played indoors and outdoors.

It was reportedly invented in Bainbridge Island, USA, in 1965. With their children bored to distraction, three inventive dads created a new sport using anything they could get their hands on. With access to a badminton court, table tennis paddles, a wiffle ball, and not much else, a new sport was born.

It was from America that pickleball was pushed onto Bob's wife. A Stateside visitor introduced the game at a local badminton session.

From those humble beginnings, the Mount Pickleball Club has grown, with success following.

During Waitangi Weekend, the club twisted the top open on a jar full of medals at the Wellington Pickleball Cup – winning 10 medals from the competition, including four golds.

'We had a fantastic time,” says Bob.

'Really good to watch a final and see both teams in being from the Mount. We did really well. We are all very pleased with ourselves.”

The Mount club was the most successful club at the competition with the most successful individual player, Sue Wild, winning gold in the mixed and women's doubles.

Gay Blythe and Steve Brennan also secured gold medals while Alan Russell, Peter Clarke, and Bob also picked up medals.

'Sue already had a gold from the last tournament too so she is getting quite the collection,” says Bob.

'I think in the Supers, the over-60s, we have definitely got some of the best players in the country; I think we showed that.”

The Mount Pickleball Club now has about 90 members, meeting four times a week at various locations across Tauranga.

Bob is hopeful of an open tournament being held in the Bay of Plenty, although is realistic enough to realise that might not be until 2023, due to Covid-19. But the success they tasted at the weekend can only help their ongoing growth.

'We are on the up and we have had enquiries from people during the last few days talking about pickleball,” says Bob.

'So we are expecting numbers to keep coming up.”