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       Pickleball, the fastest-growing sport in America, requires quick reflexes and good hand-eye coordination, but securing a slot to play at the first-ever National Mall of Pickleball also required a lot of luck. When slots for the three-day event opened up Thursday at noon, they filled up within two minutes.

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       From Sept. 28 to 30, nine courts will pop up at the JFK Hockey Fields by the Lincoln Memorial, and the rush to fill the 209 slots reflects a boom that in recent years has spread the pickleball gospel from retirement communities to urban tennis courts to high-stakes championships.

       Aided by the pandemic, when people had time and incentive to try new outdoor activities, pickleball participation nearly doubled in 2022, increasing by 85.7 percent in a year and by 158.6 percent over three years, according to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association.

       The event on the Mall will include celebrity matches, a rec league tournament, pickleball clinics and a D.C. Pickleball Team showcase. (There will also be some walk-up opportunities for players who weren’t able to sign up before 12:02 p.m. on Thursday.)

       The Mall and its surrounding areas have been home to games such as hockey, volleyball and softball, said Catherine Townsend, president and CEO of the Trust for the National Mall, which is holding the event along with Humana, a health care company.

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       The interest in signing up for the event “exceeded our expectations,” she said. “It’s just a testament to the excitement and the national feeling. You have the pleasure of playing with the backdrop of the monuments. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

       Membership in the Washington DC Pickleball, a nonprofit that promotes and organizes the game in the District, has ballooned from 150 to 1200 in the past four years, said Scott Parker, the organization’s managing director. Two players from the club will participate in a game at the event.

       For urban areas like D.C., the challenge is not attracting pickleball players but finding places to play, Parker said. “I think it’s nice to build awareness of it,” he said. “But frankly … we don’t have a problem stimulating demand at this point; it’s like a daily tsunami.”

       Part of that tsunami was evident Friday morning at the Palisades Recreation Center in Northwest Washington. Its tennis courts now serve a dual purpose, with blue lines demarcating the boundaries for pickleballers, who play there Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings.

       As cicadas chirped in the trees overhead, five doubles games were underway, the thwock-thwock of the perforated plastic balls punctuated by players calling out the score or groaning when their ball hit the net.

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       Dee Matthews, 75, started playing in 2019 when she was in Colorado for the summer. When she returned, Parker, who is a neighbor, encouraged her to join the club; she is now its social director.

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       She recalled how the Palisades group kept playing outdoors through the pandemic rather than moving to indoor courts.

       “It didn’t matter if it was snowing,” she said. “We were wearing masks out here.” Now, they play outdoors year-round.

       The players on Thursday spanned the generations. “We’ve got people who are 80, 81, 82, and you can still play it when you’re that old because you don’t have to run,” Matthews said.

       Dan Breslow, 23, began his pickleball career in New Jersey and started playing at Palisades six weeks ago, after moving to the District to start a new job. Now, four days a week, he walks an hour each way from his home in Georgetown to play.

       “It’s a good way to stay active and … the barrier to entry is really low,” he said. “I just showed up here one day with no prior connection, and everyone was extremely welcoming.”

       The game is known to foster friendships. “It’s a super social sport and it’s a good way to meet people,” said Andrea Miano, 58, of Northwest Washington. “I’ve met good friends.”

       Alex Levin, 57, of Cabin John, Md., who had just finished playing doubles with Miano, said he often plays for two to three hours and plans to participate in the club’s tournament at Turkey Thicket on Sept. 23 and 24.

       The event on the Mall sounded fun too. But when he heard it was all full, he shrugged.

       “Well then, I guess I’m not going.”

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