The way some people talk about pickleball, you might be a little hesitant to pick up a racket. (Is it a racket? It looks a little like a Wii remote attachment.) “Obsessed” is the word you hear, over and over, among the pickleballers. “Totally obsessed.”

“I think of it—it’s like a kid’s game,” says Horace Pinheiro, who dates his conversion to March. He has bought equipment, joined local pickleball Facebook groups, played at all the pickleball facilities near Bristol, where he lives, and made his wife his almost-daily pickleball partner (she's become nearly as fanatical as him).

At many of the events he’s attended, he says, he knew nobody and came alone. Other pickleball-hungry people did the same, and he wound up shuffled into a sweaty match with strangers drawn by the hypnotic cut and thrust of serve and return.

"Once you play one time, that's it," he says.

We’re talking on the platform court of the Cranston Street Hockey League at 625 Dyer Avenue. For over 30 years this nonprofit-owned and -operated rink has hosted big street hockey leagues, but in recent years hockey’s popularity has declined. To keep running the rink and complete much-needed upgrades, league president Robert Cushman is “diving right into pickleball.”

“It's not about making money, it's about serving the community,” Cushman says. “Having the community have a facility where they can come down and play at a reasonable cost.”

For three years in a row now pickleball has been the fastest growing sport in America. In March, Cushman created a Cranston Pickleball facebook group and announced the opening of five pickleball courts at the rink, available for reservation online. He has created a number of events, including open play, organized open play, clinics with pickleball coach Rob Gruber, and 8-week leagues with playoffs and prizes. (Registration for the leagues cost $120, or you can sub in any night for $20. There are men’s, women’s, and mixed leagues.) So far, 450 people have joined the facebook group.

In the 1990s, the outdoor rink was the center of an extremely strong street hockey culture in Rhode Island.

“We had 30 different teams and over 500 players in the heyday,” Cushman says.

Back then, there was running water, a concession stand, and permanent bathrooms. However, low membership has forced cutbacks, and with hockey’s continued downturn in Rhode Island, Cushman is looking elsewhere for the rink’s future.

“We're trying to generate some funds from pickleball, generate some funds from hockey, and what we would like to do is continue to maintain the facility,” he says.

The first priority is resurfacing the court, which has developed bumps and dead spots at one end.

“Part of it needs to be jackhammered out and the asphalt replaced and smoothened out,” Cushman says.

Next he would like to restore some of the former amenities, but that is a longer term goal. With the help of Rep. Charlene Lima, the League recently won a $3,000 government grant, $2,000 of which went to an AED machine.

With a new surface, the rink could host tournaments in street hockey, pickleball, and other sports, bringing in teams from all over the country to Cranston. He is also looking for businesses to advertise on the rink’s newly-renovated boards, and is eager to partner with local schools to offer them use of the facility.

The rink will continue to host street hockey, and in fact Cushman says his hockey players have been vocal advocates of the pickleball initiative, to help support the only deck hockey rink in town.

Cushman has been part of the nonprofit organization that owns and operates the rink for decades. Last year was their 40th anniversary, and they celebrated with a plaque commemorating four decades of “community service and excellence.”

“I just turned 60 years old last year, I don't know how much longer I'm gonna be doing this,” Cushman says. “I would love to leave a legacy of getting a new surface down, getting new courts down, getting better facilities down there, and turn this over to some people eventually that can keep this going for another 20 years.”

For that, though he admits he has never picked up a racket himself, he’s counting on the national obsession with pickleball.