Photo by Kim North Wheeling twin teenagers, Ziva, left, and Zoey Lawson have been unbeatable during their brief Pickleball careers. The 13-year-olds recently captured the W.Va. State Championship Women’s Doubles Skill 3.5 in the 49-and-under division inside the Hazel and J.W. Ruby Community Center Sports Complex at Mylan Park in Morgantown. They won eight matches.

WHEELING — Pickleball is one of the fastest growing sports in the world. A pair of twin sisters from Wheeling are rising to the top of the sport, and would like to be considered ambassadors of the sport for area youth.

Ziva and Zoey Lawson, 13-year-old daughters of Mark and Sasha Lawson, have only been playing the sport for a little more than one year, but they’ve caught on very quickly.

“Our dad and his dad played racquetball when they were younger. Our dad found out what pickleball was and the more he started playing, the more we saw how fun it was and decided to give it a try,” Ziva said of their introduction to the sport.

The teen-age duo recently competed in the West Virginia State Pickleball Championships at the Hazel and J.W. Ruby Community Center Sports Complex inside Morgantown’s Mylan Park. After eight matches last Saturday, they were crowned the Women’s Doubles Skill 3.5 champions in the 49-and-Under age division.

“There was a junior event scheduled, but nobody else signed up, so they moved us up to the women’s division,” Ziva explained. “We were a little nervous, but we thought we could do it and just try to place.”

They exceeded their own goals with eight victories.

In pool play, they won by scores of 15-10, 15-11, 15-13 and 15-2. They prevailed 15-6 in their semifinal match before losing the first set in the best-of-3 championship round, 11-9. However, they rebounded like true champs, winning 11-4 and 11-4 over Tami Gregg and Rachel Virgili.

“We have a private court at home that we practice on all the time,” Zoey, the oldest by five minutes, said. “Sometimes we play singles, but mostly just doubles.”

They also played in the Easter Extravaganza in Morgantown, winning the Women’s Doubles 2.5 Skill division.

“There aren’t many kids that play pickleball, especially around here,” Ziva noted. “We feel if we can beat the older competition, we can beat the kids our age.”

Pickleball was invented in 1965 as a children’s backyard game in the United States, on Bainbridge Island in Washington State. After its introduction, pickleball became a popular sport in the Pacific Northwest and gradually grew in popularity elsewhere. For four years in a row, 2021 through 2024, the sport was named the fastest-growing sport in the United States by the Sports and Fitness Industry Association. By 2024, it was estimated there were 19.8 million participants in the United States, a 311% growth since 2021.

It is similar to tennis, but on a smaller scale. It is more comparable to ping pong (table tennis).

With the sport continuing to grow, the twins hope that it becomes a sanctioned school sport in the near future.

“We’re just trying to get scholarships to college for pickleball,” Zoey added. “Hopefully, we can play in high school some day.”

Until then, they have another goal in mind.

“We are also trying to get on the Junior Tour, or even the national tour,” Ziva said. There is no age limit to turn pro, according to their mother, Sasha.

The eighth graders at Triadelphia Middle School also play volleyball.

“They practice pickleball with the top men in the area and the top men around the Pittsburgh area,” Sasha Lawson said. “They are always playing.”

The twins are coached by their father Mark Lawson, Cody Frazier and Brian Law. They are members of the Ohio Valley Pickleball Club, which plays outdoors on the courts at Oglebay Park and Patterson Park in Elm Grove.

Currently they are taking pro lessons at LevelUp Pickleball Camps in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.

“It feels really good to play pickleball,” Zoey said. “Anybody can play. You don’t have to be real athletic, it’s just a fun sport to play.”