Photo by Marco Calderon
Pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in America over the last four years according to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association. Poised to become the pickleball mecca of the Northeast is the St. Luke’s SportsPlex on Crackersport Road in Allentown.
“Pickleball is this wonderful sport for all ages and abilities,” says Mary Jo “MJ” Cambridge, Director of Operations for St. Luke’s SportsPlex and Pickleball Lehigh Valley. Thousands of people in the Lehigh Valley have flocked to the 75,000-square-foot facility which includes 25 indoor courts and a 22-court, three-acre outdoor area. “People are coming together not just to play the sport, but to make friends and become a community at this amazing facility.”
Cambridge is a Bethlehem Catholic graduate who worked for the U.S. Tennis Association and has fond memories of playing tennis when the facility was the West End Racquet Club. For her, the best part of pickleball is watching people connect. “It is changing people’s lives physically, mentally and emotionally. What a gift to us all.”
She hopes to land a Pro Pickleball Association event in 2025.
Published as part of Faces of the Valley in the May 2024 edition of Lehigh Valley Style magazine.
