'Two Athletes + One Obscure Sport + No Life' = Guinness World Record Attempt

“Two athletes + one obscure sport + no life = Guinness World Record.”

This was the motto printed on the shirts of Justin Lawrence and Jeffery Baker, two New Port Richey Parks and Recreation department employees attempting to set the Guinness World Record for longest game of pickleball.

What's pickleball? It's similiar to tennis, but it's played on a badminton sized court, with the net lowered to 34 inches at the center. It is played with a  plastic baseball, very much like a whiffle ball, but more dense. The paddles are made of wood or composite, and the volley is at the pace of a ping-pong game.

To be eligible for a World Record, the pickleball game had to be witnessed by a total of 16 witnesses. Three witnesses were required to be at the scene for the entire game.

Lawrence and Baker set out on this quest at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 25, at the and they finished at 9:40pm on Sunday, June 26. They were allowed to take 5-minute breaks after 60 minutes of play, but they weren't required to take them.

“After about three hours, we realized there’s a reason for the breaks," Baker said. "Your body can’t handle it."

During the breaks, the guys would eat peanut butter, bagels, meat, bananas and protein bars.

“Every time I ate a banana, I felt a lot better,” Baker said.

They drank Gatorade and water. But not just regular water: Coconut water.

“The number one thing I was happy about is that we didn’t do any caffeine. All natural,” Lawrence said.

Between  3 a.m.-5 a.m on Sunday, the two grew tired. 

“Literally, my eyes were closing and I was losing feeling,” Lawrence said. “It wasn’t even halfway in, and I was saying, 'We’re not gonna be able to do this,'  and then all of a sudden around 6-6:30, I felt like a different person.”

Lawrence and Baker both say they started to wake up again when “people” started to show up at the NPR Rec Center, andthe sunlight crept back into the windows of the basketball court on which the two played. The rest of the game was somewhat manageable.

Then, as 8:30 p.m. rolled around, Baker and Lawrence got tired. They thought 8:45 p.m. would be their stopping point. But they were told they needed to play an hour longer to complete the full 24 hours of continuous play.

In the last minute of play, the spectators, supporters, and rec workers surrounded the court and cheered for the two. Champagne was popped and the supporters rushed the court and began showering Lawrence and Baker with the bubbly.

“This was definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” said Baker. “I underestimated it. I thought it would be a lot easier, but it wasn’t.”

Lawrence and Baker plan to send their world record submission to Guinness on Wednesday for consideration.