Connie McHugh, owner of Airport Fitness and the mother of pickleball on Martha’s Vineyard, was hanging a lamp over her kitchen table when she received the call that would lead to her very first film credit.

It was Mary Steenburgen, award-winning actor and seasonal Vineyarder. Ms. Steenburgen had a request for Ms. McHugh: Would she train her in pickleball for a movie?

The movie, The Dink, was released this July and features Jake Johnson, Ben Stiller and Ed Harris — and Connie McHugh, credited as “pickleball trainer for Mary Steenburgen.” The comedy follows a washed-up tennis pro (played by Jake Johnson) who turns to pickleball to save his country club and earn his father’s respect. In the movie, he befriends Mary Steenburgen’s character, a recent divorcée and avid pickleball player, becoming her pickleball partner-in-crime.

“In some ways, pickleball is booming,” said Ms. McHugh. “The first people to really make a...general run film for the American public about pickleball, you know, kudos to them for getting in on the ground floor.”

Ms. McHugh has been playing pickleball with Ms. Steenburgen for a few summers. In the summer of 2024, Ms. Steenburgen turned up at Airport Fitness with her husband, actor Ted Danson, for pickleball lessons. The next summer, it was a family affair, with Danson-Steenburgen kids and grandkids playing, and Ms. McHugh rotating around giving everyone tips.

Pickleball craze has hit the Vineyard. — Ray Ewing

In the fall of 2024, Ms. McHugh and her husband traveled to California for a week to get Ms. Steenburgen prepared for her part in The Dink.

“She thought it was pretty lighthearted, and it is,” said Ms. McHugh. “But she wanted to make sure she could play her role literally and be the pickleball person on the court.”

Ms. McHugh and her husband spent the mornings with Ms. Steenburgen and Marc Evan Jackson, a friend of Ms. Steenburgen’s. They worked on finessing shots, gameplay, and a bit of strategy.

Although Ms. Steenburgen has a body double in the film, “she was actually able to play a lot more than they expected she could, which she was really proud of,” said Ms. McHugh.

After the film was released on Apple TV on July 24, Ms. McHugh sat down with a dozen family members in Wisconsin to watch it together. She knew Ms. Steenburgen’s pickleball style well enough to tell which shots were her playing, and which were the body double.

“She’s a little fireball,” Ms. McHugh said of Ms. Steenburgen’s pickleball play. “She’s a good student — you learn acting and stuff like that — she’ll take cues.”

Ms. McHugh has been a tennis professional for decades, and first turned to pickleball 15 years ago, well ahead of the American pickleball craze. She started by marking out pickleball courts with blue painter’s tape.

After attending the second international pickleball conference in 2020 to get certified as a pickleball professional, the lines became permanent.

“I came back and first bought all wooden paddles. That’s how long ago this was,” said Ms. McHugh. “Now you wouldn’t cut it with a wooden paddle to save yourself, you know what I mean? So we were at the real beginning.”

Pickleball has exploded around the country, appealing especially to older adults who want to keep moving and stay social with sports in a low-impact way, she said. Racket skills transfer to pickleball, but it’s easy to pick up even if someone is new to athletics.

In the last few years, the sport has increased in popularity among young adults and kids.

“Isn’t that cool? Isn’t our goal to have more people of all ages having fun, moving around?” Ms. McHugh said.

That’s the conclusion The Dink reaches too, despite hesitation and ridicule from Jake Johnson’s character, among others. Pickleball is described as “goofy” and silly, and the pickleball enthusiasts face backlash for trying to get more courts at the country club.

Still, pickleball comes out on top at the end of the film, and it even has tennis legends Andy Roddick and John McEnroe getting in on the action.

Ms. McHugh said she played pickleball again with Ms. Steenburgen this June. In just a short while the actor has gone from basics to playing back-to-back doubles with and against her coach.

“Kudos to Mary for picking up something in her 70s,” said Ms. McHugh. “That takes a lot of gumption. It’s pretty darn cool that people are willing to take on new things in their lives — and it’s pickleball. It’s a lot of fun. The more the merrier.”