Stream WZTV Fox 17 Newscasts LIVE starting with Fox 17 This Morning at 5am and News at 9pm. Nashville, TN - Hundreds of thousands of your hard-earned dollars are gone. Federal tax money has helped fund community sports in North Carolina under the Affordable Care Act. The sport most in the spotlight is Pickleball, something many in Tennessee haven't even heard of. Nicole Hobson is Pickleball Nashville's Club President and is ranked top in the country as a player. The growth of a sport she loves is not surprising considering how much it has in common with other popular sports. It's played very similar to ping pong and very similar to tennis. As a taxpayers, hearing about money spent to promote and fund the sport seems like a waste. The US House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee reports eight counties in North Carolina split a 400-thousand dollar grant funded by the healthcare law. A News-Times article states that one of those counties spent more than 12-thousand dollars to buy sports items for bocce ball, basketball, pingpong and pickleball. Hobson estimates there are probably about 100 players in Williamson County, where the sport seems among the most popular in Tennessee. Carteret County, North Carolina has about a third of the population and she couldn't imagine the need for that kind of money. The only equipment you need is a ball and paddle. You can even use a regular tennis court net, just lowered 2 inches. The game is a way to build comraderie in the local community, the place these players think the money should really come from. Hobson says, "Let's get prescription medication for people who can afford it. Let's get research into finding a cure for cancer. Let's get research in to hiv. That needs to be top priority of any government dollars, I feel." These players are proud to call Lipscomb their home court. They've just entered an agreement with the University-- an example of how sports can be supported within the local community.

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