Pickleball has experienced a surge in popularity among youth in recent years. The sport has a reputation of being an activity for older folks; however, recently more and more people have been gravitating toward pickleball as a recreational activity. The trend is evident through the creation of the Pickle-Pong (Pickleball and Ping-Pong) Club at this school. 

According to Stephanie Tan, president and co-founder of the Pickle-Pong club, “Many other sports take serious commitment, but some people just want to play casually. A lot of people make fun of pickleball because it’s so easy, but that’s what makes it so fun, in my opinion. The fact that it’s so accessible. You don’t have to play for a long time to have a good game.” 

Pickleball player Dylan Heagy echoed this sentiment, and said, “I chose to play pickleball because it seemed like a sport that was pretty fun to play casually and it wasn’t too hard to pick up. I really enjoy playing with my friends, the game is pretty easy to play and the rules aren’t super difficult.”

It’s interesting to observe that not only is pickleball utilized as a fun recreational activity, similar to the Holiday Pickleball Festival, tournaments are constantly being used as a method to raise money for meaningful causes. 

Tan and Heagy have competed in a number of different pickleball tournaments. Tan said, “Recently, my mom and I have been playing on the World Pickleball Tour (WPT). We placed first in our division, so we’re going to go to the National WPT tournament in Georgia this January. That’s more like a serious competition.” She said, “[My mom and I] have also gone to a few tournaments for fun at places that are near us when we have time. Oftentimes, registration fees are steep because they’re raising money for a charity, which ultimately makes it really rewarding in the end.”

Heagy competed in a pickleball tournament as well, raising money for Be the Change Indy. 

He said, “I was paired up with my friend Jack Sims. A lot of my other friends were there too, so it was pretty fun being in the tournament and playing against them. But, both me and my friend had pretty minimal experience in pickleball, so we lost the first round. It was still pretty fun having that friendly competitiveness when we played.”