Central’s brand-new pickleball club kicked off with its first meeting at Knoch Park’s pickleball courts on Sept. 20.
The club meets every Wednesday at 3:30 on Knoch Park’s pickleball courts.
“I created pickleball club because I rarely had a big group to play pickleball with, and I [wanted] to connect with more people,” said club founder Andrew Deporter, a junior.
Pickleball has piqued interest in the past three years, and is now America’s fastest growing sport, according to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association’s Topline Participation Report.
The rules to pickleball are similar to tennis, except there’s a seven-foot zone where volleying (hitting the ball out of the air without letting it bounce) isn’t allowed, known as the kitchen.
“Pickleball is like if tennis, ping pong and racquetball had a baby,” said pickleball club’s sponsor Alyssa Sprovieri, a learning behavior specialist at Central.
The club is non-competitive, and focuses on playing casual pickleball games during meetings. All students are invited to attend meetings, regardless of skill level.
In the future, Deporter hopes to see the club grow into a more “tournament-based club.” He’s currently setting up competitions with a local pickleball company who started their own indoor pickleball leagues and courts.
“[I] would love to see more students interested in joining,” Sprovieri said. “Pickleball is a great way to stay active.”
