Since its start in 1965, pickleball has amassed roughly 3 million players across the U.S. and 36.5 million worldwide. The activity took off during the pandemic and has been the fastest-growing sport for the past 3 years.
Pickleball is a combination of the sports badminton, ping pong, and tennis. The sport is played with paddles on a court consisting of a 34-inch high net and is accessible for almost everyone to play and enjoy.
The Highlands Pickleball League will soon be home to a few of these worldwide pickleball players. Starting in the spring of 2024, they will be hosting weekend tournaments. Once the team is approved, Rosalyn Brown and her 3 teammates will lead Highlands to pickleball victory.
The four friends curated the idea of this league at the start of 2024. Brown and the rest of her team will hold a meeting with the school board this coming Monday, the 5th of February to made the Highlands Pickleball League an official team.
Brown explained why she wanted to start the league. She said; “We wanted to start the league because we’re all in a group for school together and we all like pickleball.”
Brown’s hope with creating this team is that every student interested in pickleball will have a comfortable group of people to play with and learn from. Because the league is student-driven, players will have to rely on and trust each other to discover new skills and enjoy the season.
The sport of pickleball is relatively easy to learn once players grasp the rules of the game. Some regulations include: the sport must be played in singles or doubles, the server is the only member to score the point, servers are chosen by the flip of a coin, the ball needs to bounce once per side after the initial serve, all moves must be underhand, and serving takes place being the baseline.
Students taking part in the league will learn these rules as the season progresses. They will also learn new strategies such as effective footwork on the court and improved collaboration skills. In addition to this, the activity requires building hand-eye coordination tactics.
Pickleball is a widely inclusive sport that, once approved by the board, will likely become another one of Highlands’ exceptional teams. If interested, students should talk to Rosalyn Brown, the founder of the league, and will then take part in weekly tournaments working together to achieve their goals.