Kitchens. Dink shots. Lobs. These terms have seeped into the vocabulary of those witnessing pickleball’s surge. The sport has grown 223.5% in the past three years, mainly with youth.

In 2021, pickleball players ages 18 to 34 were the second largest age bracket after players aged 55+. In 2024, this age group has grown to become the largest demographic at nearly 29%.

Pickleball’s craze captured the attention of some West students, who established a new pickleball club. One of the co-founders of the club, Asif Ali ’26, recounts how the club came about at West.

“One day Ray [Scott] came into class and was like, ‘Dude…we should start a pickleball club’. It went from there, and we started planning on one little piece of paper,” Ali said.

The club is led by nine upperclassmen, including Mackenzie Oberbroeckling ’25, who recalls why she initially wanted to create a pickleball club at West.

“I thought it would be fun to bring a lot of people together and get more competitive with [pickleball],” Oberbreckling said. “I wanted to teach more people, and I think it’s a fun and good hobby to have that everyone can learn.”

Since its founding, the club has grown to include almost 100 students. With #pickleball amassing over one million posts on Instagram and 250 thousand videos on TikTok, Oberbroeckling credits the pickleball club’s size and popularity to the sport’s online attention.

“I think part of why people joined is because [pickleball is] growing a lot of popularity on social media. I see a lot of TikToks or Instagram reels of people talking about how fun pickleball is,” Oberbroeckling said.

Though professional pickleball players spend thousands of dollars per year on travel, tournament fees and equipment, costs for casual players are minimal. Even so, the pickleball club ensures that money is not a barrier to joining, utilizing West’s tennis courts for practices and tournaments and providing paddles and balls for members.

Oberbroeckling expresses that anyone can try pickleball, no matter their skill level. Some members are beginning to learn the sport’s rules, while others are experienced players honing their game on the court.

“People join because it’s very accessible,” Oberbroeckling said. “You don’t have to be the ‘jock’ of the school to do it. You can just go and have a good time with your friends.”

Oberbroeckling notes how the club offers students a positive environment to learn the sport.
“We get to talk, catch up, play some music and it’s a really good time. [Pickleball] is a fun way to socialize with other people,” Oberbroeckling said.

Garnering around 80 participants for a friendly competition, the pickleball club hosted its first doubles tournament Sept. 27.

Derek Hua ’25, part of the winning pair, also competes on West’s varsity tennis team. Although the tournament was only Hua’s third time playing pickleball, his prior tennis skills were advantageous to securing his win.

“I could tell my tennis background really helped me out. I already have hand-eye coordination from playing tennis. I have the stroke [and] put hours into working [with] my team,” Hua said. “Everything is basically the same. At the end of the day, it’s a racket sport, you’re just hitting a ball with a paddle.”

Ali admits to the tennis players’ expertise on the court.

“The tennis players kicked our butts, but it was a lot of fun,” Ali said.

Though Hua found tennis skills applicable while playing pickleball, he notes the differences between the two sports, citing that because pickleball courts are smaller, pickleball requires less hitting force. However, Hua also realizes the merits of pickleball’s simplicity.

“It’s like a less athletic version [of tennis], since you don’t have to cover as much ground. It’s less skill-intensive because it’s much easier to hit a ball over the net,” Hua said. “So there’s less of a learning curve; I think that’s why people are more attracted to it than tennis. It took me a year to rally [in tennis] consistently, but I can see a lot of people getting into [pickleball right away].”

Pickleball’s increase in popularity led to an influx of players overtaking tennis courts. Hua says this has consequences for his tennis game.

“Tennis is my heart and soul, [my] personality,” Hua said. “Bro, they’re putting tape on my tennis courts. It’s so annoying because no one removes it after they play; it changes the ball’s bounce.”

On Nov. 1, 33 teams battled in costumes to win the club’s second tournament which celebrated Halloween. Seniors Annie Dickens and Sophia Olivo won the costume contest dressed as a pickle and a ball, respectively. Based on the tournaments’ popularity, the club plans to hold more throughout the school year.

Ali and Oberbroeckling have similar goals for the future of the pickleball club: to get more people involved. But as the club continues to develop at West, Oberbroeckling has a personal goal: to get girls more involved.

“On a given practice, there’s probably six courts of guys and two courts of girls,” Oberbroeckling said. “Hopefully, once sports seasons are over, I see more female turnout, because [they’re] definitely a minority.”

This story was originally published on West Side Story on November 24, 2024.