Over the past few years, pickleball, a sport some people describe as “little tennis” or “big ping pong,” has solidified its name as one of the most popular sports in the United States.
Over the past three years, the sport has grown 223.5% and has an estimated 36.5 million players in the country. With the number of pickleballers rapidly increasing, the student desire to bring the sport to ASU was clear. Currently, there are multiple opportunities on campus for students to participate regardless of experience.
Nathan Tan, a second-year business student, pioneered the sport on campus.
Last spring, he and some upperclassmen decided the university needed a place to play organized pickleball. Together, they founded a pickleball club at ASU. This club allows students to get outside and enjoy a game of pickleball with their fellow Sun Devils.
Tan, the club's co-founder and president, said the club hosts open play on Thursdays from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Sonora Tennis Courts in Tempe, with a typical attendance of about 60 to 90 p.m. It is said that there are 80 students. He said there are about 440 members who have signed up through Sun Devil Sync, but because joining Sun Devil Sync is not a requirement for members to participate, there are probably 500 to 600 unique members. . He described it as a social club and an actual club sport.
“The courts are differentiated based on skill,” Tan said. “So the far right court will be beginners, new players, then intermediate, then advanced. So there are basically four courts, all night long, all recreational games, It’s played at your own pace.” ”
As of this spring, pickleball is also ASU's official club sport, of which Tan is its president and founder. The team practices on Mondays and Wednesdays at a facility called Pickleball Kingdom in Chandler. The club funds the facility's membership fees.
These sessions include more than just games. They practice, conduct drills, prepare for tournaments, and even run mock tournaments. The club team is made up of approximately 30 members selected from a tryout of 60 to 70 students.
The team plays in tournaments throughout the Southwest, including Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah.
Zosselin Kou, a biological sciences student, is one of 30 people on the club team. She started playing pickleball a while ago and currently participates in both social and club sports.
She said her favorite thing about participating in social clubs and club sports is the people. There are people of all ages and skill levels.
“There are a lot of people who have become roommates or made forever friends through pickleball, not just on our club team but throughout the club,” Cow said.
Another way to get into pickleball is through your college's intramural sports program. While not all campuses do it every semester, the Downtown Phoenix campus did it for the first time last spring and again this spring.
As pickleball continues to dominate the sports world, universities are following suit and its popularity only continues to grow.
To experiment, Chris Johnson, sports program coordinator at downtown's Sun Devil Fitness Complex, decided to host a pickleball tournament last spring. There were only 8 people in attendance, but word started to spread after that. When we first started holding actual intramural games instead of tournaments, there were about 30 participants, but this spring the number of participants in intramural play increased to 65.
“There was a lot of demand for it (pickleball),” Johnson said. “Different people continued to perform throughout the city, but it wasn't really something that was happening in our building, so we brought it into our space and gave it to our students. We wanted to provide an opportunity to perform. We had a lot of feedback from students saying they knew about it. They were interested in the game, but they had never had a chance to actually play it.”
Johnson said popularity has exceeded expectations and those who play aren't very competitive. They've heard about the sport and want to try it. He said that's the aspect of competition he enjoys, where people don't care too much about winning or losing and want to try something new with their friends.
Edited by Vinny DeAngelis, Walker Smith, and Grace Coppersite.
Contact and follow the reporter at hjsmardo@gmail.com @HenryJSmardo At X.
Like and follow The State Press on Facebook @statepress At X.
Continue to support student journalism, to donate In today's national news agency.
