Pickleball was created by three dads in Seattle, Washington, whose kids were bored with their traditional summertime activities. It has become the fastest-growing sport in the U.S. for the third consecutive year in a row according to the 2023 Sports and Fitness Industry Associations Topline Participation Report. With a sport growing so much in popularity, it’s time to consider bringing this program to your campus. Here are some tips from a new and growing intramural and club sport from Kelly Miller, the Sports Programs coordinator at the University of Arizona.
So, is this new Intramural and Club Sport even popular?
“Pickleball has been offered as an intramural sport for one semester now and will be offered for every semester in the foreseeable future,” said Miller. “Pickleball was our most signed-up for sport besides the big four — soccer, basketball, flag football and volleyball. For any success, you need to retain the participants, so be prepared for massive popularity, but also offer it with all the correct equipment so you don’t ruin their experience. I would also suggest on top of marketing the sport registration, market how to play pickleball on social media.”
What feedback have you gotten from participants?
“The only request was to have more pickleball courts and we acted quickly by painting lines for more courts and ordering portable nets to maximize the space,” said Miller.
This was addressed swiftly by the Sports team by expanding from only three courts to nine. Working with their facilities team they were able to address the needs and wants of the students immediately.
What is needed for a successful and inclusive program?
Miller shared on what was needed to start the program.
“The minimum space needed is one tennis court,” said Miller. “If you can’t make pickleball-specific courts and nets, you can purchase a modification that allows you to turn a tennis net into a pickleball net. You can paint the pickleball lines off the already existing tennis lines. I would also strongly suggest buying equipment, so new players feel welcome, but paddles and balls aren’t necessarily required to run it. We use one supervisor to oversee six pickleball courts, and that works just fine, so you do not have to dedicate many resources to staffing.”
What advice do you have for other organizations that are interested in offering pickleball?
“We really were able to accelerate both intramural and club pickleball by working with our club closely while rolling out the sport,” said Miller. “They helped us with equipment, told us their needs so our intramural programming didn’t interfere, and were able to foresee barriers of entries for new players by working with the club to see how they handled the problem. All in all, pickleball is the new star intramural sport as well as community sport. It’s perfect for a college community and I would highly suggest sport programs to include it in offerings, if possible”
If you are interested in offering pickleball at your institution feel free to reach out to Kelly Miller at kellymiller1@arizona.edu.
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