In the beginning of the school year, Pickleball Club reached Emmaus High School, run by teachers and students alike to introduce the sport to more people.
Family Consumer Science teacher Alon Hogan and English teacher Dian McKinney are the advisors for the group. This is the first club Hogan has advised in her four years at EHS, and she feels it is a perfect fit for her to make students feel welcome.
“Pickleball is something that I actually enjoy personally, so I feel like if I’m going to advise a club, I also want it to be something that I kind of like to do because if I’m going to be here after school, I want to have fun doing it,” Hogan said.
Freshman Lia Duong and Junior Harrison Jennett are the newly established co-presidents and co-treasurers. The two came to this conclusion of leadership through a miscommunication of paperwork. Duong was originally set as president due to her prior experience and creation of a pickleball club at Lower Macungie Middle School. This left the leadership role of treasurer to Jennett. The pair of students are also experienced in the sport — especially Duong.
“Over the summer of 2020, I played six hours every day. I would play two hours with my dad in the morning, then my parents would switch places and two hours with my mom, and in the afternoon I would play another two hours with my whole family,” Duong said.
The original Pickleball Club at LMMS came to be in the 2023-24 school year. With parental supervision, Duong brought her love of the game to her fellow classmates. A total of 40 students all came together to strengthen the club. Similar to her role at EHS, she acted as president and coach of the group. Duong’s goal was to inspire her fellow students to get out of their comfort zone and try a new sport.
Students, no matter their experience level, will be embraced by the club staff. Both Jennett and Duong have knowledge they are willing to share about pickleball with anyone who is willing to learn. Each club meeting will be set up differently, but will always meet in Room 119. The first few meetings were primarily for expanding student interest and understanding the rules of the sport. Jennett shared that attendees of the first meeting were sent a Google Form to fill out. Everyone was given an opportunity to share what they would like to get out of the club. No permanent dates for meetings have been released publicly but meetings will consistently be held on Thursdays in the future.
Jennett has become active in the extracurricular world. He is in multiple groups such as the Debate Team, Marching Band, and Spanish Club. His experiences playing pickleball with friends made him want to share that same connection with others. The club is not meant to be a draining commitment students end up dropping — despite the fact that high school sports and clubs are normally a massive commitment, pickleball is meant to be a balance.
“It’s really not a huge commitment at all. It’s not like you join and you’re just stuck here and you have to come to all the meetings. It’s really going to be relaxed,” Jennett said.
The popularity of the sport is sky-rocekting, which seems to be bringing in a decent amount of students. The LMMS pickleball club saw success, but EHS is looking to go bigger. The start of pickleball clubs in high school might eventually lead to growth across the nation transforming into a high school sport.
