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The story of the Pickleball club
By: Kaela Laurin & Lennon Seefeld
Pickleball is a fast-growing sport around Michigan and the United States. The fun and fast-paced game recently became an established club here at DHS, not known to many students since its beginning late last year. Junior and co-founder of the club, Anna Wetzel,? shared her insight into how she got the idea for the club saying
¡°I got the idea because at the time pickleball was a really fast-growing sport.¡± Wetzel explained, further elaborating on her experience, ¡°I play tennis, but I never really played pickleball, and I thought a lot of people would want to try it.”
Anna was excited to bring the club to Dexter High School, and her excitement soon spread to other students along with her co-founder Grace McClellan. McClellan has her own experiences with pickleball that she shared,
¡°I started playing with my grandma about three years ago, and it was just purely for fun.¡± Grace continued, saying how she was excited to bring pickleball to DHS so she could meet new people, while having fun with her friends.
During the early stages of the club, Wetzel was looking for a teacher advisor to help her make the pickleball club possible. Wetzel ended up choosing Chemistry teacher, Mrs. Hashikawa for the role.
¡°Mrs. Hashikawa and I just started chatting about pickleball.¡± Wetzel remembered, ¡°I told her about the idea and she said she would be willing to be the teacher for it.¡±
Although the current turnout to club meetings hovers around a decent number, Wetzel shared her eagerness to bring in more people,
¡°We hope to get a lot more members included in the club. It’s super fun, and you should pull up.” Anna said, encouraging more people to give the club a try.
Something that may be keeping the club from faster growth is confusion surrounding what pickleball is. Teacher advisor, Mrs. Hashikawa gave a simple answer,
“Pickleball is a sport that can be played by one person or two.¡± Hashikawa explained, ¡°It’s similar to tennis, ping pong, and wiffle ball, but on a smaller court.” This blend of tennis and ping pong creates a fast-paced and fun game that all are welcome to come and play. Students have a lot of fun participating in Pickleball club. The meetings started in the cafeteria which, while a bit of an inconvenient setting, Mrs. Hashikawa explained how it turned out to be good for publicity,
¡°When we were holding meetings in the cafeteria, we had people stopped by who were like, waiting for, say, a sporting event to start.¡± Hashikawa said,? ¡°So they were meeting or they’re waiting for drama so they would come and drop in.¡±
Since then, Anna, Grace, and Mrs. Hashikawa were able to get access to the MillCreek tennis courts. Mrs. Hashikawa mentioned how now that they are an established school club, they were able to get priority for permission. Right now, meetings mostly consist of playing rounds of pickleball which is played in pairs. Wetzel mentioned that if there is an uneven number, they take turns playing rounds. Mrs. Hashikawa also shared that if she sees someone struggling with a certain aspect, she¡¯ll sometimes step in and teach everyone how to refine that skill. Although the club is currently played on a casual and recreational basis, Mrs. Hashikawa and Anna both shared future goals they hope to see the club get to, “The goal is to keep it a club for now.¡± Mrs. Hashikawa said, ¡°Maybe in the future, it might become an official DHS sport,” Anna shared that there’s an open invitation to anyone interested in pickleball. Whether students are experienced players or interested newcomers they are all equally welcomed and Anna encourages them to ¡°pull up.¡± Pickleball club meetings are held every Sunday at 10 am at the Mill Creek Middle School tennis courts for those who are interested.
