At Hamburg Area High School there are many clubs to choose from that allow Students to branch out and meet new people and find common interests. One newer addition is the Pickleball club that Mrs. Deitz and Mrs. Kelly host. Every Thursday there are club periods in the morning. Those periods alternate weekly between Club Day A, Club Day B, and Advisory. PickleBall is held on Club Day A and goes from 7:41 to 8:17.
At PickleBall club the participants must set up the nets and play matches of 2 vs 2. The teachers expect the students to play the whole class period. They allow the students to decide who they partner up with and go against, so there is excitement and competitiveness between each team. The club supplies the paddles, nets, and balls unless a student prefers the paddle they have at home. Many of the participants break a sweat before the time is up, which is expected from all the running and chasing the balls.
Pickleball is a sport that originated in Bainbridge Island, Washington by Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell and Barney McCallum. The sport is played with a racket or paddle and a hollow plastic ball that two or fours players compete against each other to score points. On the court there is a low set net that the competitors need to hit the ball over to make it the other teams play. Similar to tennis the teams go back and forth and try not to let the ball go out of bounds, bounce twice, or hit the net. In pickleball there is an area by the net referred to as the “kitchen”. Which is an area that players cannot enter to volley the ball back over. This makes it a longer playing game because opponents cannot just slam the ball down close to the net to gain easy points.
Sophomore Brielle Cox is one of the 25 students who participate in the club. This is Brielle’s first time in the club, but last year she participated in LEO club. She states, “The best thing about the club is getting to battle against her friends.” Brielle likes the club period being in the morning because at the end of the day she would feel tired, and it wakes her up in the morning. Brielle says “I would like it if all the clubs were in one day, but that would be hard for those who participate in two clubs.”
