The Pickleball Bash, an event at the University of Minnesota’s Recreation and Wellness Center (RecWell) on Friday, attracted dozens of students looking for an opportunity to play a few matches of pickleball.
From 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., students were able to use RecWell equipment free of charge to play with friends or other students on any one of six courts specially marked with pickleball boundaries.
Teammates Mason Olson and Taj Blauer are just one example of the large range of pickleball experiences of participating students. While Olson said he has been an avid pickleball player for several years, Blauer had never played pickleball before coming to college.
Olson and Blauer said they have been participating in intramural pickleball together and thought that the bash would be a good way to get some practice in.
Olson said he likes pickleball for its similarity to tennis, which he enjoys. He added pickleball is like a slower-paced game of tennis, making it more fun.
“It’s just fun,” Ebba Wako, another event participant said. “My comparison for pickleball is it’s big ping pong, little tennis. It’s pretty similar to those rules.”
Compared to other racket sports, Olson said he enjoys the extra rules pickleball has and that the rules help the sport be more accessible to slower-pace players with less experience.
Wako said the sport is easy for people with previous sports injuries to get involved in.
Wako’s teammate and recent graduate Peter Nguyen said he believes people are getting into pickleball because of how easy it is to start playing compared to similar sports like tennis due to its availability and cost.
Wako and Nguyen said the event was well organized and a good opportunity for pickleball players, but believe the event fliers, which advertised a pickleball tournament, may have been misleading. Wako said the event was pretty much just open play.
“I think I was expecting a tournament, like with stakes is always more fun, but I enjoy just playing in general,” Nguyen said.
Olson said he believes that the University could do more to promote the sport and accommodate student players by investing in more courts and equipment.
“I think just having this gym is not enough,” Olson said. “I feel like we need more courts, even outdoor courts so I definitely think there’s a higher demand than what we have.”
Each of the participants interviewed said they enjoyed the Pickleball Bash and expressed interest in the University holding similar events in the future.
