Pickleball is a sport growing rapidly in popularity. Since its rise, pickleball has become a prevalent pastime, trending on social media and making its way to country club courts and secondary school P.E. classes. Now, with the recent establishment of the UBC Pickleball Club, the sport has officially made its way to campus.
Founded by second-year psychology student Mathias Henkelman and third-year kinesiology student Josh MacDonald, the UBC Pickleball Club aims to fill a gap both had noticed: a lack of pickleball options at UBC.
“I played pickleball last year … with a big group of friends,” said MacDonald. “We were thinking this would be a great thing to reach more people on campus … I was super taken aback by the fact that there wasn't a club started already, given how many people I knew who played.”
Run by a team of nine, the club strives to introduce more people to the sport, promote physical wellbeing in an accessible way and create a community within the student body.
“It's very much a sport where a lot of people can pick it up pretty quickly,” said MacDonald. “There's a low barrier to entry in a couple senses, where you don't need a ton of equipment.”
While the UBC Pickleball Club is beginner-friendly, offering opportunities for newcomers to learn the sport, it’s also a welcoming space for experienced players to compete and connect.
“It's a sport where a lot of different levels can actually play together,” said Henkelman.
This was evident after their first event on October 11, which sold out in two days and was attended by 24 students of all levels.
“It went super well,” said MacDonald. “There were eight or so people who had never played before, and by the end of the event, they were all playing games, having great rallies, having a lot of fun.”
Pickleball memberships cost $15 and are available through Instagram. They are currently in the process of setting up a Bounce page with the AMS. MacDonald said members get free or discounted access to certain club events as well as access to equipment, both in and outside of club events.
Moving forward, the club hopes to run weekly events in the SRC and host a tournament. They are currently working with UBC Recreation to secure weekly times.
“Hopefully in the future we'll get some more tournaments and stuff going, but for right now, [we are] just focusing on the social events, social mixers [and] getting people to play,” Henkelman said.
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