Country Fair 2023: Pickleball

By Tony Zhu ’25

Article from the Country Fair 2023 Hearth Issue

Pickleball is a sport that mixes tennis and ping pong. It is a smaller version of tennis while using ping-pong-like paddles. This year there are 18 students in the pickleball team. Unlike most sports, pickleball at Eaglebrook is a recreational sport, which means it is more focused on participation, having fun and exercising, instead of the stressful situations of sports.

Even though it is a recreational sport, there are still some intense games during practice and you can hear people screaming when they hit the ball. Every day we start by warming up and stretching and sometimes we do drills like serving, while other days we play matches. Unlike most racket sports, you have to serve and win the point to gain the point. During doubles, the serving team has two chances to serve and win. After they lose both, the other team gets the ball.

Since there is only one team, everyone has different skill levels but the coaches still make it work out as they let the people with more experience help and play with someone not as experienced as them. Because d that, most matches are close in result and they allow the less experienced players to learn and get better.

The pickleball team this year has four amazing coaches: Ms. Ginny Morsman, Mr. Jeff Lamb, Ms. Margaret Sikoski and Ms. Annie Thompson. Our team also includes these players: Andrew Hu ’26, Dylan Kang ’25, Lion Krusen ’24, Zeke Leiniz ’24, Eason Li ’26, James Lin ’26, James McGee ’27, Quinn McGruder ’24, Joe Sasso ’24, Kaden Song ’27, Ad- amson Steiner ’24, Walker Sventy ’25, Manato Tanaka ’25, James Wang ’27, Jeppard Xia ’26, Eason Xu ’26, Alan Zhao ’25, and Tony Zhu ’25.