It is curious how out of all the games available to play, for an entire unit, students play pickleball. In a search for answers about this conundrum, I interviewed the gym teachers.

When asked about what they know about why it was chosen, Ms. Lynch was able to give a thorough explanation of the benefits of pickleball. She conveyed, “It’s got a really easy learning curve that you don’t need like lots and lots and lot of time…you’re more likely to go join something that you can pick up quickly versus something that needs lots and lots of training for.” 

The curve allows for a “more life long” and “not as high impact” game. Due to the low strain of the game one “you can continue [to play]  life long,” in which that is the purpose of the health department in gym class. 

I couldn’t just interview one person to get the full picture of why, though. I then went to Mr. Fuller. During his interview, he was able to supply many poll results about the popularity of pickleball from this year’s google form about the Choice Unit. 

One of which asked which activity people participated in; 62.2% said their choice was pickleball. In a rating score, 84.3% of people gave their choice in the choice unit a five-star or four-star rating. This conveys that the majority chose pickleball and the majority enjoyed their unit. 

To clarify that this was about pickleball and not based on the other choices, when another question asked for comments on the choices, many results were positive comments about pickleball. 

There wasn’t an overbearing amount of a specific new suggestion for next year’s choice unit, either. In fact, a mass of people suggested pickleball for the spring choice unit.

Pickleball is a quickly learned, low-impact sport that many people enjoy. So it’s no wonder that this sport is chosen for an entire unit in gym class.