Pickleball is the leading contender for sports, and it is gaining popularity and attention. Pickleball is accessible to all ages and has easy to learn rules, so NHS decided to hold a pickleball competition as a fundraiser. This pickleball competition was way more serious and competitive than anyone anticipated.
Freshmen Ceci Elgert and Lanie Tselentis were not expecting it. When asked what they thought about everyone’s skills, Ceci replied, “Everyone else’s skill made me feel really bad about my skill. I mean, why was everyone so good at it? I thought it would be all joy, fun, and whimsy.”
“I didn’t know people would have that much experience or competitiveness, so it made me feel kind of insecure since I thought I would do well since I play tennis,” Lanie added. “All the failures we had took an emotional toll on me, but it honestly gave me a way to not beat myself up over a game,” Tselentis continued. “We played against Ms.Wagner and Ms.Garcia, but even though they had no experience either, they still won against us,” Ceci mentioned.
Oh, but little did she know, Ms. Wagner and Garcia were more prepared than they thought. “I wanted to participate because Ms. Motazedi is the NHS sponsor and a close friend of ours, and she asked me to participate. I recently played pickleball, and it was fun, so Ms. Garcia and I decided that we would compete,” Ms. Wagner started. “Our only former experience was that one time when Ms. Garcia, Ms. Gilroy, and Ms. Motazedi came up and played pickleball on the tennis courts for an hour or so,” She continued.
When asked what place they got, Ms. Wagner replied, “I’m not too sure because we left early, but I’d say we got fourth or fifth out of the ten teams that were there. So not horrible.”
Everyone, even teams that didn’t do the greatest, was very competitive. The runner-up team kept their cool a bit when interviewed. When senior Chastin Fredricks was asked why he decided to join in he said, “I’ve played pickleball a few times and it was fun, I thought a pickleball tournament would be a fun way to do an after-school activity at school.” He continues, “I played with Issac Thomas and we made it to the championship, but sadly we fell short. If I could ever play again, I definitely would.”
Fredrick’s teammate, senior Issac Thomas, had similar things to say. “I also would definitely participate again if I weren’t a senior; it was overall very well run,” Thomas stated. “We didn’t really practice at all, and we didn’t even get a warm-up because we were helping set up,” he continued. The final score came out to be 8-11, the win going to Hayden Poston and Tony Chonis.
Junior Tony Chonis said, “I thought it was well run and I would do it again. It was very fun, and winning was fun. Good bragging rights”. The winners got other rewards besides bragging rights, and they definitely showed their skill to get these rewards. “We got a free combo to Runza, and then a $50 gift card to Smash Park,” Chonis continued. The winners were definitely well rewarded for their good sportsmanship and competitiveness.
Pickleball is gaining popularity, which brings even more competition to our beloved school, and this NHS held tournament was a true till-the-end type of competition.
