VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Before school started this year, most of these Seatack Elementary students had never heard of pickleball.
“If you ask them about sports the vast majority of them say football, basketball, and baseball. So getting them out here to experience something completely different and really enjoy it has been one of my favorite parts about doing this,” said teacher and club sponsor Andy Stark.
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“I love that I get to learn new things about it and experience a new sport I might fall into in the future. And I’ve met a lot of new people in here,” said student Tobias Shaw.
And it helps that a new pickleball club is right next to the school. Jim Aldrich, the owner of Pickleball Virginia Beach, invited teachers and students to give it a try earlier this year.
“The kids are just now learning how much fun us old people are having and they're starting to come out in droves,” said Aldrich.
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In fact, the students liked the sport so much, they started the first pickleball club in the beach school district.
And Seatack is a likely place for pickleball to take off. Clubs like this and social development are woven into the fabric at Seatack as it's one of six Hampton Roads schools that houses the Achievable Dream Academy, a curriculum focused on social, academic, and moral education.
“A lot of the kids have been surprised by how much patience is involved. Because they all want to come up and slam the ball and get that kill shot,” said Stark.
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"They have to be calm, they have to pay attention. It's not as easy as some people might think, so they have to concentrate on what they’re doing,” said Aldrich.
“It really helps me get my mind off things even when I get really frustrated and I think it's really fun for me,” said one student player.
Now we’ll see if other beach schools follow Seatack’s lead as pickleball’s popularity expands to the younger folk.
