RPI students start a pickleball club
A pre-med student from Queens has started a pickleball club at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y.
The RPI Pickleball Club is the first college club in the region.
“We are slowly growing. It’s great to see a bunch of enthusiastic players,” said Jeffrey Yu, who founded the club.
The club was officially recognized by the school’s student union and is working on a budget to buy nets and equipment.
Currently, they are playing on three courts in a school gym called “87” because it was built in 1887.
For some of the club’s bigger sessions, they get about 20 players. About half of the students have played the game before and the other half were invited by friends to give it a try.
Two of the clubs players, Nicole Small and Rossana Berrios, entered the Pickleball518 Women’s Doubles 3.5 tournament last weekend. (Photos below) The won high praise from competitors for being fun opponents, and their game improved with every match.
Yu, a junior pre-med student who is studying biochemistry and biophysics, grew up playing competitive tennis and played with the RPI tennis team his freshmen year. He stopped playing with the team when he couldn’t find a good balance between the sport and his studies.
So far, the pickleball club has attracted mostly upperclassman. Yu hopes freshmen and sophomores will join and keep the club going.
College players (and any young players) are welcome to email me at cathleen@pickleball518.com and I’ll connect you with the RPI club and other young players from the area.
Speaking of college pickleball players… Pickleball518 is hosting a DUPR Night at Tawasentha Park in Guilderland for high school and college students next week on Wednesday, May 3. Young players from the region invited to attend. Please share this link with any young players you know: https://www.pickleball518.com/build-your-dupr-rating-with-wednesday-night-pickleball-in-guilderland/
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