More than 30 students sign up to hit the court
Say the word “pickleball” to someone and it might elicit a range of reactions, from fascination to frustration. But for fourth-year accounting student Jarod Ra Mangaoang, there’s only one way to feel about the sport: pure love.
Pickleball has become increasingly popular in recent years. According to the USA Pickleball Association (USAPA), the origin of the sport dates back to 1965, when the game was founded by the late Washington congressman Joel Pritchard, businessman Bill Bell, and inventor Barney McCallum. By 1990, pickleball was being played across the U.S., and by 2005, the USAPA was established to officially govern the sport. As of 2023, the organization boasted a membership of more than 78,000 players.
Up until last year, CSUDH only offered four sports clubs: Esports, intramurals, kinesiology, and skating – the latter two both required a fee. Already a fan of pickleball, Mangaoang told The Bulletin that he was inspired to start the club at CSUDH after noticing other universities had embraced the sport. Together with library faculty member Marwin Britto, a longtime pickleball player who serves as the club’s advisor, the club launched at the start of the Fall 2024 semester as a new and free activity for students.
That’s the short version of the story, though. According to Britto, “it took a long time” to get the club off the ground.
“Multiple layers of approval were required, so it was a process,” Britto said. But all that is in the past – now it’s time to hit the court. Mangaoang attributes the growing popularity of the sport to how quickly someone can learn to play.
“After one session, I think you’d be able to pick it up,” Mangaoang said. “I think it’s just adjusting to, you know, maybe a smaller racket.”
Still, the sport isn’t without critics. As a paddle sport that combines elements of tennis and badminton, some of those players see pickleball as taking up space. Many of the same players criticize the sport for the low skill ceiling that is required to participate. Second-year clinical lab science student and club co-founder Jacob Villanueva said pickleball offers new players a shallow learning curve.
“You can go into it really easily with zero paddle experience,” Villanueva said. “A lot of people enjoy watching tennis more than actually playing because of the amount of time and devotion tennis takes compared to pickleball.”
Mangaoang explained that the cost and accessibility of pickleball equipment is a big factor to people picking up the smooth-face paddle. Being readily available and at a low cost.
“You can play with a paddle that’s $20 from Amazon, and it can range from however you want to spend, just like many other sports,” Mangaoang said.
First-year information technology student Matthew Ledesma said he has just started to get back into the swing of things on the pickleball court.
“I have been playing on and off for two years,” Ledesma said. “I have been picking it up again, so I have been playing [for] eight months consistently.”
Because it costs nothing to join the club, Mangaoang said he hopes Toros will be enticed to try out the sport and encourage others to become more involved on campus.
“With it being a commuter school, I think pickleball really helps those that do commute kinda come in and just be able to pick the game pretty quickly,” Mangaoang said. “We hope to inspire other people to make other clubs.
