This article is featured in the 2024 Homecoming Special Issue.
Squeaky shoes, the clacking of paddles and the occasional shout or grunt — it seems almost impossible to walk past Dartmouth’s pickleball courts, located behind Alumni Gym, without gazing upon students hard at play.
With more than 50,000 courts nationwide, pickleball has taken the country by storm. In 2023, it was named the country’s fastest-growing sport for the third consecutive year, USA Pickleball reported. And Dartmouth is no stranger to the pickleball craze. Experience on campus ranges from the casual ‘pickleballer’ to the slightly more serious intramural league player. Those who want to pick up a physical education credit — or just want more time on the court — can also join “PE Pickleball,” a pickleball physical education course.
While intramural pickleball is relatively new to campus, the activity has already begun to grow. After the success of the first IM pickleball tournament in the fall of 2023, senior associate athletics director for regulatory affairs and recreation J.B. Weber decided to create more opportunities for aspiring pickleballers. Ultimately, three pickleball leagues were scheduled for fall 2024: a co-ed doubles pickleball league, which ran from Sept. 15 to Oct. 11, and men’s and women’s singles pickleball tournaments, conducted from Oct. 21 to Oct. 25, Weber said.
“Since we began pickleball programming, we have had 563 participants in our IM pickleball leagues and tournaments, and 120 students take our intro to Pickleball PE course,” Weber — who is also the associate athletics director for physical education — said. “Pickleball is second only to IM ice hockey now as the most popular IM activity for Dartmouth students over the last 14 months.”
In the doubles league, duo Daniel Lustbader ’26 and Jack Jervis ’26 came out on top.
“I feel great [about the victory],” Jervis said. “Pickleball is such a great thing that Dartmouth has embraced, and I’ve gotten a lot of new friends through pickleball. … I’m going to play again in the winter with my same partner indoors and hopefully take it again.”
According to Weber, the intramural league’s recent popularity is owed in part to the sport’s accessibility. General proficiency in pickleball is possible for the “vast majority” of players, resulting in a greater demand for the game, Weber said.
“You can get as intense or as tame as you want it to be, and there is just a wide variety of skill levels you can exhibit on the playing field,” doubles pickleball tournament participant Gabriel Martin ’28 said.
For doubles tournament participant Mia Harlan ’28, the intensity is part of the fun.
“I think my favorite part is just how serious people can take it,” she said. “I think it definitely has a reputation of being more relaxed and for old people, or just for people [who are] chilling, but playing in a real pickleball [game] — it gets intense.”
Competition isn’t limited to the courts — it also manifests in the lines beyond them. According to Jervis, finding an open spot on campus — which boasts four courts, available on a first-come, first-serve basis — can be challenging, and wait times can be long.
While people may have to endure long wait times to secure a court, the game ultimately offers a social hub. Pickleball’s structure allows teams to rotate between opponents. In the intramural leagues, teams play a new doubles pair or single opponent each session, the result of which is then imputed to an online statistics book. This rotation allows players to form “new connections” and meet new people while honing their skills on the court. Sometimes, these relationships continue even after the game ends, Harlan said.
“The team we played our most recent game — we lost two-zero, which was bad, but we kept playing after and we just did some rallies, because we really liked playing them,” Harlan said. “They were good competition.”
While the new IM pickleball program at Dartmouth is popular across campus, Weber pointed out its particular success among women.
“We had a 44% increase in female participation last year in intramurals, and more than 50% of that gain came from women’s participation in IM pickleball,” Weber said. “Consistently, about a third of the IM pickleball participants identify as female.”
If the leagues seem too intense, don’t worry. Outside of the league hours, courts are open to anyone, with rackets and balls available from the front desk of Alumni Gym, according to director of recreation and wellness education operations Heidi Bushway.
Outdoor courts will remain open until Nov. 15, when the athletic program will take down nets for the winter, according to Bushway. Students can access the indoor courts located in West Gym while the exterior courts close for the winter. Weber advised students to “look for those indoor opportunities to play,” which include an indoor IM league, the PE class and special pickleball nights.
In the future, pickleball may continue to expand, Weber said. He is currently considering establishing a club pickleball team to compete against other collegiate teams, he explained. While intramural teams stay local and play against other Dartmouth teams, club teams compete against and travel to other institutions, intensifying the competition.
“We are always looking to expand,” Weber said. “I think [a club team] is the next step in the Dartmouth pickleball journey.”
