by Collin Pence
Pickleball is such a growing sport that it was only a matter of time before it reached New Castle High School. For the 2024-2025 academic year onward New Castle High School will be welcoming a new pickleball club for students of any grade level. The official callout meeting will take place the week of September 9 in the west cafeteria.
Who doesn’t want to play pickleball during school hours? Introducing pickleball to New Castle High School adds not only a fun activity to participate in during the school day, it also promotes students to participate in more extracurricular activities overall. The team will meet once a week during TCT club time and will occasionally meet after school to host tournaments and pickup games. This team was made possible by large amounts of support from students and staff.
Teacher Derick Shumaker will be the coach of the pickleball team. “I chose to coach the pickleball team because I enjoy playing pickleball, and I also noticed a lot of high school students playing it, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to help them.”
Many students at New Castle High School already participate in pickleball as an after school activity. Sophomore Colin Sipe is very thrilled about the team, he said, “I’m really excited and would love to have a pickleball team because it would open up a lot of opportunities for students.”
The idea of this club is not only to increase student involvement, the future goal is to inspire other schools in the district to also create a club. This would allow the club to evolve into a competitive sport for students to play. The pickleball club could also be used as an opportunity to raise money for academics and athletics at New Castle High School.
