Campus Rec hosted its second weekend of its new pickleball intramural sport last week, with more than 30 teams showing out to play.

According to junior Sophie Schlegel, a member of the Campus Rec staff, there are more than over 30 teams signed up for this season’s “trial and error” run.

“We’re trying to figure out what’s working, what doesn’t, what people like, what people don’t like, how long the time slot should be, to what score should we play to,” Schlegel said. “It’s been successful so far, and I think it’s going to be a league that we keep.”

Pickleball is a similar sport to tennis; however, teams of two in the case of the intramural league, use paddles to hit a plastic ball over the net. This continues as it does in tennis until one team does not hit the ball over the net.

Schlegel said the league will run a little shorter than most IM leagues with three weeks of competition instead of five and that Campus Rec wanted to try something new to engage with students.

“That was our biggest drive, how can we reach campus more through our athletics and the events and leagues we put on,” Schlegel said.

Junior Ethan Bourgeois, a member of the media and promo team, said it is different from other intramural sports on campus because it is on the weekend as compared to others, which makes for a casual experience.

“It’s meant to be this more casual, fun thing that you go out and do with a friend and just have a good time,” Bourgeois said.

The first week of tournaments had to be moved to Hayden Park because of logistics with the football game, Schlegel said.

“We literally just drew chalk courts, but we still got a really good turnout,” Schlegel said. “I think that was encouraging to Campus Rec, and specifically the league’s team — that people are really wanting to do this.”

Bourgeois said everybody loved it.

“The time was supposed to be from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. They didn’t end until 2 p.m.,” Bourgeois said.

This past weekend, the league took place at the pickleball courts. Senior Emma Turner played the first game of pickleball with her partner, senior Seth Capelli.  

The league is co-ed, which is not the case for every intramural sport. Schlegel said this has given way to more teams.

“You can have a team of all men. You can have a team of all women. You can have a team guy-girl,” Schlegel said. “The integration just in that sense allows for more teams, or easier to get a team.”

Turner said you don’t have to have any experience to join.

“I started playing this summer, and I’m taking the pickleball class, and I’m still very novice at the sport, but I’m having fun,” Turner said.

Her partner, Capelli, also didn’t start seriously playing until this summer. He said he recommends learning how to do it before joining the league.

“Once you get a good feel for hitting it on both sides, with your right and left, backhand and forehand, that’s probably about all you need to play,” Capelli said.

Bourgeois said the league will likely not return in the spring due to the number of leagues Campus Rec does in the spring, but he hopes it is back in the fall.

“I hope it’s something that we keep doing. I think it’s a really fun sport,” Bourgeois said. “The fact that it is so accessible to anybody to play I think is great for the campus.”