Pickleball has emerged as a quiet powerhouse in the world of sports, bringing players of all different types to its court. At Michigan State, students have come out in large numbers like never before.
The Michigan State University Pickleball Association – only three years old – wasn’t expecting a huge turnout for its team tryouts at the start of the semester. There were so many participants that the club had to create new tryout plans.
“I think we had close to 100 show up for tryouts, so we had to split (tryout sessions) up into 50 people each,” Nolan Spadafore said.
There were previous attempts at starting a pickleball club, but the momentum didn’t last until Spadafore’s brother, Nicholas, got things going again in 2021.
“My older brother who graduated last year (2024), he and his buddy got it going again,” Spadafore said. “They did everything they could to get it going again two years ago.”
Spadafore, a junior supply chain major, said he joined the club because he played tennis in high school. While he was playing tennis, his father found a hobby in pickleball, leading Spadafore to share the hobby.
“I kind of just went and messed around with him, and I always just thought it was fun after I stopped playing (tennis) in high school,” Spadafore said.
Olivia DelVerne, the club’s president and a senior accounting major, found herself seeking pickleball to feel competitive again in her post-high school years. Competitiveness, coupled with being able to play with multiple demographics, makes pickleball an easy sport to pick up.
“Going into college, I no longer had that sport, kind of competition aspect,” DelVerne said. “It attracts a lot of people. Getting to play with my grandparents and my mom and dad, people like that is something that I think a lot of people look forward to as well.”
The club has grown exponentially in just a short period. Thanks to fundraising and $25 dues for court fees, as well as a sponsorship from the tennis and pickleball racquet brand Gamma, the club can afford equipment for everyone. The club also no longer has to practice before the sun's rays touch on East Lansing.
“My freshman year, we didn’t even meet once a week, it was every other week,” Spadafore said. “It was just a new club, and nobody wanted to give us a chance with courts. We had no say to kick people off the courts because it was for pickleball club. Practices used to be at 6 in the morning at IM East. This year is a lot different.”
The association has a travel team and a social club. For those who didn’t qualify for the travel level, the social club is still an option to mingle with other students and play for leisure. Some students even went straight to the social club for an extra on-campus activity.
“Almost everyone that didn’t make the travel team is a part of the social club, so we have probably between 150-175 people in total between the social club and travel team,” Spadafore said.
For the 12 students – plus four practice players – out of around 100 who received the green light to play on the travel team, invitationals lurk ahead. Based on how the team performs at the invitationals, they can go to nationals in Texas. The clubs first invitational is against Purdue, while some members played in Cincinnati already on Sept. 22.
DelVerne, whilst in her second year on the executive board, is hard at work making the club more than just pickleball. It may be stressful leading a club that has countless members now, but the delight from seeing students come together for a passion puts a smile on her face,
“They (e-board) needed some extra help in scheduling new things,” DelVerne said. “We wanted to get more of a social aspect of it like hayrides and those kind of things. We were so ecstatic that so many people were interested. In the past year, numbers spiked tremendously, which is awesome because we love that people are out and being active and making friends.”