Pickleball serves up community, social connections

Pickleball serves up community, social connections

The sport of pickleball can be a connector, pairing East Carolina University students with faculty members and aging adults.

One enjoyable thread for players: No phone required.

"In a world of social media and everyone is on their devices, you're getting several generations together on the same court and they're actually having conversations, face to face," said John King, 57, an ECU alumnus of industrial technology.

"Pickleball is kind of my thing I can focus on and have fun and unplug," added ECU student Roz Burgess, an entrepreneurship major in the Honors College. "When I'm here, I don't pick up my phone until I leave."

Burgess, ECU's 2025 Captain of the Ship, is on the ECU club pickleball team. He said one of the aspects he likes about pickleball is the positivity and support shared by players, no matter their skill level or age.

The College of Health and Human Performance has hosted multiple pickleball tournaments in conjunction with clinics and community-based research led by Drs. Ollie Taniyev, Stacy Warner, Kindal Shores and Abby Schwartz.

Since those clinics and the first HHP and sport management pickleball tournament in December 2024, Taniyev has focused on the social benefits of pickleball.

"We know that well-managed sport and the right environment can make a huge impact on individuals' well-being," said Taniyev, assistant professor in the Department of Recreation Sciences and Sport Management and a former professional tennis player and collegiate coach.

"This collaborative project will help us gain a better understanding of the benefits of pickleball, and specifically, the social benefits for college students and older adults interacting with one another. We know sport has the potential to help bring a sense of normalcy to life and a way of bringing people together, so we want to test out the international generational benefits that pickleball seems to offer."

Students in sport management and other fields have gained practical experience at tournaments and in support of faculty research.

Marketing major and business scholar Kathryn Adkins, who assists with social media and photography for the Sport and the Community Development Lab, emerged as a student leader and pickleball advocate. She captured photos and played in matches during the most recent tournament.

"There's definitely a sense of community," Adkins said. "I've met so many people. It's been great to have a connection to the community. I think that my biggest takeaway is, obviously I love the sport, but the fact that it can bring people closer together is awesome."

Joyce Dixon, 74, enjoyed playing pickleball with ECU students.

"It's great," Dixon said. "They are very personable kids."

Schwartz is an associate professor of social work and director of the ECU Office of Healthy Aging. Her addition to this project has broadened her research profile.

"I have always valued the strength of academic and community partnerships, but sport as a community-building tool is new to me," she said. "I am grateful for the partnership that the Office of Healthy Aging has with the Sport and the Community Development Lab to make a difference in the ECU and greater Greenville communities. From a gerontological perspective, successful aging includes addressing physical and emotional components of aging, but this also includes other critical aspects of individuals' lives, including engagement in and with one's community. I am eager to learn how impactful the pickleball programming has been as a mechanism that supports the successful aging of individuals across age groups."

The clinics and tournaments led by ECU's researchers have tried to blend competitiveness with people learning the sport at their own pace.

"It was excellent," Dave Holec, 70, said. "You hear, 'Good shot,' or 'We'll get them next time.' It's very supportive."

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