Pickleball is finally starting to get noticed by high school interscholastic associations.
Utah’s and Kentucky’s state associations have made pickleball a provisional sport—the first step to becoming an official sport.
Maryland became the first state to have high school pickleball recognized as an official varsity sport by a school district when Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) piloted an 11-school league in the fall of 2023.
The league, run as a corollary sport, expanded to all 25 district schools the next year and is now in its fourth year. The district’s corollary sports programs combine students with and without disabilities.
USHSPA talked with Dr. Jeffrey Sullivan, director of systemwide athletic for MCPS, about how the district got pickleball recognized as an official sport.
Goodbye Handball
High school handball was on the decline in the school district and the MCPS was looking for a sport to replace it. While Sullivan was on vacation, he realized how easy it was for anyone to pick up pickleball.
After discussions with other district officials, MCPS officials decided to test pickleball as a corollary sport with a limited number of schools. It was such a big hit, the league expanded the next year to all of the schools in the district.
“Our process took about a year,” said Sullivan. “We talked about it over the course of the year and decided to pilot pickleball. That pilot season went very well and we decided to expand it to all 25 schools. We’re entering year four this fall and it’s been awesome. We’re looking at between 350 and 400 student athletes every fall playing pickleball.”
Getting Approval and Buy-In
Sullivan said there were no objections regarding funding or facilities from any of the schools or athletic directors when the program was being formulated. He said that starting with a pilot period helps make proposing any new sport (such as the district’s recent addition of flag football) more acceptable to parties who are going to be affected.
From a budget standpoint, because handball was being phased out, that money could be moved to help fund the pickleball program. The fact that the district’s tennis facilities were idle in the fall also helped.
“All of those things created a space for us to able to do this from a funding perspective, so it worked out very well for us,” said Sullivan.
MCPS also found grant money for painting pickleball lines on its tennis courts and partnered with Joola, a pickleball equipment company headquartered in the district.
JOOLA donated nets, paddles and balls needed for every participating high school. The company also designed and provided the first varsity pickleball uniforms for the district. It also arranged for coaching education through RacketPro.
“Joola has been a great partner over the years,” said Sullivan. “Richard Lee is the CEO and their headquarters are here, so having them as a partner has been very beneficial. I would encourage other school districts to look for those types of opportunities for partnerships,” advised Sullivan.
The Format
“We run five competition matches per dual match,” said Sullivan, “If you win three of those five, you win the match. Schools can also play exhibition matches on top of that.”
The matches are mixed gender co-ed (meaning two boys can play two girls or a girl and a boy), but as the program evolves, the district will consider girls, boys and mixed doubles matches, as well as singles lines, said Sullivan.
“I was just at a school the other day where they have close to 40 students signed up for pickleball, so as a school district, we’ve got meet those needs.”
Time of Year
MCPS holds its tennis season in the spring, so the district scheduled pickleball for fall, when the tennis courts weren’t being used. The tennis courts now have permanent pickleball lines on them and use portable nets during the fall season.
County Tournament
In addition to the league, the county has a championship tournament, similar to how states run state championships at the end of the season for their varsity sports.
“We’ve expanded our county championship tournament by adding more flights to it to get more students involved,” said Sullivan. “We have open brackets, where any students on the team, with or without disabilities, can participate.
“Pickleball has become highly competitive, so we’ve had to modify our program to expand and meet the needs of our students. It’s going to continue to evolve here and we’d love to see some other school districts get it get it in and work toward a state competition.
More Schools Reaching Out
Sullivan said he’s been inundated with requests from other school districts about MCPS’s program. “I’ve lost track of the number of emails or phone calls or Zoom meetings I’ve done with people to share our journey and what we’ve done.”
With the success of programs like MCPS’s, Utah’s strong state organization, Arizona’s annual state high school championships, growing leagues in Southern California, the designation of pickleball as a provisional sport in Kentucky and Utah and the formation of the U.S. High School Pickleball Association, pickleball is poised to become a varsity sport much sooner than anyone expected at this point.
Use all of the resources at this site to help build your school program, area league or state program, launch a state high school pickleball association or get pickleball in the pipeline to added to your state’s list of official high school sports.
