NIH’s Newest Club Brings Pickleball to Campus

Have you ever wanted to play the fastest growing sport in the United States? Well, now’s your chance.

A new pickleball club has begun playing at a converted tennis court near Bldg. 60. Sponsored by the Recreation and Welfare Association (R&W), the club meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4 - 8 p.m. and Wednesdays from 7 a.m. - 2 p.m. for open social play.

Pickleball is a fun, fast-paced game that’s a combination of badminton, tennis and ping-pong. It’s played on a badminton-sized court with a tennis-like net and paddles that are slightly larger than table tennis paddles. Beginners of all ages and skill levels can quickly learn the rules. 

“Anybody can pick up pickleball,” said Tonya Lee, a management analyst with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and club co-president. “It’s more a game of strategy than physical prowess. No one should feel discouraged, even if they don’t think of themselves as athletic or don’t have the ability to play other sports.”

Lee doesn’t consider herself a “very sporty person,” but she fell in love with the welcoming community after taking a pickleball class. The people she played with taught her the rules and how to keep score. 

“Pickleball is something that we’ve wanted to bring to the NIH community for a long time,” she said. “It’s the happy hour of tennis.”

Those interested in joining don’t need any experience to play, said Lee. The club is a “no judgement zone” and its goal is to introduce the sport to anyone who wants to learn, so there are more people to play with.

Lee met the club’s co-president Liz Hackett a year ago. She heard that Hackett also played pickleball and, after a meeting, they made plans to play together. Soon after, they began thinking of how to bring the sport to NIH.

“I started playing pickleball during the Covid-19 pandemic as a way to stay active and safely socialize,” said Hackett, director of the Division of Administrative Operations for the Office of Research Services (ORS).

Hackett decided to co-found the club after she heard patients at the Clinical Center were looking for a place to play. After the graduate medical education program chair Dr. Nitin Seam asked about getting an underused tennis court near Bldg. 60 cleaned and repainted, a group of ORS employees, including, Leslie Pont, Wellness Program Manager, Gregg Nelson, amenities branch chief of the Division of Amenities and Transportation Services and Hackett, worked with their leadership to renovate the court. Once the court was repainted with lines for tennis and pickleball, the club was ready to start.

“NIH emphasizes diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility. There’s another evolution in this space around the idea of belonging,” she said. “Pickleball supports belonging in your community.”

Patients, staff and visitors of all ages and abilities can exercise together and get to know each other in a setting outside work.

To join the club, NIHer's must be a member of the R&W. For information, see: https://govemployee.com/nih/rw-membership/.

The courts are open to the NIH community on a first-come, first-served basis outside of designated NIH Pickleball Club social play hours and club-sponsored events. To stay up-to-date on the latest news about tournaments and leagues, and to schedule play time with other members, join the listserv at go.nih.gov/45iu4Sy.