MUNCIE, Ind. — As the school year picks up, so do club sports. From diving to badminton, ball state offers a variety of sports for the student cardinals to participate in, but the flock seems to fly to one nest the most. And that sport, pickleball. After a successful first semester at ball state with just over 30 members, the club has to grab a few more paddles as they currently sit at 198 members. 

"Lots of different skill levels and people know the game and you can teach them. And making new friends is what this clubs very much about is meeting new people,” vice president Nolan Ely states. 

Although having high numbers may be good, it also poses some added problems for this exec board to figure out 

"The courts basically have three courts and that's 12 people on at once.  Even today it's a struggle with about 30. So getting 100 people to show up one time would be rough.” 

With these problems come future solutions to pave the way for these pickleball pros 

"We are planning on charging a small amount of dues, and also help, like bringdown the numbers of people who actually do want to show up and play, and give us more money for equipment, which we need.”  

These cards currently still nest in R-C 121, but that may change in the future as more cardinals enter the nest. They may be looking to move to the REC basketball courts for extra space to allow extra people to play in the future. To learn more about one of Ball State’s fastest growing clubs, visit their Instagram, @bsu_pickleball 

Contact Maxwell Robson with comments at maxwell.robson@bsu.edu.