The boys tennis team held a community pickleball tournament on Saturday, Jan. 6, at Chesterfield Mall. Students, parents and alumni all participated in the tournament.
Krishay Vanga, junior, played in the tournament with partner Arnab Chakraborty, sophomore. Vanga, a member of the j.v. tennis team, signed up to help the program.
“I want to be able to provide funding and things like that to Marquette tennis because we don’t get a lot of funding compared to a lot of the other sports,” Vanga said.
Vanga has played pickleball before, but found new enjoyment playing with friends.
“I think I’ve made a lot more connections playing pickleball and I feel like it’s just a really fun sport because it’s really affordable and really easy to work with,” Vanga said.
Tennis and pickleball have a number of similarities. Both sports involve hitting a ball back and forth over a net. Both can also be played in either singles or doubles. Tennis rackets and pickleball paddles are also shaped similarly. Also, both have rectangular courts divided in half by a net, with similar markings on the ground.
Alex Nelle, tennis coach, wanted a fundraiser that would excite people to get involved.
“It’s such a popular sport right now that everybody is playing, so we thought it would be a fun activity to get people together,” Nelle said.
Nelle said one plan of how to use the money raised is to add more benches near the tennis courts on campus to allow easier spectating of matches.
“We’re going to use the money to get more equipment for the program, giving back to the boys, and giving back to the community,” Nelle said.
The boys tennis team’s first game is scheduled for Mar 26.
Alex Chen, Class of 2023, partnered with Andrew Cook, junior, for the tournament.
“I just thought it would be nice to go see my friends again and also to force myself to get out of bed at 8 a.m.,” Chen said.
Chen heard about the tournament after a coach alumni reunion. He went in hopes to give back to the program now that he’s gone and to see it grow as a result.
“I hope that they get more funding,” Chen said. “It also helps get the word out more about the program, and we become more of a part of the community.”
