The sounds of cheering, laughing, and competitive banter filled the Carlmont tennis courts on Sept. 13 as crowds of people gathered for a student versus staff pickleball tournament.
The tournament was hosted by Carlmont’s Pickleball Club and had two divisions for players at the intermediate and advanced levels. Although both levels ended with a student versus staff match, the staff ultimately took home both wins.
Seniors Leonard Jin and Donovan Dooley made their way to the top of the intermediate bracket to compete in the finals against teachers Greer Stone and Connor Fenech.
“There was a lot of tension; I was kind of hoping that we’d win so during class, Mr. Stone wouldn’t brag about it,” Jin said.
Both pairs worked well together with easy agility and fast footwork, but Stone and Fenech were determined to keep their undefeated streak. The two playfully taunted their opponents with quips about their performances on the court and in the classroom, causing student spectators to laugh and cheer for their classmates. In the end, Stone and Fenech took a strong lead and won 11-8.
“I think it was a nice reminder to them that we’re about double their age and still running circles around them on the court,” Stone said.
After the intermediate match was declared over, attention turned to the advanced bracket as brothers Nico and Andrew Cruz got mauled by math teachers Carlos Flores and Rebecca Pearlman. In the entire tournament, Flores and Pearlman lost one point to students.
“Sometimes when you win early, you tend to let up, so you have to stay fierce once you get that lead,” Pearlman said.
Pearlman has been playing pickleball since spring of 2020, so students weren’t surprised at Flores and Pearlman’s domination on the court, who won their final match 11-0.
“I knew they would do good. For pickleball, age and athleticism don’t really play much of a role. It’s more control. I definitely anticipated it but I didn’t think it’d be that brutal,” said club co-president Brandon Wu.
This was the first official tournament that Pickleball Club was able to host. They have organized matches before, but nothing on as big of a scale as this one.
“It was kind of something we were thinking about when we started the club in sophomore year. This year, we decided it’s our senior year, we might as well try with all of our new teachers and all of our past teachers,” said club founder Gabriel Rui.
Last year, Carlmont added pickleball lines to the tennis courts and bought new nets for students to use during P.E. or for recreation. This allowed the club to easily execute a tournament at a big size, using six tennis courts for 12 pickleball courts.
“We had Ms. Pearlman email a form to everyone, and somehow, it was very successful. Then word of mouth spread, and we got 52 people who filled out the form, and then we had to say no, and people still showed up just to watch,” Wu said.
Senior and co-president Ambrose Boyle was also very pleased with the turnout.
“I honestly wasn’t expecting that we would be able to get this many teachers. The amount of people showed up, students and teachers, and we even got the principal,” Boyle said.
The club officers are ready to plan more events like this in the future and hope that this tournament will inspire more students to join. Although Pearlman is retiring this year, she is excited about where this tournament will lead the club.
“I think once people who participated talk to other people who didn’t participate, it might get even bigger,” Pearlman said. “I hope that everybody gets out there and has a good experience and that there are opportunities for people new to pickleball.”
