Public schools in the southwestern Virginia town of Abingdon( population 8,290) have also been ahead of the pickleball curve. The sport has been part of the physical education curriculum for three years.
“[ The students ] really love it,” says Doug Grubb, a physical education and health teacher at Marion Middle School in Abingdon.“ Some days when we have free play and don’ t bring out the pickleball equipment, they offer to go inside and get it and set everything up.
“ I think it’ s the constant movement of the game that intrigues them the most.”
There is no database that tracks how many public schools include pickleball in their physical education classes, but industry estimates suggest that thousands of schools ranging from elementary to high school have adopted pickleball in some form.
Some of the reasons include that the sport levels the playing field— students with different athletic abilities
can play together, which fits PE goals of lifelong fitness instead of elite performance; pickleball paddles, nets and balls are relatively inexpensive; and schools can fit four pickleball courts on one basketball court.
Pickleball is a club sport at many high schools and a varsity sport in at least one school district: Montgomery County, Maryland. Pickleball has been a varsity sport in the county’ s 25 public high schools since the fall of 2024. The sport’ s popularity there is not surprising. It is where pickleball great Ben Johns was born and raised, and the pickleball equipment company JOOLA is headquartered.
“ Pickleball is gaining popularity at a rapid pace,” agrees Dr. Jeff Sullivan, the Montgomery County School District’ s director of systemwide athletics.“ What is exciting about pickleball is we are also able to engage students with disabilities in the sport, which provides additional participation opportunities.”
Kindergarten classes are introduced to pickleball with foam paddles and balloons at Boyd Elementary School in Springfield, Missouri.
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