Pickleball serves up community, social connections

Pickleball can be a connector, pairing ECU students with other students, faculty members and aging adults.

A bonus for players: no phone required.

“Pickleball is kind of my thing I can focus on and have fun and unplug,” said ECU student Roz Burgess, an entrepreneurship major in the Honors College and ECU pickleball club team member. “When I’m here, I don’t pick up my phone until I leave.”

The College of Health and Human Performance has hosted multiple pickleball tournaments along with clinics and community-based research led by Ollie Taniyev, Stacy Warner, Kindal Shores and Abby Schwartz.

Since those clinics and the first HHP and sport management pickleball tournament in December 2024, Taniyev has focused on the social benefits of pickleball.

“We know that well-managed sport and the right environment can make a huge impact on individuals’ well-being,” said Taniyev, assistant professor in the Department of Recreation Sciences and Sport Management and a former professional tennis player and collegiate coach.

“We know sport has the potential to help bring a sense of normalcy to life and a way of bringing people together, so we want to test out the intergenerational benefits that pickleball seems to offer.”

Students in sport management and other fields have gained practical experience at tournaments and in support of faculty research.

Marketing major and business scholar Kathryn Adkins, who assists with social media and photography for the Sport and the Community Development Lab, emerged as a student leader and pickleball advocate.

“There’s definitely a sense of community,” Adkins said. “I’ve met so many people. It’s been great to have a connection to the community. I think that my biggest takeaway is, obviously, I love the sport, but the fact that it can bring people closer together is awesome.”

Schwartz is an associate professor of social work and director of the ECU Office of Healthy Aging. Her addition to this project has broadened her research profile.

“I have always valued the strength of academic and community partnerships, but sport as a community-building tool is new to me,” she said. “From a gerontological perspective, successful aging includes addressing physical and emotional components of aging, but this also includes other critical aspects of individuals’ lives, including engagement in and with one’s community.”

The clinics and tournaments led by ECU’s researchers have tried to blend competitiveness with people learning the sport at their own pace.

“It was excellent,” said Dave Holec, 70. “You hear, ‘Good shot,’ or ‘We’ll get them next time.’ It’s very supportive.”