Having a (Pickle) Ball: Sophomores Autumn Sun and Katie Murphy have made key changes to the Pickleball Club, while still preserving the fun nature of the club and carrying on their older sisters’ legacy

Then-freshman Autumn Sun didn’t want to go to Pickleball Club. It was a Friday afternoon and she had homework, which was her top priority, but her older sister and former president of the club, Sienna Sun, hustled her into the car anyway. 

They arrived at tennis court #10 in Harmon Park to meet 10 of Sienna’s friends — mostly from IB — including then-senior Kelly Murphy. Like most meetings, everyone parted ways after a few short rounds of playing to 11 points.

Four months later, after their older sisters and Pickleball Club members graduated, now-sophomores Autumn and Katie Murphy decided to continue the club as co-presidents. What started as another excuse for Sienna’s friends to spend time together has turned into a carried on club. 

Pickleball Club still meets at the same park, on the same court but this time with 32 students. Many of them show up in their matching bright blue sweatshirts that read “I HEART PICKLEBALL” that Katie and Autumn distributed and sold to the club.

After a popular request for a tournament from the club’s members since their first meeting this year, Autumn and Katie happily planned a tournament and promoted it on their Instagram account, @smepickleballclub, and GroupMe.

Runners and dog walkers stopped to stare at the group of students cheering on their friends performing chants normally heard in the student section at football games. According to Katie, a man even took a seat on a nearby park bench to watch the entire match, where sophomores Matthew Yarlagadda and Sam Burns beat Collin Ford and Chris Minto, taking the championship title. 

The finals match was a significant moment for Pickleball Club, according to Sun, since it turned into a football-level student section led with members of the club shouting the ‘Go Bananas’ chant along with other East chant classics.

“It was a bigger student section than at some of my real cross country meets,” Autumn said. “It was wildly successful and succeeded our expectations.” 

With all the commotion and excitement of the tournament, Autumn and Katie were surprised by the turnout compared to how many people would typically show up to last year’s meetings.

“We expected about 12 teams to show up — that was our optimistic estimate,” Autumn said. “There ended up being 18 teams total. And with the $3 entry fee [to help us pay to reserve the courts] we actually still went into debt.”

Besides the tournament, they advertise all the meetings and their merchandise. After partnering with the SME Student Store and countless days of designing and planning, Autumn and Katie were able to sell their sweatshirts. 

“I see people wearing those sweatshirts all the time in the hallways and my classes,” non-Pickleball Club member and sophomore Cayla Reeves said. “It’s like a cult.”

Autumn and Katie originally estimated to sell 25. They ended up selling 47 — almost five times the number of club members last year.

“We designed them ourselves without any help from any adult,” Autumn said. “[Science teacher and club sponsor Susan] Hallstrom knows that we’re responsible and trusts us to make decisions on our own. She doesn’t micromanage us at all and has a lot of trust in us.”

Being the sponsor for the past two years, Hallstrom is proud to see how Autumn and Katie have expanded the club.

“It is a much more actively engaged club this year,” Hallstrom said. “Last year when we were doing it we were hybrid so it was hard to do. [This year’s] social media presence also has been an extremely effective driving factor in drawing new members [in].”

Hallstrom’s thoughts and feelings towards Pickleball Club are nothing short of gratified and positive. 

“I like that our members are getting the opportunity to learn a lifelong sport,” Hallstrom said. “The students are learning to collaborate and work as a team.”

Autumn and Katie are proud of the growth of what used to be a small get together of friends and something to do after finals to what they built it to currently be in the span of three months. They both agreed that being co-presidents of the club is more than just another bullet point on their resume.

“For me personally, I think the Pickleball Club gives me something to look forward to and lead,”  Autumn said. “It gives me a sense of responsibility. It makes me so happy to be able to see everyone together and to think that [Katie and I] continue this legacy.”