Norup Students Play Pickleball with Seniors

On Thursday, September 21, Norup middle school students had the opportunity to play pickleball with senior citizens who live in Huntington Woods. This long-standing partnership has returned to Norup after a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic.

Pickleball started in 2018, when Huntington Woods resident Lenny Newman approached Norup’s physical education teachers (Tom Whinham and Corinne McCarthy) about starting the program. The program began in Fall 2018, and, according to Mr. Whinham, it became more popular every month. The program continued through 2019, until interrupted by COVID-19. 

Now that the program has resumed, the Huntington Woods residents will visit Norup every month and play pickleball with students during lunch time and gym classes. At lunch, all students are welcome to join in the fun. Student teams pair with the visitors to play seven-minute games. Some students had never played before, but learned so much from their pickleball mentors.

Mr. Whinham shared, “Lenny has really been the driving force behind the program. He and the other pickleball players were very anxious to share their love for the game and have fun with kids in the community. Yesterday's get-together was pretty strong evidence of that goal being met.