Jason Cho '27, of Atlanta, was outraged when the park where he'd spent his youth playing basketball removed two hoops to make room for a pickleball court.
"I had never heard of pickleball before," said Cho, a hotel administration major in the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration.
As a high school senior, Cho and his friends finally gave the game a try - and he quickly became obsessed.
Cho is president of the Cornell Pickleball Club.
"Now, it totally consumes everything I do in sports," said Cho, whose newfound passion for the fastest-growing sport in the country has helped propel the Cornell Pickleball Club to unexpected heights in its inaugural season.
The club's competitive team won its group at the 2025 Collegiate Pickleball Tour's New Jersey Super Regional, held March 1-2 at Robbinsville Pickle House. By advancing to the quarterfinals, Cornell earned an invitation to the 2025 Collegiate National Championship, April 11-13 in Peachtree, Georgia, just outside Atlanta.
"I'm really proud of just where they came from and how much passion and enthusiasm they have," said Sabel Bong, assistant director at the ILR School's Office of Career Services, who serves as the club's adviser.
An avid pickleball player himself, Bong said when Cho approached him to be the adviser of a new club, he had no idea what that would entail.
"But I love the sport," Bong said. "I see my role as really just to support them in any way they need me, and also to connect them with pickleball community members."
The racquet sport, with roots in tennis, badminton and table tennis, was once considered an activity for senior citizens wanting to stay active. It has morphed into a phenomenon, with a national governing body and estimates of nearly 14 million people in the U.S. playing the game regularly.
Since the Cornell club is new and doesn't yet have any alumni, club officers spend a lot of their free time thinking about how to raise money for their trips.
Rachel Zhang '27, a student in the ILR School and the club's programming manager, said the trip to regionals was made possible because the entire five-member team stayed at her family's home in New Jersey.
"My mom put down mattresses and made us breakfast each day," Zhang said. "And now she's asking how we're going to get to Atlanta. She is super involved."
For the upcoming trip to nationals, Cho said they will be taking advantage of the competition's proximity to his family home in Atlanta.
"My mom is very supportive, and she'll be hosting however many of us travel to nationals," Cho said.
While the competitive team practices every day, the club also helps grow the game at Cornell by hosting weekly play for anyone interested in the sport. The sessions, at Pickleball Mania, in the Shops at Ithaca Mall, regularly draw dozens of players.
Richard Li '26 serves as vice president.
Cho said as many as 200 interested pickleballers come to the group's weekly gatherings.
"We fill the six courts at Pickleball Mania, and there are usually at least 10 to 15 people waiting on the sidelines to play," he said.
Pickleball Mania is owned and operated by Lesa Carter, MPS '94, Ph.D. '01, a certified pickleball instructor.
"Lesa sponsors the club," Cho said. "We wouldn't be practicing right now if we didn't have her support."
Richard Li '26, the club's vice president, transferred to Cornell this year from the University of Virginia, where he said the game already had a firm foothold.
"I was introduced to the game my freshman year by my roommate," said Li, a mechanical engineering major in Cornell Engineering. "It was already huge there, and they had a lot of courts."
Upon arriving at Cornell, Li was struck by the lack of dedicated places to play pickleball. He worked with Cho in getting the club off the ground and takes great pride in how quickly the club has grown and how the team has performed on bigger stages.
"We're still a smaller, newer club, and we're taking on these more established schools that are bringing four or five teams to a tournament," Li said. "Now we're representing Cornell and that brings us a real sense of pride."
