Shasta club partners with Klamath Basin Pickleball Association
After school ends for the day, a group of Shasta Elementary School fifth- and sixth-graders are ready for a different type of learning. They don helmets and hop on bicycles provided by the school and ride a couple of miles to Steen Sports Park to meet up with members of the Klamath Basin Pickleball Association.
Grabbing their paddles, the students join the adult volunteer teachers on the pickleball courts to learn the popular game. After an hour of pickleball, the students bicycle back to the school.
P.E. teachers Tiffany Poe and Ryan Dean organized the after-school pickleball club with help from the local pickleball association volunteers. Cec Amuchastegui was among the volunteers who greeted the students Wednesday.
“We thought it was great idea,” said Amuchastegui, a retired teacher and administrator. “It combines bicycling and pickleball and gives students a chance to learn the game.”
Around 20 students joined the afterschool club, which meets on Wednesdays and Fridays.
The two P.E. teachers offered the club as an opportunity for students to move beyond skills taught in class.
“Pickleball Club was a great way to incorporate two activities introduced during P.E. class into a fun and exciting outlet where students get the opportunity to move beyond the basic skills that were taught in class,” Dean said. “It was also a great way to get active community members involved and invested in our students’ activities and impact their lives.”
Poe agreed.
“It has been a lot of fun introducing a new life-long activity to our students,” she said. “We could not have done this without Cec and the other volunteers. Shasta would like to give a huge shout out to Klamath Basin Pickleball Association.”
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