Hispanic Heritage Month ends on Oct. 15, and Pickléros Madison plans to mark the day with paddles, music and Latino community pride.
The Latino pickleball group is hosting a social open-play night at Dill Dinkers Pickleball, 5004 Tradewinds Pkwy., on Madison’s far east side. The event starts at 7 p.m. Admission is $14 and covers three hours of open play, music by DJ Choko Loco, and light snacks and refreshments from a Mexican restaurant. Beer is available for purchase. Extra paddles will be on hand, though players are welcome to bring their own. Tickets are available at this link.
Organizer Allison Mead said the night is not a tournament, or even particularly competitive, but rather “fun social open play.”
Dill Dinkers can host 70 people, and Mead said the goal is to fill the building. Beginner, intermediate and advanced sections will be offered, so first-timers are welcome. The Latino Professional Association is sponsoring the DJ. Attendees are encouraged to wear a flag, jersey or something else that represents their heritage.
Mead said the event is built for more than rallies. “People don’t have to come and just play pickleball. There’s opportunity for networking and dancing also,” she said. “So really pushing that message of, let’s just be out in the community, celebrate our different cultures, play pickleball.”
Pickléros Madison is “super super new,” Mead said. The group was founded this summer, but its core, primarily Latinos, has been playing together for three summers.
“Slowly but surely, just through word of mouth and posting, the group started getting larger and larger,” she said. Eventually, members started asking about meetups and the group decided to get more organized.
Pickleball was an easy fit as a way to bring people together, Mead said. “It’s one of the largest, fastest-growing sports in the U.S. right now,” but she said it “tends to lean on the older side of age ranges,” and the group noticed a lack of diversity in the sport. The group wanted to “unite the Latino community, but also people of all different backgrounds, all different ages as well.”
Relatively low cost helps, she said. “You get a paddle for Amazon for 10 bucks or upgrade to a $200 once you’re ready,” she said.
Mead also sees the sport as an alternative to the club scene for younger adults. Members can “still listen to great music normally in Spanish,” she said, but with an activity that “doesn’t necessarily require a 10 p.m. start time.”
Because Dill Dinkers is indoors, the group can keep playing through the winter. Mead said the facility, which opened less than two years ago, shares the group’s goal of broadening who plays. She said Dill Dinkers’ staff were upfront that they would rather work with groups already doing that work.
Last month, Dill Dinkers hosted a free clinic for 12 Pickléros members, with a Spanish-speaking coach and instruction in English and Spanish, for people who had never played.
More information is on the event’s Instagram page.
