Juniors Evan Gorodetzky, Yedidya Milner-Gillers, Nathan Szubin, Joshua Berl and Jonah Berman were walking through the Moti’s parking lot a few weeks ago when they noticed something they had never seen before: a pickleball court. Little did they know this would become a focus of their Community Time (CT) over the next few weeks. They had discovered a pickleball establishment only a few minutes walk from CESJDS.
In an alcove of the Moti’s parking lot lies an attraction that has been a highlight of many CESJDS students’ free time over the past few months. Dill Dinkers is a company that lets people rent out pickleball courts, and its popularity has quickly risen in the JDS community.
For the past few weeks, many JDS students have been going to Dill Dinkers, often during CT and after school. It is only a five minute walk from the school, and it gives students a fun and active thing to do during free time.
“I haven’t played pickleball in a while. It’d be so fun to get my friends to play,” Milner-Gillers said after he walked by Dill Dinkers for the first time.
He immediately gathered his friends to scope out the courts, which they realized were once an old trampoline park that had been converted into pickleball courts.
“They looked [like] very new, fresh courts,” Milner-Gillers said.
Dill Dinkers is open every day during the school day. In addition, it is also open on Wednesdays and Fridays after school until seven p.m. The current pricing is $7.50 per person per session and it must be paid for by credit card. Students can create accounts if they don’t want to bring a credit card every time they play and can make reservations on their Dill Dinkers.
Dill Dinkers is a chain of pickleball venues throughout Montgomery County and Prince George’s County. They have locations in Manassas and Rockville among others. This specific venue only opened late last school year.
Dill Dinkers has nine courts in their North Bethesda location meaning that most days, there is no wait time. They also offer pickleball lessons for an extra cost if people want to improve their skills. Dill Dinkers also sells rackets and other equipment for people that would like to play in other places.
“[Pickleball] is basically like tennis and ping pong. It’s very aerobic though. So you can run around and play lots, you can hit the ball,” Szubin said. “It’s just a lot of fun because it’s a great way to get aerobic exercise during lunch.”
Because a lot of students have been going to Dill Dinkers, the athletics department is making efforts to get a discounted price for kids from JDS. Right now, students are paying the member pricing but hope that they can develop an organized partnership like they have with other activities, such as rock climbing.
On Nov. 12, the school held a pickleball tournament at Dill Dinkers to raise money for Israel. Students paid $12 dollars per person and half of that was donated. Because of the increased interest in pickleball among the students, JDS decided it would be a great way to raise money.
Pickleball has spread very quickly in America over the last few years, but it has mostly been popular for adults. It appealed to adults because it is not too strenuous a sport but still provides a challenge. For students who need to return to school afterwards, this makes it the perfect sport to have fun but not lose all their energy or get too sweaty.
“We love having kids come through here. I think it’s definitely an area where pickleball is played a lot,” Dill Dinkers North Bethesda owner Sam Morris said. “And it’s an easy, fun thing for anybody to pick up.”
