Grodecki, Sutker win pickleball tournament

By Simran Singh, Online Contributor

Sophomore Brian Grodecki and junior Josh Sutker won the annual Peer Mediation-sponsored Pickleball Tournament on Monday, May 21. The registration fee per team was $5 and the proceeds, as in the case of all Peer Mediation-sponsored events, went to other events such as Cornucopia and the Health Fair.

Peer mediator sophomore Karl-Luis Neubig who participated in this year’s tournament, said that his love for racket sports was only one of the reasons that he decided to play this year.

“I play tennis on the Conestoga team, and I also play paddle tennis, but I also really enjoy table tennis and badminton,” Neubig said. “I just really like racket sports in general, so that obviously contributed to my desire to participate. But I also really wanted to come out and support Peer Mediation, considering how I’m a member of the team.”

Health and fitness teacher, as well as one of the Peer Mediation advisors, Marcia Mariani, explained how popular the tournament typically is, as well as the conflicts that caused the rescheduling of the event this year.

“We usually have a 32-team tournament. It’s a popular event,” Mariani said. “Due to various school events using the gyms, the event was rescheduled three times this year because players wanted us to have it. Unfortunately, the final date when the tournament was actually held did not permit a handful of senior teams to play in the tournament so we had fewer teams this year.”

Freshman Cecilia Mabilais commented on the tournament and how enjoyable playing in it was.

“The tournament was really fun, and I will definitely play again next year. I’m also on the tennis team and the paddle tennis team, so that drives me to participate in these types of events,” Mabilais said.

Neubig said the format of the tournament was different from previous years.

“I participated in the tournament last year and came in third place,” Neubig said. “This year’s format was different than last year, due to some teams dropping out last minute. So we had a double-elimination format for the first two rounds, but then single-elimination from quarter-finals onwards.”

Mariani also said how important events such as the Pickleball Tournament are in order to fulfill Peer Mediation’s mission.

“One of the Peer Mediation Team’s main initiatives is fostering and maintaining positive school climate,” Mariani said. “Therefore, all of our activities work towards achieving that goal – including the tournaments we run.”