The 2024-2025 school year for Einstein has come with the addition of a new varsity sport - pickleball. MCPS announced the addition of pickleball to all 25 high schools in the district in an attempt to create a more inclusive sports environment. 

The sport of pickleball consists of a paddle-based sport where two or four players hit a small, plastic ball over a 34-inch-high net in an attempt to score points. Pickleball was one of the two sports added to Montgomery County varsity sports this year, right next to women’s flag football. The pickleball teams also include special education students as part of the team roster so that there are more sports students with special needs who can play. Allowing more students in Montgomery County of all ranges to be able to look to play in more racket sports. 

Einstein’s pickleball team is coached by school security guard Westley Sye. Coach Sye is in his sixth year at Einstein as a security guard and chose to coach pickleball. Sye is experienced in the sport and can only express happiness of its  expansion to all of Montgomery County. 

“I am really excited that they added this sport to the county curriculum,” Sye said.

Sye believes that pickleball should be more recognized as a varsity sport in schools so more students have the opportunity to play. 

“I think it’s important to incorporate other net sports besides badminton and tennis,” Sye said. “Pickleball is a great opportunity to get people who aren’t usually athletic into the mix.”

Sye describes the coaching experience as a “fun time” as he got to coach a diverse mix of students. 

“It was a little different having our gen-ed students work with our non-gen-ed students,” Sye said. “But I thought it was fun to coach these students and I hope I’m able to do it again next year.”