Mone Langi hopes to grow pickleball, especially among youth, in Northland.
Mone Langi hopes to grow pickleball, especially among youth, in Northland.
What started as a curious-sounding sport with a plastic ball and a paddle is quickly becoming one of Northland’s fastest growing games.
A dedicated group of players is now working to make sure the next generation picks up a paddle too.
Pickleball might be one of the fastest growingsports in the world, but in Northland, the focus is not just on growing numbers.
At the Kerikeri Tennis and Pickleball Club, a small and passionate group is working to grow the sport, with a focus on getting more young people into pickleball.
Kerikeri Tennis and Pickleball Club member Mone Langi is one of the players hoping to change that. A regular on the courts around the region, he is improving his own game and helping the sport grow locally.
“It’s a new but fast-growing game. You don’t see many young players and that is one of the things I want to try and push, getting more youth involved.”
Mone Langi hopes to grow pickleball in Northland.
“We do have quite a lot of clubs here up north, but it’s just not at the level of play that you would like it to be. That’s one of the things I would want to try and push for, including the youth more.”
He recently helped organise an intermediate-level tournament with players from Kerikeri, Kaitāia, and Paihia. A more advanced tournament is planned for next month.
He will also begin a coaching course soon, with the goal of helping develop more structured coaching and higher levels of play.
“I think it will be a benefit for people wanting to develop their game,” he said.
Langi said pickleball is about more than competition, what keeps him coming back to the court is the social side of the game and how it brings people together.
“You meet a lot of new people from different backgrounds and different countries. A lot of people come to pickleball because that’s where they can socialise. When you play, everyone is the same and just having fun.”
He believed many young people have never been introduced to the sport.
“I’ve run a few youth sessions and the kids enjoy it, but it’s about getting them to see how exciting it can be. It’s not just hitting the ball, it can be competitive, strategic and it makes you think.”
Langi hopes more tournaments, youth sessions and coaching programmes will get youth involved and lift the sport’s level.
“The sport is growing and I would like to see it grow here like it has in other parts of the country.”
