By Millie George, Staff Writer
Two River Hill High School clubs joined together to put on a local pickleball tournament fundraiser to give back to the Howard County police department and bring a fun competition to the community.
Co-presidents of the Heroes United Club, a group that works to give back to local first responders, juniors Sydney Case and Ester Balakirsky joined hands with the president of the Pickleball club, Milan Shah, to put on an exhilarating, community-building event. River Hill’s Heroes United Club works to give back to the local first responders, while the Pickleball club organizes events to give students the opportunity to participate in the sport. Shah said, “I think the Heroes United club is a great cause, so it was cool to collaborate.”
The tournament consisted of a bracket of 40 teams, which eventually dwindled down to just two teams dueling it out for a 65 dollar gift card. The final round consisted of “The Paddles” and “The Sinners, with “The Paddles” coming out on top. First-place winner Krupesh Patel said, “My friends and I play pickleball a lot, so we always love a good competition”.
Runner Up Shivan Narula said, “Our opponents deserve the win, but we will get them next time.” Narula and his teammate Arman Moinfar are both players on the River Hill tennis team. Moinfar said, “We figured tennis and pickleball are pretty similar, so we felt like we had a decent shot.”
This fundraiser was not only a great way to raise money for the clubs to donate, but it was also an educational experience as presidents of the Heroes United Club were able to bring in a handful of police officers, K-9 police dogs, and technical drones for demonstrations. Between matches, participants were able to converse with the officers and learn a little bit about their everyday profession. One of the officers and his K-9 demonstrated a searching procedure throughout the field. “The dog was able to find the objects so fast, I was shocked,” said freshman Hunter El Sawi.
Together, the club was able to raise 1,000 dollars for the Howard County Police Department. The entrance fee for each team was 30 dollars, and the fundraiser accepted any donation. Case said “It was really exciting to reach our goal of 1,000 dollars, and an even better feeling to know that it is going to our local police.”
Through this fundraiser, both clubs were able to bring attention to their causes, and bring a little competition to the community. Balakirsky said “this was a great opportunity for everyone to have a little fun, and give back to the community. We hope to raise even more money for our police department in future events.”