Portland pickleball brings seniors and students together

Seniors and students spent the morning together at Portland Tennis & Education in North Portland’s St. Johns neighborhood, mixing pickleball with arts and crafts and a set of shared activities built around intergenerational connection. The June 23 gathering at 7519 North Burlington Avenue turned the court into more than a place to play, using one of amateur pickleball’s most accessible formats to bring different age groups into the same space.

Portland Tennis & Education, or PT&E, describes itself as a 501(c)(3) social impact racquet center that offers accessible and affordable tennis and pickleball programs for all, with no membership required. The organization says its racquet programs operate on a sliding scale so cost is not a barrier, and that 100% of revenue from those programs goes back into student and local community programs. Its mission is to foster lifelong well-being through play, learning and connection, with equitable access for people of all ages, identities, abilities and backgrounds.

That structure matters for pickleball because it makes the sport easy to fold into programming that is not built around competition alone. PT&E says its pickleball lineup includes youth programs, open-play mixers, including 55+ sessions, drill clinics, private and small-group instruction and competitive opportunities. It also hosts the Queer Pickleball League and QTBIPOC Pickleball Mixers, extending the game into spaces designed for specific communities as well as mixed-age play.

The organization says it has impacted more than 18,000 youth since 1996, and that each student and family receives up to 1,000 hours of annual support. PT&E also says all local high school seniors who have participated in its programs since its founding have graduated on time, a result it points to as part of its broader youth-development work. That record helps explain why a simple pickleball morning can carry more weight than a one-off recreation event: it fits into a system where court time, instruction and community contact are tied directly to longer-term support.

For schools, rec centers and clubs looking for a template, the Portland session showed how pickleball can do more than fill a schedule. At PT&E, it functions as a practical tool for bringing seniors and students together while helping fund the programs that keep the center running.