Sports clubs at Poly provide students with an opportunity to discover activities outside of the mainstream sports teams. Several of these student-run clubs have popularized within the Poly community, welcoming everyone, regardless of grade or experience, to explore a range of sports.
Recently, a particular club has caught the attention of Upper School students across the board: the Ultimate Frisbee Club. Ultimate Frisbee is run by three seniors: Joseph Littleton, Zach Pelson, and Kenyon McMahon. While explaining the team dynamics, Littleton stated, “Our entire team is composed of athletes from different sports, and we just wanted to find something simple that we could all play together.” Student-athletes are given the opportunity to make connections and new friendships because of their shared interest in Ultimate Frisbee.
Sports such as pickleball have become “very popular all over the country,” according to senior Noah Yaffe, one of the founders of the Pickleball Club alongside Amber Dosik ’25, Ryan Geisler ’25, Dash Hort ’24, Jake Gil ’24. Yaffe wanted to help create the club because he “thought it would be a great opportunity to take something that [I have] grown to love and bring it to Poly.” Along with the love Yaffe and his fellow captains have for pickleball, it allows students to experience the same love they share with the sport.
Like all other sports, experience always starts from the beginning. Tennis, a sport very similar to pickleball, is where Yaffe and his friend, senior Jake Gil, established a relationship with this racket sport. Yaffe stated, “Jake and I have always loved racket sports in general. We both play tennis for the Poly team.” Although the rules of the two racket sports are similar, pickleball is a fun twist as opposed to the game of tennis. “It was an alternative to tennis. When I got bored of tennis, I played pickleball,” said Gil.
For many members of Poly sports clubs, summer is a great time to take advantage of practicing and training for the following season. Juniors Athan Hatzigeorgiou and Jackson Cohen, captains of the Spikeball team, decided to create their club after playing over the summer and “developing a love for the game,” said Hatzigeorgiou.
Cohen practices spikeball “About three days a week outside of school.” Both Cohen and Hatzigeorgiou play spikeball in Manhattan, and Hatzigeorgiou adds, “We have a group of friends that are all in Tribeca, so we all play together.” Hatzigeorgiou and Cohen are members of a group outside of school, and they have introduced this community to Poly by establishing a club.
