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Reid Jarjosa

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For anyone who thinks pickleball is just for those with an AARP card, Reid Jarjosa is prepared to set them straight.


Jarjosa, a Detroit Country Day School junior, is the founder and operator of City Pickle, a nonprofit organization he created in 2022 to engage youth in the city of Detroit to be more active and healthy through the sport of pickleball.


“I'd been playing it with family in the summer of 2022, and it's really fun,” Jarjosa recalled. “I wanted to share it with other kids.”


The impetus for City Pickle was born during a school trip he took in eighth grade to the city of Detroit, where the Birmingham resident “saw a lot of unused tennis courts that were rundown and looked like they hadn't been used in years,” Jarjosa said. “I thought, 'Why aren't kids playing racquet sports? Pickleball is great – it's a slower pace, it's really fun, it's active and it gets them off their phones.'”


He reached out to a local Boys & Girls Club of Southeastern Michigan his freshman year of school, because they provide after school activities in their recreational centers. He was wondering if they had any availability for pickleball instruction – and they had an available slot at their Dick & Sandy Dauch Club on Tireman Avenue on Detroit's west side. Suddenly, City Pickle was born.


“I had a couple of friends from DCD and a few other Birmingham friends, who attend Groves and Seaholm High Schools, who also needed community service hours who had been playing pickleball and know how to teach kids,” Jarjosa said. “Over the summer I was able to connect with some college kids who were home who were interested in getting involved, because pickleball is really big on college campuses.”


In not quite three years, City Pickle has had over 3,000 students involved in their program. They have expanded to six Boys & Girls Clubs and four City of Detroit Parks and Recreation locations.


During the school year, City Pickle offers after school instruction two to three times a week. Come summer, students enjoy it five days a week.


“Some of the kids have gotten really good,” Jarjosa said. “Some of the volunteers are able to make a deep connection with the kids.”


It's a bond that goes well beyond the pickleball court, Jarjosa emphasized.


“For the kids, I've seen them become more active and prioritize health and being more physical,” he said. “Learning a new sport and being exposed to a racquet sport and have that eye-hand coordination is so important. Pickleball is much easier than tennis, it's really active, the ball moves a little slower so kids can pick it up a little faster, and the court is smaller so it takes up less space in a gym.”


For Jarjosa, he said it's taught him how privileged he is, especially compared to many of the kids they teach.


Over the Christmas holidays, they held a toy drive to give back to their kids, and partnered with West Bloomfield's PickleRage, “where some members bought a gift and we gifted them to the kids. We gave over 100 gifts.”


Over March's spring break, the Boys & Girls Club will bus their new City Pickle players to PickleRage so they can play with professionals and have a pizza party.


Jarjosa plans to stay involved when he attends college, with a younger cousin leading operations but keeping an eye on the nonprofit, and playing and teaching in the summer. He is also looking at expanding City Pickle to other cities, including Chicago and New York. He's looking at partnering with the Boys & Girls Club of Chicago in the same way as he did in Detroit.


Story: Lisa Brody

Photo: Matthew Cromwell

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