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Charlotte nonprofit finding unique way to provide more connections and networking through pickleball

Black Pickleball & Co. is building inclusion and fun for a diverse community through the popular sport.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The growing sport of pickleball is gaining attention in Charlotte and one of the city's local organizations is using the sport to help connect the Black community. 

Black Pickleball & Co. is a nonprofit that's helping gather the Queen City's diverse community to do more than just play the game. Kayla Brooks, the founder and president of the group, shared more about her vision with WCNC Charlotte.

“I consider us more to be a community. We bring people into the community," she said. "We just so happen to play pickleball.”

The nonprofit began in 2023 and is now trying to keep up with the growing sport as well as the city. 

“Charlotte is growing, it's very diverse, and we want to make sure people have opportunities to like meet people and to grow their network and things like that,” Brooks said. 

Every few weeks, Black Pickleball & Co. hosts events including open play that help players learn about the sport and about each other.

"When you do something that's cross-class, like pickleball, it doesn't matter what I look like, how much money I make," Brooks said. "If someone needs a fourth in the game, if I can play, I'm hopping in. And now we're having conversations about life, family, work, all the things, and now I just got a job offer.”

The Queen City has caught the bug. Jonathan Okafor began playing the sport because of Black Pickleball & Co. 

"It's good to have folks like us because it encourages more of us to come out here to play and have fun and get good at the sport and maybe make some new friends," he said.

The nonprofit's goal is to help a diverse community connect with each other within the Queen City and beyond. 

"Our hope is to also have chapters to be in other cities," Brooks said. "So the same thing that you experience here, maybe at a different facility, but you can go somewhere else. If you're part of our community, you can go to another city and find the same community and have a place to belong.”

Contact Myles Harris at mharris5@wcnc.com and follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.

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