Sports and other extracurricular activities serve as an outlet for most everybody in the world. The vast variety of sports and activities that one can pick up is huge, and seems almost never ending. These activities can become a pillar in someone’s life, giving them hope, freedom, fun and peace. Things like sports can take someone away from the darkness that could be going on in their life, even if it’s just for a second.
A certain community could use the outlet of a sport or activity more than the average person. That community would be prison inmates. Locked in confinement, surrounded by not the best people to be around, and stuck to the same everyday routine. While, yes, prison inmates are where they are in life for a reason, and this is the life they chose, they still deserve empathy, and they still deserve to live their lives, and they still deserve second chances. One specific way prison inmates around America are being given an escape and a way to detox from the environment around them is pickleball.
If you haven’t been living under a rock for the past year and a half, you would know that pickleball has taken the world by storm. More than 36.5 million people played pickleball from August 2021 to August 2022, and the numbers keep growing, according to a new report by the Association of Pickleball Professionals released exclusively to CNBC. The reason behind this boom of popularity could be quite a few different things, but one thing for sure, it’s a fun and physically engaging experience that can easily shift your focus from stress, to hittin’ that tiny little pickleball. And that’s exactly the reason why Roger Belair thought to introduce it to prisons across the country.
Roger Belair, who is known as a pickleball pioneer, has traveled the country teaching pickleball to prison inmates, according to “PPAtour.com.” BelAir teaches the game and teaches a lesson, that no matter the age, race, or side that you are on, pickleball is for anyone and everyone. BelAir has brought enemies together, replaced fists with paddles, encouraged the discouraged, and created an uplifting and positive community in an environment that is the farthest thing from that.
Pickleball is not the only extracurricular activity that is being introduced to prison, and Grand Junction is introducing its own way of giving local inmates an outlet. Mesa County jail showcased an art show of various art pieces created by their inmates. Art serves as a form of expression for the inmates and allows them to escape from the violent, conformed place that they are in. Division Chief Henry Stoffel with Mesa County Sheriffs tells Western Slope Now the jail does what they can to help inmate’s lives enough to ensure they don’t come back to jail once released, according to “Westerslopenow.conm”.
Extracurricular activities, like pickleball, are proving to be game-changers in prisons, offering inmates a chance to learn, grow, and prepare for a better future outside the walls. Through Teamwork and discipline, these programs are not just a pastime; they’re stepping stones to rehabilitation and reintegration into society.
