Thousands of players and fans have signed a petition asking the organizers behind collegiate pickleball events to stop scheduling play on Sundays due to religious conflicts.
College pickleball’s rapid rise is colliding with a long-standing tradition — Championship Sunday.
More than 1,600 players and fans have reportedly signed a petition asking tournament organizers to stop scheduling collegiate finals on Sundays, saying the current setup forces religious athletes — especially members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — to choose between faith and competition.
"Many of the signers are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which not only owns BYU but is based in Utah — a power center of college pickleball, home to two of the top five teams in the country," reports Ben Brasch of The Washington Post .
The petition was created in September by Livvy Phillips, a 20-year-old Utah State University player.
“Players have to make that decision between our values and beliefs or letting my team down,” she said.
“It puts us in a position I think athletes shouldn’t have to be in.” The NCAA does accommodate players or teams from a couple-dozen schools "with written policies barring competition on Sundays or other days for religious reasons."
But pickleball is not an NCAA-recognized sport.
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