For the past several months, a petition from Utah State University athletes to end Sunday competition for pickleball has been amassing support from athletes and supporters in Utah and beyond.
USU pickleball team president Olivia Phillips started the petition along with several team members. The impetus for the push was twofold—her own beliefs about athletic participation on Sunday and fairness to institutions with religious restrictions, including Brigham Young University.
Declan Homer, a founding member of the BYU team and supporter of the petition, explained that the National Collegiate Pickleball Association (NCPA) dictates current tournament schedules.
For many athletes, Sunday competition makes the most sense as it limits time away from school, work or other commitments. For Homer and his teammates, however, it blocks them from excelling in the sport they love in accordance with BYU’s Sunday play policy.
Teams under BYU Athletics, such as football and basketball, have a Sunday play exemption. However, club sports teams and other organizations such as BYU Model UN have no exemption and must forfeit Sunday tournaments under university rules.
While USU has no policy prohibiting it, Phillips and others are also members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She said they grapple with the decision to play or not.
“I don’t like playing on Sundays,” Phillips said. “I personally believe that Sunday should be a day of rest and of worship, and that no sports should compete on Sundays.”
She emphasized the resulting dilemma she and other team members face — when competitions roll around, she can either stay true to her personal values or fulfill her important role on the team.
“Do you choose your religious beliefs and those values? It's kind of a difficult decision, you don't want to let your team down,” Phillips said.
Phillips was pushed to make a change after competing in a regional tournament with BYU. Observing how the team had to voluntarily forfeit, combined with her own hesitancy to play, sparked the petition.
“(The BYU team) could make it to the playoff round on Sunday, but because of school policy, they have to pull out, which sucks,” she said. “After the second time it happened, I was kind of like ‘hey, wait, this isn’t fair for them.'”
Homer recalled how he felt having to opt out last year and how he presumes things will be going forward.
“To be honest, this first regionals was really hard,” he said. Thinking forward to next year’s nationals, he said, “(Even) if we go all the way, we will get knocked out automatically.”
Although the BYU Sunday play policy prohibits them from advancing for now, Homer said that he is “a big fan” of the rule.
"I made the choice very young that I’m not going to play sports on Sunday,” he said, and he has remained true to that commitment.
“I felt really good about it because I know that I was showing Jesus Christ that he’s my priority in life,” Homer said. “I love playing (sports), and I’m blessed with a healthy body, but at the end of the day, it’s God first. God’s got me, he’s got everyone and that’s who I support.”
While he has no complaints about the policy’s enforcement, Homer doesn’t want to choose between his love of the Savior and his love of pickleball. He hopes the petition will make the public aware of and sympathetic to their cause.
“That’s our goal, to get it so the public eye can help influence these organizations,” Homer said.
The NCPA, which oversees tournament scheduling, has acknowledged the petition and communicated personally with team leaders from BYU.
Noah Suemnick, a NCPA founder and fellow Christian, showed his support for the BYU Sunday play rule and the feelings of players at schools like BYU and USU.
“Sunday, keeping the Sabbath, it’s a big thing for me,” Suemnick said. He made it clear that he wants pickleball events to be spiritually uplifting and prays for guidance before making organizational decisions.
Suemnick emphasized that the main goal of the NCPA is to unite people through pickleball, and Jesus Christ must be part of that unity through in-tournament prayer. He fears that a schedule shift would block many from being in that faith-filled atmosphere.
“At this stage, I know that by holding tournaments Friday and Saturday, I would lose a lot of people that would be able to essentially hear the name of Jesus that would not have (otherwise),” he said.
Nevertheless, Suemnick is keeping an open mind for the future and is considering making special exceptions for BYU. Of the 10-12 upcoming regional competitions, the NCPA is considering making the Utah-specific contest from Friday to Saturday while leaving the rest as they are.
Phillips, Homer and their teammates are unsure exactly how much influence the petition will have or if a change will be made. All the same, they point to the innate culture of belonging and unity in pickleball as well as the high quantity of religious athletes as sources for change.
The petition has generated almost 2,000 signatures, and athletes like Phillips and Homer are anxiously hoping for a change that can bless every athlete on the court.