Friendship without borders was the theme of a pickleball diplomacy trip that Montgomery County student-athletes took to China.
Over the weekend, the students premiered a documentary from the trip. MCM attended the premiere at the Washington, D.C. home of Chinese dignitaries who also hosted the students in Beijing.
In April, about 30 Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) student-athletes went to China for a 12-day, 3-city pickleball tour in Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Beijing.
“Relations between countries start with one relationship at a time, one interaction at a time. And that’s exactly what our student ambassadors did, the entire time in China and since then. And so, pickleball diplomacy just became a thing,” MCPS Systemwide Athletics Director Dr. Jeffrey Sullivan told MCM at the premiere event Saturday.
“Pickleball diplomacy” mirrors the phrase “ping-pong diplomacy,” which describes the exchange of table tennis players between the U.S. and China in the 1970s.
“You think 50 years ago or so, when relations were strained between the U.S. and China, the sport of ping pong brought the countries together,” Sullivan said. “And so, this delegation has embraced pickleball and the ambassadorship.”
“Pickleball diplomacy just means connection,” said Corinne Howard, who graduated as part of Richard Montgomery High School’s Class of 2025. “And it just means that diplomatic tie that really is the underlying theme for me personally. Because the overarching theme I would say, is just friendship. Just plain friendship and getting to know somebody across borders.”
The trip even got the attention of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who responded to a letter of gratitude from Sullivan.
The documentary, filmed by MCPS-TV, is available on the MCPS YouTube Channel.
