MCPS Student-Athletes Premiere ‘Pickleball Diplomacy’ Documentary in Washington, D.C.

Pickleball Diplomacy: Student-Athletes to Ambassadors, a new documentary highlighting the international exchange of 30 student-athletes from Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), premiered July 12 during a red carpet event in Washington, D.C.

The event brought together the delegation following their April visit to Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing. The exchange, part of a broader initiative to bring 50,000 U.S. youth to China over five years, used sport, specifically pickleball, as a tool for cultural connection and diplomacy.

The documentary, now available on the MCPS YouTube channel, details how the student-athletes built cross-cultural friendships through sport and represented their schools as informal ambassadors abroad.

 Chinese subtitles version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDRubHNfC-E

As the program continues to gain momentum, members of the delegation will be honored at the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, Aug. 2.