USA Pickleball COLLEGIATE SPOTLIGHT
NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY
PICKLEBALL CLUB
By Hana Papaco
North Carolina State University ( NCSU ) Pickleball Club , USA Pickleball ’ s first collegiate Official Club Member , is making strides and proving that pickleball belongs in college athletics .
Founded in 2019 by fifth-year PhD candidate Robert Valdillez , the NCSU Pickleball Club has grown to reach more than 100 students on campus , with 35 who pay club dues and show up to practice on a regular basis . Jacob Smith , a junior at NCSU and president of the club , has helped Valdillez — now club advisor and USA Pickleball Ambassador — envision and pursue new goals in growing the collegiate pickleball game .
NCSU ’ s pickleball club took their goals to new heights when they planned to host the largest collegiate pickleball tournament , the Atlantic Intercollegiate Major ( AIM ). “ We searched for schools close by and messaged them about the tournament ,” explains Smith . “ We provided a $ 250 hotel reimbursement for any school that came , as well as $ 875 in prize money . We also worked to schedule the tournament to interfere as little as possible with classes .”
After months of planning , the AIM took place the weekend of April 9 & 10 . Saturday was a round robin through the singles and doubles events and each team ’ s record determined their positioning going into Championship Sunday . Six schools made the trip to Raleigh for the tournament , including University of North Carolina ( UNC ), UNC- Charlotte , James Madison University , University of Virginia , Southern Virginia University , and University of Florida ( UF ). Each team was asked to bring four men and four women for the variety
of round robin events ( bracket accommodations were made if a school did not have enough players ).
Prior to the tournament , Smith and Valdillez connected with Pickleball Den , which was the presenting sponsor and provided the software and the prize money for the tournament . “ Saturday ’ s round robin went smoothly because of Pickleball Den and how easy their software is to learn and run ,” says Valdillez . “ Players receiving text alerts for court assignments took a lot of work out of our hands and made everything run smoothly .”
After 2-4 hours of competition each day , UF took home the gold , UNC with the silver , and the host team , NCSU , took the bronze . CRBN and Rokne also donated paddles to award to the male and female MVPs of the weekend who had the best records , which were Django Chassang from UF and Sarah Carpenter from UNC .
When asked about how the tournament went , Smith replies , “ The feedback was overwhelmingly positive , which was great to hear . Every school said they enjoyed it , and some are now thinking about hosting their own tournaments .” Some advice Smith and Valdillez would give to college students interested in hosting their own tournament would be to start prepping months in advance . “ It ’ s more work than you think !” says Valdillez . Smith adds , “ We also contact sponsors . People want to get involved and can provide monetary assistance and prizes .”
In the future , Smith and Valdillez hope to host and play in more collegiate tournaments across the country . The NCSU Pickleball Club has shown that the future of college pickleball is ready for center court . •