Pickleball’s Popularity Spreads to the University of Florida

Pickleball has exploded in popularity.

According to a report by the Association of Pickleball Professionals, more than 36.5 million people played pickleball between August 2021 and August 2022. The report also noted that 14% of Americans played the rising sport at least once during that time period.

Pickleball has grown to such a level of popularity that there is now a professional league for the sport. Formed in 2021, Major League Pickleball is known to be the premiere product for the game. Sports celebrities like Tom Brady, LeBron James and Kevin Durant are all owners of MLP teams.

Pickleball in The Swamp

Known to be popular within retirement communities, the sport has now made its way to college campuses. In fact, the University of Florida was one of the first institutions to implement the new trendy sport.

“We are one of the first, maybe not the first, but definitely in Florida, I would say we probably are the first,” Michael Guyot said.

Guyot, the president of UF Club Pickleball, formed the group in 2021. Since then, the club has grown from around 70 players to about 200.

Although the rise in popularity played a role, he said he created the group to meet the need for an organized club.

“They had some intermural events,” Guyot said. “But there wasn’t really like a club for pickleball where there was, you know, for club tennis, club ping pong and stuff like that.”

UF Club Pickleball practices three times a week at the Southwest Recreation Center. During the sessions, students play casual, yet competitive, games of singles or doubles. The club also offers several beginner clinics for players who have yet to pick up the paddle. The ability for anyone, no matter the skill level, to come and play is something the club prioritizes.

“Having these places where people feel welcome,” Guyot said. “You know, that really kind of grows the entire sport as a whole and I think that that is kind of critical for the growth that pickleball has seen in the past few years.”

Competitive Side of Things

As for competition, UF Club Pickleball is all about it too, which allows players like Django Chassang to chase their dreams.

“I’m trying to go professional in pickleball,” Chassang said. “It’s the main reason why I’m still here at UF.”

The sophomore engineering student was the third-best college singles player in June 2022 according to the Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating. He contemplated taking the spring 2023 semester off to pursue his professional aspirations, but he decided to stay at UF for the tournaments the club allows him to play in.

Some of these events include the Gainesville Indoor Pickleball Showcase and the Atlantic Intercollegiate Major.

One of the bigger events Chassang has played in was the DUPR Collegiate National Championship. In November 2022, the inaugural tournament took place in Dripping Springs, Texas, just 23 miles west of Austin. UF Club Pickleball was one of the 16 teams invited to Dreamland Dripping Springs, a venue known for its pickleball courts. Although the club lost in the group stage, Chassang and his teammates enjoyed the experience.

“It was awesome to see like pickleball, like in the college setting,” Chassang said. “All the colleges hyping each other up. Um, it was, it was a lot of fun.”

Club Wants NCAA

The national recognition of pickleball as a professional sport has yet to reach the college scene. At this moment, the NCAA does not see the paddled game as an official college sport. But the DUPR Collegiate National Championship was a big step toward the UF club’s goal of pickleball becoming an NCAA sport.

“I think that because it’s so new, a lot of people don’t really know what it is or don’t really give it, I guess, like the respect that it deserves,” Guyot said. “So I think that having that kind of NCAA aspect will definitely help it kind of get the respect it deserves.”