We are UCLA Pickleball, and while we officially got the title at the start of this school year, we have been hosting open plays and bringing the Bruin community together through pickleball for the past two years. With over 400 people walking up to our table at the Enormous Activities Fair, the interest for pickleball at UCLA only continues to rise.
Last quarter, we had many firsts as a club. We held our first tryouts with over 200 people. We held our first official practice on the newly painted pickleball courts at Sunset Rec. We had our first official fundraiser, where we raised $2585. We went to our first away tournament as a club in San Diego, where we placed 14th out of 27 teams and won a bid to Nationals in February 2025. And most importantly, this was the first time since the club's beginning where we were able to build a consistent competition team.
We are very grateful to be in this position, being able to utilize UCLA facilities and participating in the collegiate pickleball scene. And we have big plans for 2025. We have nationals in February in Las Vegas, and many more collegiate tournaments this coming quarter. What continues to remain a priority is working with UCLA Recreation and Club Sports to integrate an open play style into UCLA Club Pickleball. Since our beginning, we have hosted open plays for anyone in the Bruin Community regardless of their skill. However, due to our limited time on the courts, we unfortunately had to focus on solely maintaining a competition team for fall and winter quarter of 2024-2025. We will continue to keep everyone update, but our mission remains the same: bringing the Bruin community together through the sport of pickleball!
