From Harvard Yard to Times Square: The Rise of Collegiate Pickleball

By: Elle Freedman, Brand Partnerships

Just a few years ago, pickleball barely existed on college campuses.

Today, it’s one of the fastest-growing movements in collegiate sports. Hundreds of universities are forming clubs, traveling across the country to compete, and building communities around a game known as much for its social energy as its competitive edge.

Across the United States, there are over 300 colleges with active pickleball clubs or teams, experiencing massive growth from only 17 schools in 2022. The sport is picking up speed and skill, with 200 competitive clubs and 4,000+ athletes participating in tournaments.

At the center of this movement is the Harvard Pickleball Club, which has emerged as the most influential program in the Ivy League.

The club was founded in 2023 by Harvard field hockey player and now member of the CityPickle Brand Partnerships team, Elle Freedman, during a campus-wide freeze on the creation of new student organizations at Harvard. The community was resilient despite the restrictions, with students showing up week after week to play wherever a net could be set up. Hundreds of students attended practices, with competitive teams forming alongside open-play sessions that welcomed players of all skill levels.

By the time the club was officially recognized, it had already established itself as a hub for pickleball on campus—and the first pickleball club in the Ivy League.

The club’s growth mirrored what was happening nationwide.

Collegiate pickleball has rapidly evolved from a grassroots club activity into an increasingly organized, competitive circuit. The Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating (DUPR) system now powers a national Collegiate Pickleball Tour, which includes campus regional tournaments, super regionals, and a national championship that brings together the country’s top collegiate teams.

Harvard has quickly become a force to be reckoned with in the national competitive scene.

Today, the club is led by seniors Luke and Austin, two founding members who have helped build the community in its earliest days. Under their leadership, Harvard secured an early bid for Harvard’s second DUPR National Championship appearance, where top collegiate programs gather to battle it out in the kitchen to be crowned the best team in the country.

As the club continues to grow, so has the support from the broader pickleball community.

For the second consecutive year, CityPickle is sponsoring the Harvard club in partnership with JOOLA, the official paddle partner of CityPickle. The partnership provides players with the best equipment in the game, uniforms, and support to connect collegiate athletes with the broader pickleball ecosystem and alumni.

That relationship reflects a larger trend: the continued rise of collegiate pickleball as a proving ground for the sport’s next generation of players.

And this spring, that momentum will take center stage.

On April 18, CityPickle will host its first-ever collegiate pickleball invitational in Times Square with Harvard Pickleball Club, bringing college teams together to compete in one of the most iconic locations in the world.

Only a few years ago, students were squeezing pickleball games into any space they could find on campus. Now, the club that helped pioneer the sport in the Ivy League, will step onto a court in the middle of Times Square, competing alongside other collegiate programs helping shape the future of the game.

From Harvard Yard to the heart of New York City, collegiate pickleball is just getting started.