ST. GEORGE, Utah — Pickleball is a sport usually associated with Baby Boomers and up, but Utah Tech University’s Pickleball Club is has students preparing to play for a national championship in the DUPR Collegiate league, the only pickleball collegiate league in the country.
To help students prepare for collegiate play, Utah Tech has secured scholarship funding from UCP to cover six credit hours for each recipient.
This funding is available to both players and club leaders; inaugural recipients of the scholarship are Dylan Ciampini, Averee Beck, Logan Rosenbach and Kylar Lemmon.
“It means a lot to be a part of an organization and community that not only have the best collegiate pickleball talent in the nation, but also come together to invest their resources back into our students,” said Pickleball Club President Hunter Aiono.
Utah Tech’s team finished second in the country last year and was ranked No. 1 in collegiate pickleball power rankings at the beginning of the school year.
They have already qualified for the national championship in Georgia in November.
In addition to the pickleball team, the Pickleball Club hosts a weekly club night that is open to all students and attracts more than 80 students each week.
Utah Tech has renovated six pickleball courts on campus to meet the growing popularity of the sport.
“Pickleball is absolutely blowing up and shows no sign of stopping,” Aiono said. “This is especially true on the collegiate scene.”
