Pickleball is the fastest growing sport in America and Webster’s Pickleball Club is advancing at a similar rate. Having been formed only last semester, the club is already sending a team to participate in the inaugural NCPA Pickleball Nationals to be held in San Diego next month.
Webster will be represented in four Division I categories – men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles. There is also a Division II tournament, for lower level teams.
Aiden Clayburn, the club’s president, said it all started when the NCPA reached out to the club through social media.
“Funnily enough, it’s through Instagram DMs (direct messaging),” Clayburn said. “We got a DM one day, from them [NCPA], and checked out their website and saw that everything was legitimate and decided to have a meeting with them.”
Qualifying for the nationals was not a problem, with the NCPA not being too stringent on their qualifying requirements. Clayburn said the organization recommends Division I competing players to be at a 4.5 DUPR level (Pickleball ranking system), but it is more of a suggestion rather than a rule. The highest ranked Webster player has a 4.1 Dupr rating.
However, the real obstacle was the hefty travel fee that accompanies a 3,000 mile round-trip journey. According to the club’s initial estimate, it was going to be $200 in registration, $600 in food, $1500 in lodging, $450 in driving and about $2,500 in flight charges.
But since then, Clayburn has managed to alleviate some of the financial constraints.
“I have been able to knock the flight fees down to $1,100. What initially attracted us to go to this tournament was they [NCPA] offered to pay upwards of $2,000 for flights,” Clayburn said. “So, I have sent them the receipts and hopefully we will be getting that reimbursement here soon.
“I applied for the Webster Student Grant Fund which gives up to $350 per student, and since we have five students going, they are going to be giving us $1,750. We just got that confirmation on Tuesday.
“We have other fundraising stuff we are doing as well. We just finished a Panda Express fundraiser, and we are currently waiting to get our estimate on how much we made from that.”
The club has another fundraiser coming up on March 3rd at Chipotle.
In terms of preparation for the tournament, the team has been practicing hard. Apart from playing during the club’s meeting times – Mondays, 9 to 10 p.m. at Kirkham Fieldhouse – the team also goes to Tower Groves Park during the more pleasant winter days to take advantage of the courts and lights. Clayburn mentioned the team would stay there until 11 p.m. practicing.
The club was hoping to compete in local tournaments to be battle-tested before journeying to San Diego, but with the nationals being only a month away Clayburn acknowledges that it is looking unlikely. Yet, he is optimistic and excited about the prospects of the team.
“This will be the first official ranking Webster will receive,” Clayburn said. “Since we are playing in D1, we will get an international ranking between 1 and 50 depending on how we play.”
Clayburn has been instrumental in not only making the Webster Pickleball Club a reality but also their participation in the NCPA Nationals. However, the team will be missing his services on the court, after he sustained a serious knee injury over winter break.
“It was quite literally my second day home. I was teaching someone how to play singles. I went to go hit a backhand, overstepped and hyperextended my right leg. That tore my ACL and ruptured my root lateral meniscus. So, quite literally from a misstep.”
Yet, Clayburn maintains a positive outlook and has busied himself with the coaching and management role within the team.
“This has given me a whole new lens at how to look at pickleball. I’ve been able to look in and get into the roots of pickleball. What makes good versus bad, what makes plays move, what makes them stop and how we can use that to help our team grow in strength.
“I’ve got a clipboard now and you can see me just on the side of the court, writing down plays,” Clayburn said. “I’ve created one called the hypotenuse that has an 80% success rate, so that is currently my role.”
Clayburn will be traveling to the NCPA nationals with the team and his guidance could be a valuable asset to the players.
Meanwhile, Preston Stewart, the Social Media Director of the club and a participating member in the Webster Nationals Pickleball Team, is “thrilled” about the upcoming tournament. Although initially intimidated by the prospect of playing against skilled D1 opposition, he relishes the competitive spirit Pickleball brings out in him.
“I look forward to being surrounded by people who also want to see this sport grow, especially at the collegiate level,” Steward said. “It is going to be a great time.”
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