$30,000 on the Line: The Battle for Collegiate Pickleball Supremacy Ignites in Atlanta
What's the Score?
The 2025 Collegiate National Championship (CNC) Tournament is underway at Life Time Peach Tree Corners outside of Atlanta, Georgia, with over $30,000 in scholarship money at stake. This event is the culmination of the Collegiate Pickleball Tour, a partnership between DUPR and the UPA. The tournament features the top 64 schools in the 1st Team Bracket, who qualified through regional and super-regional competitions. Additionally, the event includes 2nd Team and Challenger Brackets, offering further opportunities for teams and individuals to compete for scholarship funding. Reigning national champion Utah Tech is among the teams vying for the title.
Hit it deeper!
The 2025 Collegiate National Championship (CNC) Tournament marks the pinnacle of the collegiate pickleball season, taking place this weekend at the impressive Life Time Peach Tree Corners facility near Atlanta, Georgia. Known as one of the largest and finest pickleball venues in the country, it provides an ideal setting for this high-stakes competition. The tournament's significance is amplified by the over $30,000 in scholarship money on offer, fueling an intense level of competition among the participating teams.
The CNC is the flagship event of the Collegiate Pickleball Tour, a recently established partnership between Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating (DUPR) and the United Pickleball Association (UPA). This collaboration aims to elevate collegiate pickleball by providing more scholarship opportunities and organizing a more extensive tour, building upon DUPR's previous collegiate tour initiatives. The Collegiate Tour features matches played to 21, with rally scoring and a win-by-two rule.
The tournament's structure includes three brackets:
1st Team Bracket: This prestigious bracket features the top 64 collegiate pickleball teams in the nation. Each school earned one bid to this bracket based on their performance in qualifying regional and super-regional tournaments. The schedule of play for this bracket includes group play on Friday, April 11th, followed by bracket play from the round of 64 through the quarterfinals on Saturday, April 12th, and the semifinals and championship matches on Sunday, April 13th. Defending national champion Utah Tech, who claimed the title in the fall of 2024, is among the top contenders, with several other highly-rated teams looking to dethrone them.
2nd Team Bracket: This bracket serves two main purposes. Firstly, schools that did not qualify for the 1st Team Bracket can enter a team here. Secondly, schools that earned two qualifying bids can field their second team in this bracket. Notably, many participants in the 2nd Team Bracket are second teams from universities with thriving pickleball clubs, highlighting the depth of talent in collegiate pickleball. For example, the University of Florida's second team boasts a DUPR rating that would place them in the top 15 of the first-team entrants, making them strong favourites in this bracket. The scholarship money for the 2nd Team Bracket includes $3,000 for 1st place, $1,000 for 2nd place, and $500 for 3rd and 4th places.
Challenger Bracket: This bracket is divided into women’s doubles, men’s doubles, and mixed doubles competitions. It is open to players who are not competing in the 1st or 2nd Team Brackets, with many individuals participating in both gender and mixed doubles events. The Challenger Bracket also offers scholarship incentives, with $1,000 awarded to the school that brings the most players to the tournament and another $1,000 to the school with the best-performing challenger teams (minimum of three teams). Additionally, $500 is awarded to the winner of each challenger bracket.
The World Pickleball Verdict
The 2025 Collegiate National Championship Tournament underscores the rapid growth and increasing competitiveness of collegiate pickleball. The significant amount of scholarship money on the line, coupled with the partnership between DUPR and the UPA, signals a new era for the sport at the university level. The tournament's structure, with multiple brackets catering to different levels of competition, ensures broad participation and opportunity. The presence of a defending champion and numerous other highly-rated teams promises an exciting and closely contested battle for the national title. This event not only showcases the talent of young pickleball players but also highlights the growing infrastructure and financial support for the sport within higher education.