“Why This Matters”
I want to take a moment to talk about something bigger than the league, bigger than any team, and honestly, bigger than the sport itself.
Today, we’re officially launching the UPL Gives Back Foundation — and I want to explain why this matters. Not as a talking point, not as a PR move, but as a core part of who we are and what we stand for.
Because here’s the truth:
pickleball is exploding in places where people already have access.
Courts, equipment, clubs, coaches — it’s all there.
But in so many countries around the world, kids don’t have any of that. They don’t have courts. They don’t have trained coaches. They don’t even have a starting point. And a lot of them don’t have many opportunities, period.
That’s where we come in.
The UPL isn’t just building a league — we’re building a pathway. A real one. One that starts with a kid picking up a paddle for the first time, not just watching a league on TV.
UPL Gives Back is about three commitments:
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Building courts in countries that can’t build them themselves.
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Training local coaches so the sport can grow from within.
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Launching Junior Academies and a Junior Circuit so kids have something to work toward.
Before we ever bring a Semi-Pro Circuit to a country, we’re going to build the foundation that lets the next generation rise.
And I want everyone here to hear this clearly:
This isn’t charity. This is legacy.
This is how you build a global sport the right way — through access, education, and opportunity.
If a kid in Colombia, or Kenya, or the Philippines, or the Dominican Republic becomes a UPL star someday, I want them to say,
“Someone showed up. Someone believed in us. Someone built something here.”
And I want that “someone” to be us.
We have the builders.
We have the coaches.
We have the league.
Now we’re using all of that to lift communities that would never have had this chance.
Because for every country that says, “We want pickleball,”
there’s another country that says, “We just don’t have the resources to start.”
And that’s where UPL Gives Back steps in.
We’re not just giving equipment.
We’re not just hosting camps.
We’re building courts.
We’re creating coaches.
We’re opening doors.
We’re making sure kids can dream bigger than their circumstances.
And let me be blunt:
If we want to call ourselves a global league, this is the work.
This is the responsibility.
I don’t want the UPL to be remembered as just another sports league.
I want it to be remembered as the league that changed the game for kids who never stood a chance to begin with.
The league that didn’t wait for the world to catch up —
we went there first.
So today is the start of something that will outlive all of us.
Courts can age.
Teams can change.
But opportunity?
That lasts forever.
Thank you for believing in this mission.
Thank you for helping us expand access, build futures, and give the world something real.
And thank you for being part of the moment where the UPL didn’t just grow —
it gave back.
