College leagues are out in full force in the Philippines.
Early this September, the Women’s National Collegiate Athletic Association (WNCAA) kicked off its 56th Season at Makati Coliseum. Over the weekend, the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) did the same, with host University of Santo Tomas holding a grand Olympic-style opening. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) will follow suit on 1 October 2025 with their own opening rites at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. Other leagues in other regions will do the same in the next couple of months, giving thousands of college-level Filipino athletes avenues to showcase their athletic prowess.
While the Philippines has several collegiate leagues, none at the moment are offering pickleball as a sporting discipline. Actually, last time Pickleball News Asia checked, no college league offers pickleball just yet. There are brand-sponsored collegiate pickleball tournaments, like the APP Selkirk Collegiate Series and the collegiate national championship of the DUPR, but that’s about it.
But if it was up to WNCAA Chairperson Vivian Manila, the WNCAA will be among the first to institutionalise pickleball in the collegiate calendar of activities.
“We are still asking the schools, but we are looking to add pickleball in one of our events in the coming seasons,” Manila said during the press conference the WNCAA held prior to its opening on 6 September 2025. “We just need the courts and equipment, like paddles, for this to be done.”
Logistically, adding pickleball as one of the WNCAA’s sporting disciplines doesn’t figure to be that big of a headache—unlike Olympic sports such as weightlifting and boxing. The Philippines already has many pickleball facilities available, so much so that most major cities have at least a couple. Paddles and balls are readily available as well and won’t cost participating colleges and universities an arm and a leg. There probably won’t be a shortage of players either as pickleball has become quite popular in the Philippines.
Then again, the collegiate season in the Philippines is already in full swing—and that means pickleball will have to wait.
