Sarah Jane Lim-Narvasa, Leander Lazaro See More Competitive PH Pickleball Scene Within Three Years
Two of the Philippines’ top professional pickleball players—Sarah Jane Lim-Narvasa and Leander P. Lazaro—believe the local scene is about to get considerably tougher, driven by a wave of younger talent and a growing tournament calendar nationwide.
Lim-Narvasa and Lazaro, both sports ambassadors for Herbalife, shared their outlook during a media interview led by the health and wellness company. Lim-Narvasa pointed specifically to the age of the sport’s rising talent as the clearest sign of where things are headed. “In the next three years, some of them will be 16 years old. A lot of the good players are gonna come out,” she said. “The level of pickleball generally will get higher.”
Lazaro sees the same trajectory playing out through infrastructure rather than individual talent alone, pointing to the steady rise of local tournaments, whether privately organized or backed by government funding, as a key driver of that growing competitiveness.
He’s hoping that momentum eventually reaches the country’s biggest school sporting institutions. Lazaro pointed to the Palarong Pambansa, the premier sporting event for elementary and secondary student-athletes, as an event he’d like to see embrace pickleball formally, giving young players a genuine pathway to pursue the sport seriously. He sees similar potential in the UAAP, arguing that formal adoption there could open the door to athletic scholarships for pickleball players, much as tennis currently offers.
“I feel like that’s the only thing that stops some juniors to pursue pickleball, that’s why they instead pursue tennis. They just choose tennis to get a scholarship in college,” Lazaro said.
One of the more anticipated additions to that growing tournament calendar is the Maharlika Pilipinas Pickleball Tour, founded by Manny Pacquiao, which kicks off its inaugural leg on October 3-4 in Angeles City, Pampanga, with ₱1 million on the line for the winning team.
Beyond the competitive outlook, Lim-Narvasa also touched on the preparation side of the sport, stressing the importance of eating clean, nutritious food ahead of competition. She credited Herbalife’s Formula 1 Nutritional Shake Mix with helping her meet her nutritional needs and get through full days of competition even without a proper meal. According to Herbalife, the shake mix is formulated to provide protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals as part of a balanced diet.
Between the rising age curve of emerging talent and an expanding tournament ecosystem, both players see genuine momentum building for Philippine pickleball over the next few years—the question now is whether the country’s major sporting institutions catch up to that momentum in time.
