The government of Selangor wants to find young pickleball talent in the state, and it is going all out in its search.
In order to accomplish that goal, the Selangor government will be spearheading a pickleball tour series where it will introduce pickleball to 50 schools and seek new talent at the same time. The programme is a grand undertaking, with RM500,000 allocated for it already.
According to Mohd Najwan Halimi, State Executive Councillor for Youth, Sports, and Entrepreneurship, this programme will run for 12 months and will seek to have 500 students and 100 teachers join a pickleball‑related basic course and special training, whose express goal is to build a school‑based development ecosystem for the sport. In this way, the programme will expose students to pickleball and also help schools develop more systematic training plans that will also see teachers receive training to become pickleball coaches.
“If we look at schools, there is training under the National Sports Council, but pickleball isn’t included, so at the Selangor level, we will start with cooperation from the Selangor State Education Department,” said Halimi. “We will visit schools and give exposure to this sport, and at the same time give teachers space to become coaches. This could help shape school teams, and the state could hold tournaments,” he said after launching the Selangor Pickleball Sport Development Programme (Picklespark) at Pickleball Playground here today.
Halimi added that this government‑led initiative takes into account not just the continuing rise of pickleball, but also its appeal to the various segments of society, including seniors and children at opposite ends of the demographic spectrum.
“Pickleball involves nearly every segment of society, not just the young generation who live in urban areas, but aged groups and rural communities also play this sport,” he pointed out. “This sport is increasingly gaining its place in society. It’s a pity if the state government doesn’t support its ecosystem. With Picklespark, Selangor would be the first state to develop this type of sport.”
With Selangor being the first to roll out such an initiative, as Halimi pointed out, the state government doesn’t want to be the last and only one in Malaysia doing it. According to the councillor, they are encouraging other governments to follow their lead.
“When more are involved, this sport can be centred like other sports. What’s important is state‑ and national‑level pickleball associations must act or take aggressive steps to promote this sport,” he explained. “[They must] hold and expand more championships. After that, we can see and evaluate if pickleball could be a high‑prestige sport.”
