The Pickle Yard, the Philippines’ equivalent of Pickleball Kingdom, has launched the Pickleyard Conference League (PYCL), a first-of-its-kind professional pickleball league in the Philippines, where corporate-backed teams will compete weekly across an entire season for bragging rights, pickleball glory, and other prizes.
According to The Pickle Yard, the PYCL will run for a full five months and is inspired by hoops leagues like the NBA and PBA. Each team, as in the PBA and NBA, will join the PYCL Draft, where they will pick from the best pickleball players in the Philippines to form and strengthen their line-ups. This system is meant to ensure equal competition in the league, as it will fairly distribute the “star” players and give teams opportunities to forge their own identities.
Expect the Philippines’ best pickleball players to join, as the PYCL is specifically designed to bring together the country’s most skilled and dedicated athletes in a professionally structured league format. There will be divisions, rankings, team standings, a full season calendar, and national broadcast coverage, which are the very things athletes need to build real careers in the world’s fastest-rising sport.
This league, therefore, would be a longer and possibly more souped-up Filipino version of India’s Indian Pickleball League (IPBL) and World Pickleball League (WPBL), which are both franchise-based and have finished their inaugural seasons. Unlike the planned PYCL, however, the IPBL and WPBL had much shorter seasons, with the former lasting for just six days and the latter running for a few weeks.
Tryouts for the PYCL Set in January
To give more players a chance to make it to the PYCL, The Pickle Yard will be holding tryouts on 30 January 2026 at The Pickle Yard PH in Parañaque. Try-outs for women will start at 8:00 a.m., while try-outs for men will begin at 1:00 p.m.
The PYCL tryouts are open to Filipino pickleball players who are ready to turn pro and are seeking elite training, exposure, and career growth in the sport. Those who will be drafted to the PYCL can expect to receive monthly salaries, play in highly competitive and well-organised matches, be featured on national TV and social media, and receive performance bonuses and incentives.
With pickleball exploding all across the Philippines, Filipinos need a platform to channel that passion into a professional setting. That’s where the PYCL comes in, as it stands for professional standards, athlete development, sports entertainment excellence, and community growth. What’s more, it aims to be the bridge between grassroots courts and national recognition.
