About

Starting as a social recreation club, the Pickleball Club at UAH has grown into a large community of both social and competitive players. Open to all UAH students, faculty, and staff the Charger Pickleball Club is a great way to get involved on campus and in the local Huntsville community. With weekly meetings and monthly events, the social club is a consistant place for friends to meet. For those who are more competitive, the club has a travel team that plays all over Alabama and throughout the south. No matter the player or skill, the Charger Pickleball Club has a place for you!

Founded in 2023 by Jacob Sayers and John Evans the club was built on introducing the UAH Charger community to the rapidly growing sport, pickleball. With the first meeting being November 9, 2023 the Charger Pickleball Club was just getting its footing with just 10 members. The following semester, Spring 2024, the club would host their first tournament which would bring in players with competition on the mind. Not much would happen until Week of Welcome later that year.

Week of Welcome 2024 saw a significant increase in members, growing the club nearly 150 percent! This brought the Charger Pickleball Club more attention from the on campus Student Government. The club would paint 6 more courts on the middle tennis courts outside spragins and buy nets for everyone to use. During this semester Jaxsonville State University (JSU) reached out to the club wondering if we would attend their DUPR Campus Regional on October 5, 2024. Members of the club were excited about this oppurtunity but the officers had to move quick to get everything ready. Though the team did not acheive much here a precedent was set that UAH would attend many more Collegiate DUPR events!

The next semester, with the help of coach Allan Benjume, The UAH Pickleball Club was invited to play at the DUPR Collegiate National Championship with only a week to prepare. Scrounging a team together the club competed against the best schools and teams in the nation and gained experience it never had. The UAH Pickleball Club has come a long way in the short year following this oppurtunity.

The UAH Pickleball club today is now making an appearance at nationals through aquiring a bid from the UNA DUPR Campus Regional in October of this past year. For information about this specific tournament visit this article on Charger Connect: Pickleball Nationals for the Pickleball club at UAH!

2025 - 2026 Team Roster:

Male: Michael Hollings, Shao Chen, Santiago Castillo, Evan Yang, Jacob Sayers, Eli Slaton, Henry Holland, David Huston, Chris Aiello, John Evans, Mitchell Okafor, Marwan El-Sotouhy, Adithia Bellamconda, and Jaylen Moseley

Female: Gianna Foti, Cindel Myers, Gracie Hyfield, Maddie Jones, Brooke Dowdy, Olivia Keffeler, Alicia Ward Basabe, Esther Shore, Mia Callahan, Lynette Ong, and Sarah McCarty