Nice purchase! Cross-campus pickleball tournament is ace

TCU’s first campus-wide pickleball tournament provided an opportunity for staff, faculty, students and alumni to come together outside of the office and classroom.

A total of nine teams took part in the tournament, including two teams from the student pickleball club, three teams from a staff pickleball club, two teams from the Silver Frogs group and two teams with students specifically from the Burnett School of Medicine.

Tee Tyler, associate professor of social work, created the tournament as an opportunity to bring people together.

“I played pickleball on Thanksgiving in 2022. My sister played pickleball and I had never played before and I knew she had a passion for it,” he said. “As I was playing, I thought, ‘This is a game that both a 60-year-old and a 16-year-old can play, and it’s accessible to both and both can get into it and participate.'”

Originally intended as a small group, Tyler was surprised at how much interest there was in starting an employee pickleball club. After opening a Qualtrics survey for faculty and staff to sign up for, the survey was flooded with responses.

“Within an hour, 50 people signed up,” he said. “Overnight, 100 people signed up.”

The Staff Pickleball Club was a great opportunity for people from across campus to come together. The employee pickleball club has a total of 170 members. He said he was happy to see who was there, including faculty and staff from the Neeley School of Business, Student Affairs and Human Resources.

“They get to know each other and become friends, and it’s been really nice to be a part of this semester,” he said.

After the success of the first group of employees, Tyler saw an opportunity to expand. After inviting members of the Silver Frog group – a group of over-50s in TCU Extended Education – medical students and the student club, Pickleball brings together Horned Frogs from around the world.

“Not only is the game fun, it’s a really good community building game,” Tyler said.

Tournament results:
First Place: Burnett School of Medicine
AJ Khawaja
Mebeli Becerra

Second Place: Burnett School of Medicine
Sean Canfield
Timur Seckin

Third Place: TCU Employee Club
Cole Marchi
Sam Davis