Two of the country’s top professional pickleball players, who are also sports ambassadors for Herbalife, a health and wellness company, see the sport becoming more competitive locally in the next three years, saying that players are getting younger and more tournaments are emerging in the country.
“In the next three years, some of them will be 16 years old. A lot of the good players are gonna come out,” Sarah Jane Lim-Narvasa, a leading Filipino female professional pickleball athlete, told reporters during a media interview led by Herbalife.
“The level of pickleball generally will get higher,” she added.
Leander P. Lazaro, who is regarded as one of the top pickleball players in the country, said the sport is likely to become more competitive as local tournaments, whether privately organized or government-funded, continue to emerge nationwide.
He hopes that the country’s major sports events, such as the Palarong Pambansa, the country’s premier sporting event for elementary and secondary student-athletes, will follow suit to encourage young people to formally pursue pickleball. If the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) also adopts the sport as an event, players who want to pursue pickleball could have opportunities to obtain scholarships.
“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,” Mr. Lazaro told reporters.
One of the highly anticipated local pickleball tournaments is the Maharlika Pilipinas Pickleball Tour (MPPT), founded by Manny Pacquiao, which will kick off its inaugural leg on Oct. 3–4 in Angeles City, Pampanga, with P1 million at stake for the winning team.
For aspiring pickleball athletes, Ms. Narvasa emphasized the importance of eating clean, healthy food when preparing for competitions. She shared that Herbalife Formula 1 Nutritional Shake Mix had helped her meet her nutritional needs and get through a whole day of competition even without eating a meal.
According to the company’s website, Herbalife Formula 1 Nutritional Shake Mix provides protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals and is formulated to help provide balanced nutrition as part of a healthy diet. — Edg Adrian A. Eva
