Drury University is jumping on the pickleball bandwagon. The school will add a co-ed team to its 2024-2025 non-NCAA offerings. It’s recruiting for the team now.
Drury announced in August it was building an outdoor recreation area called the Panther Pad, which will feature six pickleball courts. The facility was designed for intercollegiate competition and will be finished in the spring.
Drury’s men’s and women’s head tennis coach Jarrod Smith will transition to head coach of the pickleball program. He’s spent more than a decade in pickleball and traveled the country as an instructor and player in professional tournaments, winning national championships in men’s doubles and mixed doubles.
Pickleball will be the 13th non-NCAA sport supported by Drury and the institution’s 34th sport under the university’s athletics department.
