How to start a padel team at your college
You need six people and a nearby host club. You do not need experience, courts on campus, or anyone's permission to care about padel first.
Find five other people
Six players is a team. Padel is doubles, so six gives you three pairs, a substitute on any given weekend, and a club that survives one person studying abroad — most ACPL schools began with a group chat, not a roster.
- Post in your class and dorm group chats before you do anything formal.
- Tennis, squash and pickleball players convert fastest — the crossover is real.
- Do not wait for experienced players. Most ACPL members had never held a padel racket.
Register your school and pay the membership
Registering puts your school in a division, gets you on the Season 1 calendar, and connects you to the other teams in your region. It comes before courts on purpose — you do not need a club sorted to register.
- You do not need a finished team or a booked court to register.
- Player membership is $25 per year and is what unlocks all ACPL negotiated rates and other member benefits.
- You are placed in one of four divisions: Atlantic, Sunshine, Lone Star or Pacific.
Half our schools registered before they had a court.
Register your school — freeFind an ACPL host club
Your campus almost certainly does not have padel courts. That is normal and it is not a blocker — ACPL teams play at a nearby host club, and membership is what unlocks the rate we have already negotiated there.
- Check the host clubs and pick the closest one to your university.
- Members play at negotiated rates — the current rate card lives in the ACPL app.
- No club near your campus? Tell us and we will work it out with you.
Play your first season
The season opens with City Invitationals and the Challenger Series — one-day events against nearby schools, where a brand-new team can get match-ready.
- ACPL places your school in the right event for your region. No qualifying gate to clear first.
- In the Atlantic division, each City Invitational winner goes through to the Regional.
- Win your Regional this fall and you are at the National Finals in March.
That’s the whole process. See the rest of ACPL on the main page.
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