In 2025, Southern Pickleball Academy expanded youth pickleball access across Aiken and Edgefield counties, strengthened school partnerships, grew the First Paddle youth program, and hosted the region’s only junior pickleball tournament, Battle of the Paddles. Through clinics, tournaments, and community events, the Academy continued building healthy youth and communities through pickleball.

Who knew that it could be so much fun to earn a scholarship? Yet that's just what Carson Colmer, a senior at Aiken High School, has done!