Campus Pickleball

Inspiration

As a university student who plays pickleball, I've found it difficult to meet new players at a similar skill level. Uneven matches can feel boring or overwhelmingly difficult, and uncertainty about someone's ability can make people hesitant to play together.

My friends at other universities have faced similar problems. One friend doesn't feel comfortable asking people he barely knows to play, but also doesn't want to show up at the courts and find nobody there—or nobody at his level.

I've also seen plenty of young talent in pickleball, but haven't seen enough opportunities on college campuses to connect those players and help them develop. I wanted to make it easier to find competitive matches and improve, while also giving students a way to have fun, make new friends, and enjoy the sport together.

What it does

The project is a university-focused pickleball matchmaking website. The core experience centers on creating a profile with a self-reported skill level, finding games around campus, and organizing opportunities to play.

The goal is to help students spend less time coordinating and more time on the court.

How we built it

I built Campus Pickleball as a solo developer, defining the concept, feature scope, and user experience. I chose Next.js, React, TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS for the application, Tiger Cloud PostgreSQL for data storage, Auth0 for authentication, and Vultr Compute for hosting.

I used Codex to help scaffold the project, generate and revise code, and troubleshoot implementation issues. My contributions centered on directing development, making technical and product decision, and configuring the services as I worked toward connecting the full application.

Challenges we ran into

The biggest challenge was keeping the scope manageable within a short hackathon window. I initially considered DUPR integration, but removed it to prioritize the main problem, which was helping students find people to play with.

Another challenge was understanding how hosting, databases, domains, and authentication fit together. Each service required its own configuration, credentials, and consideration of costs.

Self-reported skill levels also introduce a tradeoff, where they make onboarding super straightforward, but players may judge their abilities differently.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

I'm proud of turning a frustration that my friends and I share into a concrete project that brings people together to make friends, grow as players, and share their love of pickleball.

Also, choosing a manageable scope was definitely a big accomplishment. Simplifying the rating system and prioritizing player connections gave the project a clear path to development.

What we learned

I learned how the different parts of a web application connect, from the interface and backend logic to database storage, authentication, and cloud hosting.

Using Codex helped me move exponentially faster, but I still needed to understand the architecture, make scope decisions, and verify the results.

What's next for Campus Pickleball

The next priority is finishing and beta testing the core experience with students, then using their feedback to improve how they find and organize games.

Some of the future improvements could be including casual and competitive game labels, recurring campus sessions, and availability notifications. Longer term, I'd like to help talented college players find consistent practice partners while keeping the platform welcoming to beginners and students who simply want to make friends and play.

Built With

• auth0
• codex
• next.js
• postgresql
• react
• tailwind
• tigerdata
• typescript
• vultr