Liam Duffin's pickleball career moved fast. He began playing collegiate events in 2023 and has since won multiple national college titles, including two Collegiate World Championships (team), two Collegiate World Champion (men’s singles and men’s doubles, and a three-time National Champion in the PPA Challenger series.
Now, the Selkirk-sponsored player wants to give the game to the people who changed his life: Students at a school in Guatemala, where he is helping build the community's first pickleball court.
"Pickleball has brought so many opportunities and connections and things that I never even dreamt of," Duffin says. "I just really wanted to bring that to an important community."
Eight months that changed everything
Long before he picked up a paddle, Duffin spent eight months serving a mission in Guatemala. He has wanted to go back ever since.
"It was eight months that really affected and changed my perspective and outlook on life," Duffin says. "Seeing so many families that didn't have anything, and we'd give them the smallest of things, and they'd be so happy."
One memory stuck with him. In Zaragoza, the town seemed to orbit a small futsal court, a mini soccer field where the community gathered.
Years later, that memory became the blueprint for a new gathering place: a pickleball court. The only question was how to build it.
Duffin connected with Charles Judd of the Orange Couch Foundation, which runs a school in Guatemala and leads monthly humanitarian trips there. The foundation committed to plan and design the court at its school.
“The first thought of a pickleball court in Guatemala seems a little unusual,” Judd says. “But when you look at what it can do for people, as far as providing a place to gather, a place for them to interact with each other, and to learn and grow with each other, and just a place to check in on a daily basis, that’s where the value is.”
The cost, however, is steep. Plans call for a professional-grade court with a steel roof to shield players from rain and sun, so Duffin and the foundation aim to raise $25,000 for construction.
“When we get donations, we’ll be able to put them to work,” Judd says. “We’re not just building a pickleball court. It’s not just cement and steel — we are building new lives for children.”
Teaching a new game
The court will serve students from ages six to 18, most of whom have never played. When the court is installed, Duffin will travel down to teach the children how to play.
"My Spanish is about so-so, but I can somewhat teach in Spanish," Duffin says with a laugh. A foundation translator will help him walk the kids through the rules.
But the rules are only part of the lesson. Duffin wants the students to discover "the fun side of pickleball," too.
"With the amount of people that you meet from pickleball, you learn so much, so many different perspectives," Duffin says. "For these kids, it will be that same thing. They'll be able to learn and grow as people, but also do it in a very competitive way."
But if stakeholders like Duffin don’t invest in building courts or providing equipment, the children may never see pickleball.
The potential reaches beyond one school. The region is full of futsal courts, and pickleball needs little more than a temporary net and paddles to take root.
"If this does really well in Guatemala, then it can be brought to other areas," Duffin says. "You just need to add a non-permanent net and paddles, and then it will start to grow."
Even if none of these students go pro, Duffin wants them to find what the sport gave him: a place to have fun, connect with others, and grow.
How to help
Every donation brings the court closer to completion and puts paddles in the hands of kids who have never seen the game. Gifts go to the Orange Couch Foundation's pickleball court project.
Donate here: Interested parties can donate through the Orange Couch Foundation’s website or through Venmo at @OrangeCouch-Foundation.
