Selkirk Sport announced Nov 5 it has acquired LevelUp Pickleball Camps, which runs more than 400 camps a year in more than 35 states and has coached about 25k players since its founding in 2016. The Dollard family, who built LevelUp, stays on as head pros, the 2027 camp calendar is set with new international destination camps, and campers keep the brand's 30 plus coaches. Terms were not disclosed. LevelUp joins Selkirk Academy, which launched in 2026, and the companies call the combined operation the largest provider of pickleball camps in the world, a company claim, not an independent fact. The announcement is at Endurance Sportswire.
A day earlier, Professional Pickleball Partners (P3) agreed to acquire Professor Sports, the Florida based company behind the Professor Pickleball brand, founded by Ryan Maya. Professor Pickleball sells paddle grips, erasers, and accessories alongside a platform of tutorials and instructional content. It joins a P3 portfolio that includes CORE Athletics, Pro-Pickle, Ameriball, and Pickleball-U, and the brand will keep operating at professorpaddles.com. Terms were not disclosed. The deal is at Dealroom.
Both deals fit the same wave. Selkirk bought Bread and Butter in May 2026, after a $30M raise at a $200M valuation with Bluestone Equity Partners in December 2025, and Paddletek Group acquired PIKKL in July, adding the Johnson family and Tyra Black to Team Paddletek. Paddletek Group is a portfolio company of private equity firm Thirty-5 Capital. The pattern is now unmistakable: the companies that sell to rec players are being rolled up into platforms, and the platforms are buying instruction, accessories, and content, not just paddles.
Why it matters: Two more pieces of the rec game now sit inside bigger companies. The camp deal keeps 400 plus camps running under the same pros, which is good for anyone who learns the game at one. The watch is whether the brands keep their own voice once the platform owns them.