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Photos courtesy of Rob Roebuck.
Robert Roebuck, center, placed first in the Jr. PPA Atlanta Georgia Open in May, alongside Robby Rivera, left, and Noah Harrison.
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Photos courtesy of Rob Roebuck.
Robert Roebuck, center, stands on the podium after placing first in the 2022 USA Pickleball National Indoor Championships, alongside Cy Shuler, second place, and Matt Corbin at the Finley Center in Hoover in June.
When rising 8th-grader Robert Roebuck asked his grandmother what she was doing one day, he never thought her answer would change the next three years of his life.
“I think I said, ‘What are you doing today?’ or something like that because I wanted to go to lunch, and she said, ‘I’m going to play pickleball,’” Roebuck said. “I said, ‘Pickleball? What’s pickleball?’ So I was like, ‘I want to try it,’ and I fell in love with it.’”
Since then, Roebuck’s not only won a national championship in the 19-34 age group, despite being only 14, but also earned a sponsorship from HEAD, a franchise that sells athletic gear.
“It was kind of surprising because before he won tournaments, I was kind of shocked they were aware who he was,” said Rob Roebuck, Robert’s father.
“When HEAD approached us to sponsor him, I think that was a high point because it was like a pat on his back for how hard he’s worked,” said Meg Roebuck, his mother.
When Robert was playing in the Fall Brawl pickleball tournament last November, he caught the eye of a regional representative for the company, Meg said.
After they came home from the tournament, she got a call from a regional representative from HEAD who had a proposition for Robert after seeing him play.
Meg said the representative told her they were impressed with his skills and his attitude and were calling to see if Robert would be interested in participating in their junior sponsorship program.
Robert now plays in pickleball tournaments with HEAD athletic gear including paddles, hats and T-shirts, Meg said.
“It’s just been fun to see him so interested and excited about something and do well in it,” Meg said.
To Robert, pickleball is a “game of friendliness.” In his eyes, he said, the sport is all about sportsmanship and having a good attitude, even if you’re losing.
“Most people when they lose a point are not too upset,” Robert said. “They’re still friendly about it.”
When he plays in pickleball tournaments, he plays in the lowest age group, 19-34 years old.
Meg said she normally asks certain pickleball tours if he can play in adult tournaments because the junior tournaments often have younger players, even though the age group is 8-18.
“For the most part, in my experience, they’re younger, like 10-12-year-olds,” Rob said. “There are not a lot of 16-, 17-, 18-year-olds that seem to play.”
“There aren’t a lot of junior tournaments because not a lot of juniors play in them,” Meg said. “You have to play up if you want to play.”
Robert said he loves playing with people that are older and better so that he can improve his skills.
“If I normally play against someone my age, not in a tournament, I’ll be messing around and stuff like that,” he said. “If I’m playing against someone that’s older and better than me, it’ll help me get better.”
