Naples Pickleball Center Names Jay Devilliers Director Of New Academy

• Jay Devilliers is joining the USOP National Pickleball Center in Naples, Florida, as Director of The Academy, which launches November 16.
• The Academy will offer small-group clinics, private and semi-private instruction, fitness and recovery programming, and video analysis.
• The 65-court center is working toward year-round playing and training options, not a pro tour.

Naples Center Adds an Academy With Devilliers in Charge

Jay Devilliers is joining the USOP National Pickleball Center in Naples, Florida, as Director of The Academy, a new training program scheduled to launch November 16. He will work with Executive Director Justin Romero, whose goal is to build the best pickleball academy in the world.

Several events featuring Devilliers are planned ahead of the November launch. They give players an early look at the instruction and programming that will be available at the Naples facility.

For a facility tied closely to the US Open Pickleball Championships, the academy is another step toward becoming a year-round destination for player development.

A 65-Court Center With Year-Round Plans

The National Pickleball Center is best known as the longtime home of the US Open Pickleball Championships. The Naples facility has 65 courts, with additional expansion planned. The 2026 US Open attracted more than 3,800 amateur and professional players, more than 60,000 spectators, and roughly 6,000 matches over eight days.

Pickleball 4 America owns the US Open and operates the center in partnership with Collier County. The organization has talked openly about turning the venue into a year-round pickleball destination.

In an interview with Inside the Den earlier this year, US Open President Ben Weinberger said the aim is year-round opportunities for “playing, training, leveling up, participating in leagues and clinics.” He added: “We think what lifts the sport up is the amateur, and we can do that 365 days a year here in an incredibly focused way.”

The academy is an important piece of that plan, and Romero is the person charged with building much of it.

Who Is Justin Romero

Romero spent 13 years at Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo, eventually serving as Director of Racquet Sports at one of Florida’s most prominent private clubs. Pickleball 4 America appointed him Executive Director of the National Pickleball Center in early 2025.

He is originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, and was a nationally ranked collegiate tennis player before becoming a professional pickleball player himself. He is RSPA certified, a member of the Directors Club of America, and was named the 2024 RSPA Regional Pro of the Year.

At Ocean Reef, Romero says he started the club’s pickleball program and built it gradually, learning the business side of running a high-end racquet-sports operation as he went. He said earlier this year that he had brought Ocean Reef members to the US Open for about eight years and competed in the event throughout that time. In a February interview with CourtReserve, he said: “I always had a tie to this place.”

Romero has described the Naples job as covering virtually every part of the facility: memberships, instruction, programming, tournaments, leagues, and the pro shop.

What Romero and Devilliers Say About the Plan

Romero said the center stays focused on its members. In a statement quoted by The Dink, he said: “NPC is focused on our members enjoying the great sport of pickleball, whether that’s open play, leagues, tournaments, lessons, clinics or a friendly game with family and friends. The Academy is the next step. With Jay leading the program, additional touring pros involved, and appearances from stars like Anna Leigh Waters joining, we’re setting a very high bar from day one.”

Devilliers described his approach this way: “I’ve spent my career studying and coaching what separates good players from great ones. At The Academy, we will examine each player’s game, build a plan for improvement, execute that plan and measure progress with technology, video analysis, ball tracking, and results. One session at a time.”

Devilliers’ Background in Tennis Academies

Before he became a professional pickleball player, Devilliers spent years in traditional tennis development systems. He was born near Paris, France, left home as a teenager, and moved to Barcelona to attend a tennis academy, where he trained for about three years. He then came to the United States to play Division I tennis at Wichita State, where he reached career-high ITA rankings of No. 86 in singles and No. 26 in doubles. He also served as a hitting partner at the tennis US Open in 2017 and 2018.

In 2019, he became the pickleball director at Chicken N Pickle in Wichita. By 2020, he had committed to professional pickleball full time. He also runs pickleball camps internationally and leads Smash Pickleball Academy in Toulouse, France.

Who The Academy Is For and What It Offers

The Dink lists the audience for The Academy as:

• Top-level players refining their game or getting into tournament shape
• Advanced juniors ages 8 to 18, committed to accelerating their development
• Competitive players ready to take their game to the next level

The program will offer:

• Small-group clinics
• Private and semi-private instruction
• Fitness and recovery programming
• Video and performance analysis to track progress

The center was signaling this direction before Devilliers arrived. Pickleball 4 America’s leadership said in 2025 that it wanted the academy to eventually make Naples a preeminent training destination for recreational players and future tournament players.

Borrowing From the Tennis Academy Model

The Dink describes the traditional tennis academy model as a mix of structured instruction, consistent coaching, individualized player development, physical training, and performance analysis. Devilliers experienced that model firsthand in Barcelona, and Romero spent more than a decade in the structured racquet-sports setting at Ocean Reef.

Together, they now have 65 courts and one of pickleball’s most recognizable venues as the base for their plan. Romero is attempting to make Naples one of the sport’s premier training destinations, to go along with its standing as a tournament destination.

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