Highlights from Recent PPA and APP Tours
From the sidelines to center (championship) court: conversations and snippets from recent PPA and APP professional pickleball tournaments
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This week’s post comes to you from Syracuse, New York, where I am stopped overnight en route from PPA and APP tournaments to UPA State Championship events in New Hampshire and Maine. By the end of the year, I should have hit at least one event from each of the pickleball organizations. There are a number of them, and it can be hard to keep track of all the alphabet combinations: APP, UPA, PPA, NPL, USA-P, MLP. Who am I missing?
These professional tournaments have a lot going on at them: vendors, amateur play, pro play. It can be a bit overwhelming to know what is happening and where, but the good news is that there is always something to watch—tons of pickleball being played, vendors doing their thing, and even the spectator watching is fun. Because of how fast some of the balls are hit, I couldn’t help but notice and be entertained by the synchronized way some spectators moved their heads back and forth to follow the ball.
Before I share a few highlights from the recent pro tournaments I’ve attended, I should give a reminder that this publication doesn’t serve up comprehensive event recaps, pro rankings or industry drama. We’re more interested in pickleball happenings for people like you and me, and in communities around the country.
Don’t get me wrong, watching pro pickleballers play is riveting. The things they can do with around the posts, returning long lobs, dinking, and hand battles…it’s intense, and I absolutely applaud their athleticism and am in awe of their mental game. There are also some incredible stories among them, some of which I’ll write about. But this is a human look at the game bringing a lot of people together. Without further ado, here are a few highlights from two recent pro tournaments.
Side note: As I share highlights from recent tournaments, there’s so much more to each one than I’m able to write right now. Given the tempo of my current travels and bandwidth for writing The Pickleball Times as well as More to Your Life, highlights are the best I can do. For now :-)
PPA Picklr Utah Open
The PPA Picklr Utah Open was held in Salt Lake City, indoors at the Salt Palace Convention Center.
Watching Allyce Jones and Callie Smith play Mari Humberg and 17-year-old Jorja Johnson drew quite the crowd. Allyce puts a lot of skin in this game, literally, with her dives for balls. It’s wild and I couldn’t watch some of her dives out of concern for her already scraped-up knees.
The camaraderie on the sidelines is fun: people walk up and ask each other if they know what the score is, what game it is, there’s lots of commentary to each about the happenings on the court. One of these sideline chats was with a gal who’d played against (and lost) to Allyce’s daughter in a local tournament.
One brief conversation at the bracket result boards turned into an extended and now email conversation with a woman, Gigi. She shared that pickleball gave her the same feeling she’s known her whole life as a dancer who can’t dance as much any longer. I can’t wait to write more about her and “that feeling.”
I caught a backstage glimpse of the ginormous cardboard tubes used to transport portable pickleball courts. A court is 20’ wide, plus several feet on each side, making these tubes at least 28’ long in my estimation. Creating dozens of temporary courts is quite the feat.
Sunny Stephens is a 9-year-old player I met briefly at a community tournament several months ago. She plays in Junior PPA events and her dad said she just loves it, something I could readily observe in her play. At the Picklr Utah Open, she was smiling while cheering on the Brascia sisters, Mary and Maggie, from their coach’s bench during a women’s doubles match.
Zimmer Biomet APP Chicago Open
The Zimmer Biomet APP Chicago Open was held (mostly) outdoors at Danny Cunniff Park in Highland Park.
Friday the actual, and forecasted, rain supplied a plot twist: Pro qualifiers were switched to an indoor tennis club, and closed to the public. A friend texted me the address and the APP organizers were gracious enough to let me in to observe, talk with people, and gather stories. Thanks, Daniel and team APP, for the welcome and conversations!
A sideline conversation with a tennis and pickleball store owner, Nick, turned into a great conversation about and with his girlfriend. Cristen Kessler is a senior pro who left tennis to go all-in on pickleball. Much about her story resonates with my interest in people taking risks against the recommendations of even some friends and family, and I can’t wait to share it in an upcoming post.
A pickleball dad, Stan, shared with me the journey of his 14-year-old daughter, Jaeda, into pickleball. She started playing three years ago with him, now plays competitively and coaches adults. It’s wild how this sport works.
I met Ryan Ritter, a player from Florida I’ve wanted to meet since a mutual friend told me about his story. Ryan was talked into the sport by his brother, was competing with a phenom of a kid, and wants to help others with disabilities get into this game. Cerebral palsy affects the left side of his body, so he’s only able to use his right hand, but what a right hand. There’s so much more to Ryan’s story, and I can’t wait to watch it unfold and stay in touch about it.
A bleacher chat with another spectator turned into a lovely and lengthy conversation about her work as the pickleball program manager at a Lifetime Fitness. One phrase I made note of as she talked about the wonders of pickleball: “It’s cheaper than a therapist!” It really is. More about Liliana in future articles on sportsmanship and running pickleball programming that teaches etiquette.
Eavesdropping while a fellow spectator delivered advice to the younger friend he was cheering on: “Play your game, trust the process.” Does it count as eavesdropping if I told him I heard it, liked it, and wrote it down?
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Would love to know from you:
Which story mentioned above would you be most interested in hearing about?
What’s one of your recent favorite pickleball experiences or conversations?
Bonus: If you’re new to Substack in general (I know some of you are), you might enjoy this post I created on my other publication about what it even is, why it’s wonderful, and how to use it.
Would love to know from you: Which story mentioned above would you be most interested in hearing about? What’s one of your recent favorite pickleball experiences or conversations?
PB is definitely in my future.