Two very different but worthwhile fundraising events took place on the East and West coasts recently. Long Island and Dana, Southern California, were the venues for the Turkey Bowl and Christmas Gift Collection, respectively. Turkey Bowl There was a pickleballing twist to traditional Thanksgiving sports when Northport Village, Long Island, held its version of the Turkey Bowl. Northport resident Keith Brady orchestrated this inaugural Northport Turkey Ball, which morphed from a pickleball tournament into a charitable fundraiser for Stony Brook Children’s Hospital. “A Great Success” “The inaugural Northport Turkey Ball tournament was a great success,” Brady informed Joanne Kountourakis at…
Author: Adam Howarth
Adam Howarth
Adam has been crazy about sports since he watched the 1970 Soccer World Cup on a black-and-white television set! Pickleball came onto his radar a few years ago and it has fascinated him ever since.
An eight-week course tailored for Parkinson’s patients concluded on Monday. The program aimed to teach them the game of pickleball as part of an initiative called Pickleball for Parkinson’s. “A Perfect Pairing” Pickleball for Parkinson’s is a collaboration involving Destination Rehab, a nonprofit in Central Oregon specializing in assisting individuals with neurological conditions like strokes, Parkinson’s, MS, and brain injuries. Carol-Ann Nelson, founder of Destination Rehab, told Dylan Anderman of ktvz.com, “Pickleball requires so much movement and stepping and reaching that we thought it was a perfect pairing to try and work with people with Parkinson’s to get them moving…
Fort Lauderdale is stepping into an exciting pickleball chapter with The Fort—a new South Florida destination where individuals can hook up for dining, beverages, and pickleball. This groundbreaking partnership with the City of Fort Lauderdale will present top-notch pickleball amenities alongside a fusion of social activities and culinary experiences, perfectly encapsulating the South Florida lifestyle. World’s Premier Pickleball Stadium At the core of The Fort lies its pickleball club, boasting an incredible 43 top-grade courts and the world’s premier pickleball stadium. This cutting-edge facility caters to casual and competitive players, offering open and reserved play, clinics, leagues, tournaments, and the…
USA Pickleball has announced that Pickleball Coaching International (PCI) will be named an “Official Coach Education Partner” of the National Governing Body. PCI has had to meet a strict set of guidelines established by USA Pickleball to ensure the best possible standards for coach certification and education for the sport. “A Unique High-Quality Coach Education Program” Pickleball Coaching International Founder and Chief Executive Officer Mark Renneson said, “I am thrilled that PCI has become an ‘Official Coaching Education Partner’ of USA Pickleball. “We have worked for years to put together a unique, high-quality coach education program that meets the needs…
The Association of Pickleball Players (APP) has announced the creation of the Humana Cup, a first-of-its-kind event and the newest addition to the APP pro pickleball competition beginning in 2024. The event will be a team-format competition for pickleball professionals aged 50 and over. A New Partnership The Humana Cup, named after the health insurance provider, kicks off a new partnership for a first-of-its-kind competition in a team format for pickleball professionals in two divisions: champion pros (ages 50 and over) and master pros (ages 60 and over). It will take place over the course of seven APP Tour events…
Pickleballers now have a simple and affordable way to elevate their game with automated stats, game highlights, and line calling – all by just using their smartphone. SwingVision, the AI-powered app that has been elevating tennis athletes’ games since 2019, has now expanded to include pickleball. Automated Statistics With SwingVision, picklers can: SwingVision is on a mission to democratize the professional sports experience for athletes of all levels. Already backed by Andy Roddick, Lindsay Davenport, and James Blake, among others, SwingVision has been laser-focused on the tennis industry and its 23.6 million players across the U.S. Today’s expansion means that…
The Association of Pickleball Players (APP) has unveiled its inaugural team-based pro-competition as a significant enhancement to its 2024 tournament lineup. It aims to create an extensive showcase of pickleball across the professional and amateur spectrums. We’re adding Sunday pro team competitions to five #APPTour events in 2024! Full details to come! 💰 $100K prize pool per event🗓️Culminating at the final Tour stop in Ft. Lauderdale APP on Instagram Five 2024 APP Tour events will culminate with top-tier athletes engaging in team-based pro play, each event offering a $100,000 prize pool. Team-Oriented Format Making its debut next year, the team-oriented…
The Abilene Christian University Pickleball Club of Abilene, Texas, served up a unique event last week with their 24-hour Pickleball Tournament, which took place from 3 p.m. on Friday to 3 p.m. on Saturday. This 24-hour event was the first one the club had organized, and participants engaged in matches across various brackets. Pickleball-Themed Craft Activities Shelly Womack of the Big Country Homepage reported that the marathon featured 104 players divided into two leagues of two-person teams. Although it was a competition, the club president, Aspen Malone, emphasized that it was a friendly competition. The event even offered pickleball-themed craft…
Further evidence of the tennis community accepting that pickleball is not just the new kid on the block but is here to stay comes with the news that the USTA Mid-Atlantic Foundation has announced the January opening of Village Pickle in Loudoun County, Virginia. This will be the county’s first dedicated indoor pickleball facility. Vacant Retail Space The Village at Leesburg will use its vacant retail space to house the new center, which will initially feature four courts with the intention of expanding to eight during the summer. The driving force behind this idea is Henry Fonvielle, president of Rappaport,…
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is in the midst of a pickleball epidemic. Fighting for parking spots near courts and seeing lines of over 60 people waiting patiently for a place on the court is commonplace – even on weekday mornings. “Pretty Typical” “It’s pretty typical,” Anna Marino, the pickleball director for the city’s Recreation and Parks Department, tells Scott Sexton of the Winston-Salem Journal. People come out to play all year round, whatever the weather, reflecting the more than evident surge in demand. The city has had to respond to match this growing demand, swiftly converting tennis courts into pickleball spaces…