Pickleball

Skechers Signs Two Pickleball Pros (Formula4Media) In our ongoing coverage of the involvement of major brands in the incredible growth of pickleball comes news that none other than Skechers, which recently became the official footwear sponsor of the 2022 Minto US Open Pickleball Championships, has gone ahead and signed two of the top-ranked players, Tyson McGuffin and Catherine Parenteau.

Punta Gorda Secures Three-Year Deal with APP Pickleball Tournament (SportsTravel) The Association of Pickleball Professionals will return to the PicklePlex in Punta Gorda, Florida, with a stop on the tour at the pickleball-specific venue at Florida Southwestern State College. The event will be staged February 23–27 after being held at the complex in 2020 and 2021.

Atlanta pickleball players want more court time (AXIOS Sports) Atlanta’s parks are sorely lacking options for pickleball players compared to the rest of the metro region.
 And there’s no time like the present to act, local fans of the booming sport say.
Driving the news: Players and advocates packed the public comments during last week’s Atlanta City Council meeting and urged city officials to include pickleball lines when the parks department restripes tennis courts at Piedmont Park.

With Her Brain and Body in Sync Through a Neuro-Fit Systems Program, Lea Jansen Is Pickleball’s Unflappable Ascending Star (SportTechie) Lea Jansen played tennis growing up in Valleyford, Wash., near Spokane, and competed in the sport for two years at Division I Washington State. But she dominated after transferring to Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Mich., where she was conference player of the year and a first-team NAIA All-American. She earned a degree in accounting before returning to school for her MBA healthcare management at Davenport University, also in Grand Rapids.

The pickleball explosion (AXIOS Sports) Pickleball — a combination of tennis, badminton and ping-pong — surged in popularity over the past two years. But the sport's rapid rise is much more than a pandemic-fueled fad.