Privacy Policy Create Site Map

2023 U.S. Open Pickleball Championship - Naples, Florida

0:08 five years ago in 2018 we're sitting on 0:11 the couch and played the pickleball five 0:12 times 0:13 as we look at each other and say we need 0:16 to move because my friend just died of a 0:18 heart attack and my other friend called 0:19 me and said he had cancer so now I'm 0:21 only 50 years old lot's going down I'm 0:22 49. so I look at her with tears in my 0:25 eyes I said anything God anything but 0:27 we're not really God Believers but we 0:29 just say it and that's fun the thought 0:32 comes in my head sell everything you own 0:35 move to Florida 0:36 take pick up all the grease 0:41 almost changed our life in the most 0:43 meaningful way the most trajectory 0:45 because we sold literally everything we 0:46 own 0:47 it stopped our life money made no sense 0:49 there's no amount of money that will 0:52 make you happy we said hey we're going 0:54 to become athletes yes and because we 0:57 went out and we couldn't breathe and 0:58 when you're getting crushed by 70 75 1:01 year olds so it makes you kind of look 1:02 at yourself and go now what am I doing 1:04 wrong here why and I want to be that 1:07 sure the thing about pickleball is this 1:09 it makes everybody useful again 1:12 all people want is someone with skin 1:15 even if you believe in higher power and 1:17 you believe in God having just God 1:19 sometimes isn't enough sometimes you 1:21 need someone with skin someone to touch 1:22 someone to talk to you someone to say 1:23 hey how are you doing and who are you 1:25 going to find go to your local 1:26 pickleball court and I promise you where 1:28 we practice every morning together and 1:30 every age 1:31 children again I'm not like 12 year olds 1:36 um we're trying to play tennis during 1:38 the pandemic and all of our tennis 1:39 Sports were just closed and locked up so 1:41 he just called me up he's like hey uh I 1:44 got a few I got a six-pack and I got a 1:46 big driveway I taped up this thing we're 1:48 gonna play some pickleball and I've seen 1:49 her play Pickleball before but I didn't 1:51 really take it seriously I went over and 1:53 we're just eating food playing in his 1:54 driveway and uh that's kind of how I got 1:57 started and then eventually like I drove 1:58 around town saw some like dedicated 2:00 courts on some serious players hopped in 2:02 and never looked back 2:04 uh I mean just since I found out about 2:07 the US Open just I've been playing for 2:09 like two years and you know everyone 2:10 talks about it online it's probably I'd 2:13 say it's probably the biggest amateur 2:14 tournament you could go to uh unique to 2:16 other tournaments is the score of my 2:18 amateur event than a pro event 2:20 um I mean like that's we've been there 2:23 since Monday and we've pretty much only 2:25 watched the amateurs play and you know 2:28 we've been playing until we're kind of 2:29 watching each other or guys what's going 2:31 on 2:32 hanging out with each other so it's 2:34 Unique in the sense that like the PPA we 2:37 had in February we were watching a lot 2:39 of pros play 2:41 um 2:43 so much of the amateurs so 2:45 it's a little more fun than most 2:46 tournaments I would say Pro scene right 2:48 now is kind of dull sometimes just 2:51 because of like Ben John's Natalie you 2:53 kind of just know that you pretty much 2:55 know the result when it's gonna happen 2:57 you know and I'm an amateur events it 3:00 can be a little more Scrappy and kind of 3:02 wild you know like maybe maybe a little 3:04 less refined yeah I think the U.S Open 3:06 pickwall Championship is really amazing 3:08 because of how big the venue is I've 3:11 never played anywhere with just my 3:12 chords and coming from Oregon and get a 3:14 bit of sunshine too right now you know 3:17 what I like about the Minto US Open 3:19 football championships this is my second 3:22 time back it's a good party you play all 3:25 day there's unique events for everybody 3:27 you've got skill you've got age you've 3:28 got skill age mixed age pros and it goes 3:31 all week so a lot of people just come 3:33 down for the whole week play a bunch 3:35 drink a bunch have a good time that's 3:37 why we come back first uh this is our 3:39 first year sponsoring the tournament so 3:40 far we're extremely pleased with the 3:41 turnout with the engagement people are 3:43 excited about the wines so this really 3:45 originated as a brand that's really 3:47 reminiscent of Americana so we were the 3:49 first Bourbon Barrel aged wine in the 3:51 category we actually created a category 3:52 a lot of the Bourbon Barrel aged wines 3:54 you'll see out there imitators of ours 3:56 but we like to say that we're the 3:57 original well the the wine customer and 4:00 the pickleball enthusiasts are similar 4:02 and so far people have been drinking 4:05 before after and during play 4:08 the Minto USA pickleball tournament is 4:11 so special because to organize us get it 4:14 right they understand about hospitality 4:17 and the tournament is about welcoming 4:20 people that means give them shade give 4:24 them food give them drink and know how 4:28 to run applicable tournament I am with 4:30 kabulu pickleball I'm the 4:33 co-founder of sky blue pickleball and I 4:36 design pickleball fashion for the 4:40 growing Noble pickleball community and 4:43 I've been very lucky to be sponsored by 4:45 Sky Blue well I think a woman feel more 4:49 and empowered at our age of 50 before we 4:53 had you know we who would that we would 4:56 be playing pro at our at this age so 5:01 being and playing pickleball it just is 5:05 such a great opportunity it's such a it 5:07 opened the door for our age group and 5:11 we're out there we're working out we're 5:13 we're Drilling and we know we can do it 5:16 so that's the beauty about pickleball 5:18 that it's anybody's game and especially 5:22 being a woman it's like it's just a nice 5:26 opportunity to be playing uh pickleball 5:28 at a pro level sport is fabulous there's 5:32 nothing better you look up at the sky 5:34 you're outside that the breeze the air a 5:37 rainbow came yesterday and that 5:40 describes pickleball to me it's the US 5:43 Open 5:46 wow 5:46

What happens when you bring 40,000 Pickleball players & spectators to a one-week event in beautiful Naples, Florida? 100% pure enthusiast energy that pumped through the veins of this week-long event like a heat-seeking missile - no understatement. There aren't words to express the authenticity of the energy that made East Naples Community Park feel like a rock concert at Soldier's Field. We did our best to offer-up a few key selects here - next year bring the whole family to experience it.

TUNDRA MEDIA

Featured Podcasts

ALL PODCASTS

Loading...

Loading...