If you have ever read my blog, you know that I’m crazy about pickleball.  My husband and I play six or seven times a week and we just love it.  On the weekends, after pickleball of course, I’m watching the professional players competing on YouTube whether it be PPA, APP or MLP.  All pickleball acronyms for the various groups of professional pickleball.

Yesterday, professional pickleball came to Frisco, Texas!  My husband and I bought courtside tickets and crossed the Red River into Texas to watch.  Of course, I have my favorite players.  Watching all of them week in and week out, you almost think you know them.  You know their quirks, their special plays, and what shots they are really good at.  We have friends in our pickleball circle that have already had the opportunity to see the pros in action.  The one thing that have all said about their experience is that the ball is moving much faster in person than on TV. And they were correct. 

We arrived just short of 10 am., showed our tickets, got our courtside seat armbands, and wandered into the venue at the Lifetime Fitness Center in Frisco.  Immediately to our right were the courts being used by the pros to do their round robin event prior to bracket play. And who do we see on the first court when we walk in?  Jessie Ervine and Jay Devilliers!  They were playing against a team we did not know but were also very good.  Not good enough though.  Yes, the ball moved faster but that was not what struck me.  What struck me was the absolute ease and precision of the players.  Jessie Ervine’s dink game was mind-blowing.  It looked effortless and it was very effective.  Jay’s reaction time to all balls being hit at him at great speed was amazing.  He was returning crazy shots before my eyes could even figure out where the ball was going.

As we stood there, just inside of the entrance, I looked to our left and there was Megan Dizon, who I have come to enjoy watching over the last few months.  Looking through the courts, there was Riley Newman and Catherine Parenteau. To say that I was start-stuck would be an understatement.

By the time my husband could pull me away from the fence to go find our courtside seats, the action was getting ready to start on center court.  This was a place that rotated teams in and out and what was seen on the PPA YouTube channel.  This is what I’m normally home in my recliner watching.  There were a couple of sections of seats and my husband and I found ourselves on the front row at about the 45 yard line, if you will.  The ref is standing at the 50 yard line….    I looked across the court to the broadcast booth and there was Dave Fleming, the guy that does the broadcast I watch on YouTube every weekend.

I have to tell you that this was an amazing experience.   The players were right in front of us.  From this vantage point we could really see all aspects of the game.  It was great to see just how this level of player plays the game vs the rec play my husband and I do.  But you can always learn from watching them and how they execute plays.  Their plays are strategic, where my play is reactive many times.   While we were sitting there we got to see Jessie and Jay again, along with Riley Newman/Catherine Parenteau, Megan Dizon/Spencer Smith, and Tyson McGuffin/Lea Jansen. 

After sitting through five or six games, there was a lull in the action.  Bracket play was about to start, and we were getting hungry.  We went to the food vendor, grabbed our food, and headed back in.  This time we opted to find seat out of the sun.  It was 90 degrees in Frisco yesterday and I could feel my skin starting to burn.    On the south end of the court there were three rows of seats under a canopy in the shade.  We got lucky and found two seats on row 2 and our view of the game changed.  From this vantage point, the servers were standing about 10 feet from us.  Some liked to interact with the crowd, especially Jay Devilliers and Tyson McGuffin.  The crowd loved it, and they got the reactions they wanted.  I found myself not cheering for certain teams, but at whoever hit a great shot and there were lots of great shots.

Now if you are a pickleball fan, you have noticed by now that I have left out a lot of great players.  What about Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters?  Not there.  What about Lucy Kovolova and Matt Wright?  Not there.  And the list goes one.  This particular event was added to the PPA lineup late in the year and some players didn’t play for whatever reason.  However, I did get to see many of my favorites so there was no disappointment here.  Truth be known, if everyone had been there yesterday, it might have been an overload for me. 

In November the pros return to Rockwall, Texas for another big event.  We already have our tickets and are ready for more great pickleball action.