Tag Archives: pickleball

Our First Time to see Professional Pickleball Players

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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.

Jessie Ervine & Jay Develliers

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.   

Pickleball in Punta Gorda

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My husband and I started a new tradition when I turned 60 two years ago. Let’s go somewhere fun and play pickleball for my birthday. When I hit the big 60, we traveled to Las Vegas to play at the Plaza. For those of you that don’t know, the pickleball courts are on the pool deck on about the 5th floor. Shockingly, it was pretty chilly in Vegas on December 30. But we did find one other couple who was visiting from Canada, and we had a few good matches, weather allowing.

Then Covid hit and we did not travel anywhere for my birthday the following year. So, we still have Covid, but things seem a bit more flexible. In September we started planning for my 62nd birthday pickleball adventure. We have both been vaccinated and boosted and were ready to go. But this time, let’s go somewhere we are pretty sure will be warm and beautiful. Let’s try Punta Gorda, Florida!

Getting there however, proved to be a bit of a challenge. As I said earlier, we made these plans in September, hotel reservations and flights. We got our bags packed on Sunday for our Monday morning flight. Got up at 6 a.m. Monday morning to learn that our flight had been canceled. Remember seeing all those flight cancellations after Christmas on the news? Yup, ours was one of those. At least we hadn’t gotten to the airport, which is two hours away.

My husband couldn’t book a flight that day, so he found us a flight for Tuesday. The non-stop flights were all gone, so we would have to fly from Dallas to Charlotte, North Carolina and change planes to get to Ft Myers. DFW Airport is a very large place and we have always parked at the Remote North parking lot. It’s just easier than parking at one of the terminals. We arrived at the North Remote Parking to see that it was closed. We have never seen that. Should have known that was a bad sign. We drove into the airport and parked at the terminal our plane was assigned to at 8:15 a.m., checked in and boarded our plane right on time. Exciting. After sitting on that plane for about 45 minutes it was announced that we had a bad tire and that it would take at least an hour to replace it. That means, we will miss our connecting flight. Then they made us all get off the plane.

Lots of people on the plane had connecting flights and now had to find other flights, including us. We found a nonstop from Dallas to Ft Myers, but it didn’t leave until 3:55 p.m. We spent a lot of time Monday wandering the airport all masked up. We boarded the plane on time, and we sit, and we sit, and we sit. About an hour later, we were told that the plane had a mechanical problem, and we all had to get off. Really? Again? This time they are going to find us another plane.

All 173 of us had to go from Terminal A to Terminal D via Skylink. We boarded our new plane, and we were finally on our way. It just took one car, two trains and three planes. The sun was setting, and the day was pretty much done in Dallas. Next up, Punta Gorda.

Leaving Dallas as the sun sets

By the time we landed in Ft Myers, got our rental car and drove up to Punta Gorda, it was 10:30 p.m., and we were exhausted. Tomorrow would be a new day.

We got up, ate a little breakfast and headed out to find the Pickleplex in Punta Gorda. This is a fantastic pickleball venue with 16 beautiful courts. All the courts were full when we arrived, and they were already “stacking paddles.” We signed up, paid our $5 guest fee, stacked our paddles and waited our turn. We played each of the three mornings we were there and met some really nice people. They were very welcoming, and everyone was around our age and skill level. Mostly retired peeps who were wintering in Florida or who had moved to Florida. And why not? The weather was fantastic. I think it was 82 each day we were there, no wind and no rain. It was perfect.

We have never been to that part of Florida, and we know that we want to go back. Lots to see and do besides pickleball. We ate at two very yummy restaurants; Hemingway’s and Carmello’s Italian for my birthday. Carmello’s may be our new favorite restaurant. We had lunch at the Village Fish Market overlooking the bay and took walks along the water. The margarita I had from the bar at the top of the Wyvern Hotel packed quite a punch, but I am a bit of a lightweight. Thank you, Punta Gorda, for your hospitality. Maybe next time we bring the RV and stay for an entire month.

The retirement countdown continues, less than five months to go.