Monday, February 22, 2021

Mother-daughter pickleball duo are transcending the sport

 



Chierstin Susel, Channel 12  (KPNX-TV, NBC)

PHOENIX — Pickleball is no longer your grandfather’s sport. Mother-daughter duo Leigh and Anna Leigh Waters are proof.

The duo picked up the sport back in 2017 when they evacuated their home in Florida due to Hurricane Irma and stayed with Leigh’s parents for a couple of weeks. 

Leigh’s dad introduced them to the sport and from there they were hooked.


“I think we played like morning, noon and night for two weeks straight while we were up there and the rest is history,” said Leigh.

Leigh is a former collegiate tennis player and her 14-year-old daughter also picked up the sport which made it an easy transition to pickleball, but they never imagined it would take them to where they are now.

They were on their way to winning three straight majors when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and halted sports, now they’re hoping to pick up where they left off.

They’ve returned with a new clothing sponsor and are now not only fierce but fashionable competitors that get noticed everywhere they go.

“We’re like totally into fashion,” said Leigh. “We get to pick our own patterns, what you see us wearing we’ve actually picked out and helped design along with the company (Faye+Florie).  

Together, they’ve helped transcend pickleball, the fastest-growing sport in the country. 

The duo competed in the PPA Foot Solutions Arizona Grand Slam Qualifier this weekend. 

Saturday, February 13, 2021

The First Three Shots of Pickleball

 

Coach Toui Pomsouvan uses Anna Leigh's game footage to showcase "The First Three Shots Of Pickleball"

Saturday, February 6, 2021

Professional Pickleball National Champions Mother/Daughter Duo Are Back! Gold Medal, Podcast, Happy Birthday #AL

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


January 26: Leigh Waters curtsied to her daughter Anna Leigh on her 14th birthday


Professional Pickleball National Champions Mother/Daughter Duo Are Back! Gold Medal, Podcast, Happy Birthday #AL (Nat Headline)


PUNTA GORDA, FL (January 31, 2021) -- In 2020, after playing in a handful of exhibitions due to COVID-19, the 2019 Women’s Doubles Professional National Champions, Leigh Waters and her thirteen-year old daughter Anna Leigh played in The Association of Pickleball Professionals (APP) Tour first tournament of 2021 the AAP Punta Gorda Pickleball Open in Punta Gorda, FL.


The mother/daughter duo, known for their intense ”ripit” style of play, won a Gold Medal in the Pro Women’s Doubles bracket. (Watch 2 min Highlight Reel)


Decked out in matching custom outfits from their new sports clothing sponsor, Faye+Florie, #TeamWaters appeared to have just stepped out of the pages of a fashion magazine. 



The National Champs showed new aspects of their game which they developed during quarantine. "I am so glad we came back.  I have been missing it. The tournaments are so much different from practicing pickleball." explained Anna Leigh after winning the Gold Medal. 


"I never expected to be in the Gold Medal Match," states Leigh. "I had nothing to lose. So, I was going to go for it." 


This week TeamWaters will return to Punta Gorda for the $100,000 World Pickleball Championship. ProPickleball will livestream WPC matches on their Facebook page. NOTE: Due to COVID concerns, TeamWaters did not attend this event.


Photo: 2019 WPC Anna Leigh Waters with her grandfather Neil Eichelberger, who taught TeamWaters how to play pickleball during Hurricane Irma (Sept. 2017)