Twelve Year Old Anna Leigh Waters Travels Coast-To-Coast Playing Professional Pickleball With Her Mother

Press Release:

Twelve Year Old Anna Leigh Waters Travels Coast-To-Coast Playing Professional Pickleball With Her Mother 

INDIAN WELLS, CA, October 21, 2019 - This year at the Margaritaville USA Pickleball National Championships, November 2-10, 2019, that is being held for the second year at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California,  twelve-year-old Anna Leigh Waters (#AL) will be playing in the Women’s Professional bracket with her mother, Leigh Waters. 

In August, the dynamic mother/daughter duo, sponsored by leading paddle company Paddletek, qualified for the eleventh annual USA Pickleball Association (USAPA) National tournament by winning a gold medal at the Tournament Of Champions (TOC) in Brigham City, Utah, in the Women’s Doubles Open against the top Pickleball players in the world without losing a match. 

2019 Team Waters Highlight Point (1+ minute)

Video clip - 68 shot rally during the Texas Open Women’s Doubles Pro Gold Medal Match between the top female Pickleball players in the world: Simone Jardim and Lucy Kovalova 

Bag Check

 

October 2019: TeamWaters Bag Check With Randy Coleman

Pickleball Magazine Player Profile: Anna Leigh Waters

(October 2019) You don’t see Anna Leigh Waters too often without her mother, Leigh. It’s not because the two are pickleball pros and partners, but mostly because Anna Leigh is still a minor.

At just 12 years of age, Anna Leigh Waters is making a name for herself in the world of pickleball and, together with her mom, the team has already garnered some accolades and won some gold together.

Their most recent win was the Women’s Double Pro Match at the Tournament of Champions in August, but the duo has played in the Atlanta Open, Texas Open, Las Vegas Open, Nationals and more. Add in the fact that they’ve only been playing pickleball for two years, and their rise seems even more astounding.

“We discovered pickleball in September 2017,” Leigh recalls. “We were evacuated from our home in Delray Beach, Florida, in the wake of Hurricane Irma. We didn’t have electricity for two weeks. My dad has a home in Allentown, Pa., so we went there and he taught us how to play. We started the same day, same week, same year. We played straight for two weeks, and when we got back home, we found that the closest place to us that had pickleball was the Delray Tennis Center, and the rest is history.”

For Anna Leigh, playing with her mom isn’t just a way to enjoy family time, it’s like having the best partner you could get. “I love playing with my mom because we just know what the other is going to do before we hit the ball,” she says. “We know what’s going to happen or how to react to it.” (Read More) 

Franklin Pickleball Masters Invitational

Highlights: Franklin Pickleball Masters Invitational hosted by Chicken N Pickle Wichita, Kansas September 22, 2019

Franklin Pickleball Masters (September)

Individual Medals

• Bronze Women’s Doubles Pro: Leigh Waters/Catherine Parenteau 
• Bronze Mixed Doubles Pro: Anna Leigh/Kyle Yates

MIXED DOUBLES - BRONZE 
Anna Leigh Waters/KyleYates vs Leigh Waters/Dave Weinbach 

• 1:55 What a point...40 shot rally. Anna Leigh appears to have her sights set on Dave Weinbach
• 3:32 Leigh runs down a beautiful lob hit by Kyle
• 04:00 The 12 year old hits a lob over her mother for a winner
• 4:35 Kyle hops the kitchen and hits a winner
• 5:16 Anna Leigh (#AL) hits a drive down the middle for a winner (she did it again on the next point, too)
• 7:07 Leigh hits a winner down the middle
• 13:08 Dave almost knocks Leigh over reaching for a lob on her side of the court
• 15:32 Leigh and Dave hit several overheads
• 17:12 Amazing point bam-bam-bam

Start Game 2 19:09

• 24:23 Longest dink session of match
• 26:26 Lots of great defence. Leigh hits the winner
• 27:14 Kyle hits a great lob and then a backhand Erne for a winner
• 27:44 Out ball called in. AL makes it right
• 31:44 Dave hits a no look dink
• 32:19 Kyle hits a backhand down the middle for a winner
• 49:35 Great rally. Kyle hits another backhand down the middle for a winner
• 37:05 Kyle hits a backhand running away from the net - amazing shot
• 43:43 Intense rally: 8-8-1
• 46:27 Ref calls fault on Dave for touching his paddle down in the NVZ after hitting a volley
• 48:20 #AL mis-hit goes in, setting up match point

2019 Texas Open

Highlight Point (68 shot rally): WOMENS DBLS OPEN GOLD
Simone Jardim/Lucy Kovalova vs Anna Leigh Waters/Leigh Waters

• Texas Open (September) Silver Medal Women’s Doubles Pro

Full Gold Medal Match

2018-2020 Highlights

Interview: 2019 Tournament of Champions Women's Doubles Pro Gold Medal Award Presentation

2019 Tournament of Champions Women's Doubles Pro Gold Medal Award Presentation

What is your experience to be able to use Pickleball as a way for you guys to strengthen your relationship and spend time together?

Leigh Waters: It's really cool because I support her in soccer and that is just her. But, this is together and we are sharing every moment and my mother travels with us everywhere and it is just memories that we will just never forget!

Anna Leigh Waters: “I agree. I love playing with my Mom because she is a great player, she gives me a lot of confidence, and she calms my nerves when she can sense that it is affecting my play. Because we are mother and daughter, we can anticipate each other’s shots and we move together very well. Winning a major at TOC was awesome, but the best part about it was winning it with my Mom.”