#RipItPickleball Journal

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)

Pickleball Fire Podcast with Lynn Cherry

Discussion Topics

How Hurricane Irma was a life changing event for the Waters
The level at which Leigh and Anna Leigh started playing Pickleball tournaments
Why the Waters game improved rapidly in 2018 and when Leigh realized 11-year-old Anna Leigh was ready to be her partner at the professional level
Why the Waters did not play tournaments for most of 2020 and how they did in their first tournament in 2021
Which part of the game Leigh and Anna Leigh worked on when they were training in 2020
Whether Leigh or Anna Leigh’s game is now more aggressive
Why the Waters were called tennis players on the Pickleball court when they first started playing
How other sports have enhanced Anna Leigh’s Pickleball game
Anna Leigh’s goals in sports and what she plans to achieve in the future
How to make practice fun
The music the Waters use for motivation during a tournament
What they give up to play Pickleball
Anna Leigh’s plans for her 14th birthday and how COVID-19 is impacting her party 
Today Anna Leigh is 14 years old! Fans sent her Happy Birthday wishes on Facebook and Instagram

Sunday, January 17, 2021

Kolter Homes Inside WORLD Pickleball Episode 7

Leigh reviewed 2020 on this edition of Inside WORLD Pickleball

Feb. 5, 2021: Kolter Homes Inside WORLD Pickleball Episode 10 Team Waters Interview clip

June 4, 2020: Kolter Homes Inside WORLD Pickleball Episode 1

Saturday, January 9, 2021

2021 AAP Punta Gorda Pickleball Open

TeamWaters Pro Women's Doubles Gold Medal Winners
Silver Medal: Andrea Koop/Corrine Carr

Gold Medal Match Highlights/Interview (9+ mins)

TeamWaters vs Andrea Koop/Corrine Carr (Watch Match)

TeamWaters vs Andrea Koop/Corrine Carr Highlights (7+ mins)

(TeamWaters down 10-5, 3rd Game) (2+ min reel)

2021 Schedule

January: Boca Bridges Invitational (Gold: Mixed Doubles - Leigh Waters/Kyle Yates, Bronze: Anna Leigh Waters/Joshua Elliott)
January: APP Punta Gorda Pickleball Open (Gold: Doubles, Silver: Mixed Doubles - Leigh Waters/Tyson McGuffin)
February: PPA Foot Solutions Arizona Grand Slam Qualifier
February: PPA Simone Jardim Florida Grand Slam
March: APP Delray Beach Pickleball Open (Silver: Doubles )
April: Minto US Open Pickleball Championships (Bronze: Doubles, Singles AL, Split Age Doubles - Silver, Leigh Waters/Jennifer Dawson)
May: PPA Atlanta Georgia Open (Silver: Doubles, Bronze - Mixed Doubles, AL/Tyson McGuffin)
June: PPA Orange County Cup, San Clemente, CA (Silver - Doubles, AL Singles)
July: The Margaritaville PPA Underground Invitational, Fort Meyers, FL
August: PPA The Takeya Showcase, Newport Beach, CA (Gold: Singles - AL, Bronze Doubles)
August: Tournaments Of Champions, Brigham City, UT (Gold: Singles AL, Bronze: Doubles)
September: PPA Orlando Cup, Orlando, FL (Gold: Singles AL, Doubles)
October: PPA Texas Open Shootout, Rockwell, TX (Gold: Singles AL, Silver: Doubles, Bronze Mixed Doubles - JW Johnson/Anna Leigh Waters)
October: PPA Championships, Las Vegas, NV (Silver: Singles AL, Doubles)
November: Major League Pickleball (Second Place for AL's Team: The Chimeras)
November: PPA Masters (Gold: Singles AL, Bronze: Mixed Doubles AL/Tyson McGuffin)
December: Margaritaville USA Pickleball National Championships, Indian Wells, CA (Gold: Singles AL, Doubles, Bronze: Mixed Doubles AL/Tyson McGuffin)