42:53 Dirk Nowitzki/John Isner vs Jorden Spieth/Scottie Scheffler 56:26 Dirk Nowitzki/Lea Jansen vs Meghan Dizon/Tony Romo 1:01:57 Dirk Nowitzk/Riley Newman vs Tony Romo/Spencer Smith1:15:15 Anna Leigh Waters/Scottie Scheffler vs Jordan Spieth/Catherine Parenteau 1:24:05 Ben Johns/Scottie Scheffler vs Jordan Spieth/Tyler Loong 1:35:49 Lea Jansen/Jordan Spieth vs Jessie Irvine/John Isner 1:41:42 Dirk Nowitzk/Riley Newman vs Jay Devilliers/John Isner1:49:43 Anna Leigh Waters/Jordan Spieth vs Jessie Irvine/John Isner 2:00:11 Ben Johns/Jordan Spieth vs Jay Devilliers/John Isner 2:09:59 Dirk Nowitzki/John Isner vs Jorden Spieth/Scottie Scheffler
5:56:00 Anna Leigh Waters vs Catherine Parenteau (Gold)
2:52:40 Anna Leigh Waters vs Mary Brascia 5:41:15 Anna Leigh Waters vs Irina Tereschenko
Doubles
2:28:11 Anna Leigh Waters/Leigh Waters vs Anna Bright/Parris Todd (Gold)
2:38:18 Anna Leigh Waters/Leigh Waters vs Yana Grechkina/Regina Franco Goldberg
4:08:09 Anna Leigh Waters/Leigh Waters vs Lindsey Newman/Jessie Irvine (Highlight)
Mixed Doubles
1:08:16 Anna Leigh Waters/Ben Johns vs Catherine Parenteau/JW Johnson (Gold)
2:02:06 Ben Johns/Anna Leigh Waters vs Vivienne David/Zane Navratil5:03:24 Ben Johns/Anna Leigh Waters vs AJ Koller/Callie Smith
8:05:10 Ben Johns/Anna Leigh Waters vs Lindsey Newman/Riley Newman
6:42:26 Tyson McGuffin/Leigh Waters vs Lindsey Newman/Riley Newman
With multiple pro tours and new venues everywhere, pickleball’s growth shows no signs of slowing down.
All eyes were on Anna Leigh Waters #AL 15, and Ben Johns, 23, a mixed doubles team and perhaps the two brightest stars in the rapidly expanding pickleball universe, phenoms changing the way the game is both played and perceived. Competing in the Baird Wealth Management Open, one of the biggest events staged by the Professional Pickleball Association (PPA), Waters and Johns are torchbearers for a young sport with a future as promising as it is unpredictable.
“You’ve got to remember that people couldn’t do anything, but they could go out in their driveway or in their cul-de-sac or the street or the park,” said Leigh Waters, one of the nation’s top doubles players who teams with her daughter Anna Leigh. “And they could do it with their family. It didn’t matter what age they were, what athletic ability they were.”
“I used to hear, like, ‘Ha-ha, that’s just an old-person sport,” the 15-year-old said with a laugh. “But now they see me on TV and stuff. Or they see that I’m playing with celebrities that they know. And I’m like: ‘I told you. Pickleball is a legit thing.’ ” (Read Article)
3:09:04 Anna Leigh Waters/Leigh Waters vs Parris Todd/Irina Tereschenko 9:26:54 Anna Leigh Waters/Leigh Waters vs Lea Jansen/Catherine Parenteau
Mixed Doubles
4:54:41 Anna Leigh Waters/Ben Johns vs Riley Newman/Catherine Parenteau (Interview) (Stats) (Gold)
1:53:52 Anna Leigh Waters/Ben Johns vs Rachel Rettger/Alex Neumann3:42:01 Anna Leigh Waters/Ben Johns vs Callie Smith/AJ Koller6:32:20 Anna Leigh Waters/Ben Johns vs Jay Devilliers/Jessie Irvine
3:56:45 Yana Grechkina/Irina Tereschenko vs Anna Leigh Waters/Leigh Waters 6:10:14 Anna Bright/Jessie Irvine vs Anna Leigh Waters/Leigh Waters
Mixed Doubles
1:44:32 Ben Johns/Anna Leigh Waters vs Salome Devidze/Mariano Yeh3:32:25 Ben Johns/Anna Leigh Waters vs Patrick Smith/Irina Tereschenko5:15:58 Ben Johns/Anna Leigh Waters vs AJ Koller/Callie Smith
It’s been described as the fastest-growing sport in America. People are playing pickleball everywhere, with courts springing up in towns and cities across the country.
But where did pickleball originate? How did it start, and where? And why are so many people playing it?
Those are some of the questions answered in a new SportsCenter “SC Featured” segment debuting Sunday. Producer Jon Fish and reporter Gene Wojciechowski traveled America to get pickleball perspective.
“So, how do you tell a story of a sport?” Fish said. “Multiple other entities have gotten into what’s going on with pickleball now, but the most important thing to me is how did this happen? What’s the origin story?”
He learned that pickleball was invented in 1965 on Bainbridge Island, Wash., near Seattle. And then he remembered that Jason Jobes, a camera operator he’s friends with and has worked with often, lives on Bainbridge. When he called Jobes, he was amazed to learn that Jobes had played the sport his entire life. He quickly agreed to help Fish with the story.
Fish and Wojciechowski went to Bainbridge Island and to the spot where pickleball was born.
The original pickleball court on Bainbridge Island, Wash., is marked with this plaque. (Jon Fish/ESPN)
“You can’t shoot hoops on the peach basket that Naismith hung up,” he said. “But when you go to Bainbridge Island, you come off this unpaved road in the middle of the woods, and there it is – Court 1.
“And I had that moment like I’m at the origin of the sport. And they haven’t touched it. It looks like it looked when they invented the game in 1965. For me, as a producer, to find something as it was is just mind-blowing. To go to a place that’s the essence of a sport is incredible.”
Viewers also will hear from 15-year-old Anna Leigh Waters, the No. 1 ranked female pickleball player; Tom Dundon, owner of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, who also owns the PPA – Pro Pickleball Association; and Steve Kuhn, owner of Major League Pickleball.
“We found out that pickleball has a cool backstory of why it was invented,” Fish said. “And the game means a lot to the people that invented it and the people who play it now.”
And that includes Fish.
“My wife bought me pickleball paddles and balls for my birthday,” he said.
“One Nation Under Pickleball” will premier in the 8 a.m. ET edition of SportsCenter on Sunday, Aug. 21, will re-air in other editions on Sunday and in the ensuing days. (Source)
