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- Team Europe and Team USA announce teams for the inaugural Atlantic Cup | UK Players dominate in Alicante while Thaddea takes the triple crown
Team Europe and Team USA announce teams for the inaugural Atlantic Cup | UK Players dominate in Alicante while Thaddea takes the triple crown
Pickleball goes global with the Pickleball World Series | Interview with ThatPickleballGuy, Kyle Koszuta | Upcoming Tournaments & Festivals |
Mark Mars
March 12, 2024
Team Europe and Team USA announce teams for the inaugural Atlantic Cup
Source: APP Tour
In Golf, we have the Ryder Cup and now in Pickleball, we have the Atlantic Cup. Run by the APP Tour, the event will be held on March 20th, 22nd, and 24th at the Miami Convention Center alongside the APP Miami Pickleball Open.
“International team events have been hugely entertaining fixtures across different sports including golf, football (soccer), cricket, and now pickleball.
To captain Team Europe is an honor, and I will be playing and supporting my team as much as possible to help give us the inaugural victory.”
The APP Atlantic Cup is officially endorsed by both the European Pickleball Federation and USA Pickleball governing bodies making it the first event in global professional pickleball.
3 UK players have made it into Europes team of 6, James Chaudry, Thaddea Lock, and Louis Laville who will be accompanied by Pialena Ander (Nyköping, Sweden), María Costantino (Malaga, Spain) and Felix Grunert (Erlangen, Germany). Thaddea and Louis will co-captain the team.
Source: APP Tour
“I’m so excited to be part of a group of six great European players heading to the U.S. for the Atlantic Cup.
It’s an amazing opportunity for us to compete against some of the best players in the world. We are very grateful to the APP for setting up such a fantastic event and giving us this opportunity.”
The USA Team includes Riley Bohnert (Louisville, KY), Alia Brown (Alpharetta, GA), Ava Kalist (Chambersburg, PA), Spencer Lanier (Newberg, OR), Richard Livornese (Ringoes, NJ) and Jack Munro (Buda, TX). Chad Edwards and Lee Whitwell have also been drafted in to coach the team.
“I’m looking forward to coaching Team USA in the Atlantic Cup and the opportunity to showcase America’s young up-and-coming talent against the best of Europe.”
Source: APP Tour
The international competition that this event provides certainly makes it an exciting spectacle that stands out from other events.
I’ll post here if I hear about the availability of a live stream.
“We’re eagerly counting down the days until the APP Atlantic Cup, which marks a new milestone in pickleball history.”
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UK Players dominate in Alicante while Thaddea takes the triple crown
Source: Mediterranean Open
In a recent tournament, the Mediterranean Open Pickleball Series in Alicante, UK players once again dominated the tournament. The tournament took place on 1st - 3rd March at the Juan Carlos Ferrero Academy.
UK players took gold in every pro competition, including a clean sweep in the mixed doubles taking the gold, silver and bronze. Performance of the tournament has to go to Thaddea Lock who managed to walk home with a Triple Crown. 🔥
Pro results for UK players were as follows.
Women’s Singles
Gold - Thaddea Lock
Bronze - Katie Morris
Men’s Singles
Gold - Louis Laville
Silver - Freddie Powell
Women’s Doubles
Gold - Thaddea Lock and Hermione Baxter Chinery
Bronze - Julie Mac (& partner Katlyn Savva)
Men’s Doubles
Gold - Louis Laville and Freddie Powell
Bronze - James Chaudry (& parter Basti Grau)
Mixed Doubles
Gold - Thaddea Lock and James Chaudry
Silver - Emilia Smythe & Freddie Powell
Bronze - Hermione Baxter Chinery & Louis Laville.
Source: Mediterranean Open
Other UK player’s medals are as follows:
55+ Pro Gold - Julie Mac with Juan Carlos
55+ Intermediate Silver - Carolyn Laville (& partner Gustavo A. Alonso)
This is the second Mediterranean Open, the last of which we reported on back in December was at the Rafal Nadal Academy in Mallorca. The Mediterranian offers both pro and amateur events running alongside each other.
Next up for many of the UK Pros will be the inaugural Atlantic Cup and APP in Miami.
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Upcoming Tournaments & Festivals
10 NEW EVENTS ADDED THIS WEEK!
Interested in participating in or promoting a pickleball event?
Lots of new events have been added to the pickleball calendar. Check them out at Pickled Events. The number 1 source for all pickleball events in the UK.
Get notifications when new events are added
Search Events by location
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Filter Events by Tournament or Festival
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See which events are coming up next
And promote your own events for free!
Visit the Pickled Events website here.
Pickleball goes global with the Pickleball World Series
Source: Pickleball World Series
Pickleball Asia and the Times group, the entertainment and news leaders in India have partnered up to create a new global pickleball series called the Pickleball World Series.
The series will span multiple continents with six major events planned per year. The tournament will be made up of 64 individuals as part of an individual format and six teams with 4 players in each team.
This new series is led by Pravav Kohli, co-founder of Pickleball Asia and CEO of Pickleball United who created the rollout courts used at last year’s (and this year’s) English Open.
The prize money is expected to be generous too, with $500,000 to $1,000,000 in prize money for each event and participating players being offered appearance fees, travel, and accommodation.
“Pickleball World Series will embody the spirit of the pickleball community and aim to provide action-packed competition along with scintillating entertainment built around the game.
Starting off in the United States, the Pickleball World Series will travel across different continents with six major events. The series will be supported by Pickleball World Rankings, a one-of-a-kind ranking system that allows players to accumulate points and qualify for the Pickleball World Series.”
The venture also plans to launch a ranking system for both amateurs and professionals, in a bid to connect players across the globe.
From Zero to Pro in 12 Months with ThatPickleballGuy, Kyle Koszuta
In this episode, I speak with ThatPickleballGuy and Pickleball Pro, Kyle Koszuta.
It was a fun episode in which we covered:
Kyle's background in sport and documenting his goal of going from zero to pro in 12 months
Some of his favourite moments on the pro tour
Playing in the Arizona Pickleball League
The growth of Pickleball in Arizona
The Future of Pickleball
I hope you enjoy this one.
Watch on YouTube here or listen on your favourite podcast app.
Paddle Spotlight
Diadem Icon v2
The Diamdem Icon v2. This paddle, at 13.7mm thick is one of the more player-friendly power paddles on the market. Generally, thinner power paddles are harder to control but Diadem has counted this by injecting foam around the edge of the paddle which provides a larger sweet spot that makes it easier to control.
They also added a layer of film between 2 honeycomb cores to dampen vibrations and to make these paddles softer and more comfortable to control.
As is the case with power paddles, the ball comes off the face of these paddles quickly making it a good candidate for speedups and drives.
Finally, the paddle also comes in an edgeless design, which means you won’t have to worry about errant edge hits sending your ball off in a random direction.
This mid-priced paddle has lots of good things to shout about and won’t break the bank.
Use coupon NEWS10 for a 10% discount on everything Pickleball Addiction Shop.
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