Boca Raton will now feature its own franchise for Pickleball Pros in National Pickleball League™

BOCA RATON, FL /EINPresswire.com/ — The World Pickleball Group, led by Carl Foster and Rick Retamar and his team of partners, is proud to announce the launch of the Boca Raton Picklers, South Florida’s first professional pickleball franchise as part of the new National Pickleball League™ (NPL™.)

The Boca Raton Picklers will be one of six new franchises in the National Pickleball League (www.nplpickleball.com), which is a professional pickleball league for Champions Pros (defined as players that are 50+). The WPG team is set to make a big impact, having already staged two of the largest tournaments in pickleball in South Florida – The Boca Raton Pickleball Masters and the upcoming 3rd Annual Delray Beach Pickleball Open in May 10-14, 2023. The Boca Masters was recently one of the most watched pickleball tournaments, with over 50 thousand viewers surpassing Major League Pickleball, APP, and PPA tournaments.

To celebrate the launch and new team logo of the Boca Raton Picklers, a press event will be held on Friday, March 3rd at Maggiano’s Little Italy Boca Raton located at 21090 St. Andrews Blvd, Boca Raton, FL 33433.

Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer, a pickleball aficionado himself, will be in attendance along with executives from the Palm Beach County Sports Commission and NPL executives Michael “Hammer Mike” Chen and the #1 ranked Men’s Champions Pro, Rick Witsken, along with some of the country’s top Champion Pros.

“We are thrilled to bring the first professional pickleball franchise to Boca Raton and South Florida,” said Carl Foster, CEO of The World Pickleball Group and co-owner of the Boca Raton Picklers, LLC, which will be the company that owns the pickleball team.

“It’s a fact that pickleball is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world, and we’re excited to be at the forefront of helping grow the sport along with the development of the NPL,” added Rick Retamar, Florida attorney for 33 years and co-owner of the Boca Raton Picklers, LLC.

“We launched NPL in December 2022 as a home for Champions Pros, by Champions Pros. We wanted the league to be a grassroots effort and honor the Champions Players,” NPL co-founder Michael Chen explains. “Pickleball would not have had the explosion of growth it has today if it wasn’t for the commitment that this demographic gave to this game over the years. We are thrilled that the Boca Raton Picklers are joining us on this journey.”

“Carl, Rick and their team at the World Pickleball Group are well-connected partners who are focused on growing the great sport of pickleball,” added #1 ranked Champion Pro and NPL co-founder Beth Bellamy. “We are very excited about working with the Boca Raton Picklers to make the NPL the best it can be.”

The Boca Raton Picklers will bring together some of the top talent in the sport and create a world-class team that will compete at the highest level. The NPL draft will be held in April after a two-day player combine March 25-26, 2023 at the Chicken N Pickles Oklahoma City indoor location.

There will be 6 events in 2023 at the host partner of Chicken N Pickles locations and schedules are available online at www.nplpickleball.com. Foster and Retamar will be working with the NPL to host at least one home match in Boca Raton for 2024.

“The NPL is so excited for Boca Raton to be a landing pad for Champions Pros to showcase their abilities and to vie for the top prize,” commented #1 Ranked Champions Pro and NPL™ Co-Founder, Rick Witsken. “The men and women who play for the Boca Raton Picklers will be committing themselves to excellence in their training, competitiveness and sportsmanship, along with striving to get their share of the largest ever Champions Pro Prize Pool of $100,000!”

Source: EIN Presswire

https://stmdailynews.com/category/sports/sleeves-senior-pickleball/

Event includes golf, pickleball, and a celebration of our veterans

WESTHAMPTON, N.Y. /PRNewswire/ — The Bob Woodruff Foundation is thrilled to announce the second annual Veterans Classic will take place at the Westhampton Country Club on Monday, May 22 beginning at 10:30 am. In addition to the golf tournament, guests will have the opportunity to participate in a pickleball clinic and round robin as part of the afternoon’s events. The Veterans Classic also includes lunch, dinner, cocktails, and an awards ceremony. Supported by event co-chairs Colin Heffron and Mike Hoffman, proceeds from the event benefit Bob Woodruff Foundation’s work in food insecurity for the military and veteran community. Additional information, including registration details, can be found at bobwoodrufffoundation.org/events.

“This Memorial Day as we gather to honor those who have served, through our Veterans Classic we’re also raising funds to address food insecurity within our military and veteran community,” said Anne Marie Dougherty, CEO of the Bob Woodruff Foundation. “We know that approximately one in six military families are food insecure. To address this, the Bob Woodruff Foundation invests in programs that meet our veterans’ and service members’ immediate food needs and that also provide services to tackle the root causes of food insecurity.”

The inaugural Veterans Classic, held in 2022, raised more than $250,000 to support the Foundation’s mission to find, fund, shape, and accelerate equitable solutions that help veterans, service members, their families, and their caregivers thrive. Since 2006, the Foundation has invested more than $124 million in programs that meet the emerging and long-term needs of these individuals. The event takes place ahead of Memorial Day, the federal holiday mourning the US military service members who have died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.

A growing body of research shows that military families experience food insecurity—in which households have limited or uncertain access to adequate food—at a higher rate than the national average. In response, the Bob Woodruff Foundation, with support from Craig Newmark Philanthropies, invests in solutions to end veteran food insecurity. The Foundation works to address veteran issues and ensure their needs are represented in the ongoing national dialogues about food insecurity/food scarcity and integrates those efforts with ongoing food security efforts and analysis around the country. The Foundation’s food insecurity investments address the root causes of hunger, including housing stability and employment services for vulnerable veterans, and the direct provision of food.

For the Veterans Classic, foursomes are $10,000. Hole sponsorships are available and include signage recognition and two dinner tickets for $1,000 per hole. Individual playing spots are available for $2,500, and those players will be paired with a group. Caddies are included. More information, including registration, can be found at bobwoodrufffoundation.org/events.

ABOUT THE BOB WOODRUFF FOUNDATION

The Bob Woodruff Foundation was founded in 2006 after reporter Bob Woodruff was wounded by a roadside bomb while covering the war in Iraq. Since then, the Foundation has led an enduring call to action for people to stand up for heroes and meet the emerging and long-term needs of today’s veterans, including suicide prevention, mental health, caregiver support, and food insecurity. To date, BWF has invested over $124 million to find, fund and shape programs that have empowered veterans, service members, and their family members across the nation. Visit the Bob Woodruff Foundation for more information: www.bobwoodrufffoundation.org.

SOURCE Bob Woodruff Foundation

https://stmdailynews.com/category/the-bridge/community/

https://stmdailynews.com/category/sports/sleeves-senior-pickleball/

Agassi, McEnroe, Chang, and Roddick Compete for a $1 Million Dollar Purse at the Pickleball Slam on April 2

LOS ANGELES /PRNewswire/ — Iconic American heritage and performance Tennis brand K-Swiss is thrilled to announce its sponsorship of the 2023 inaugural Pickleball Slam being held on April 2nd, 2023, at the Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Hollywood, Florida.

As a Pickleball Slam’s official sponsor, K-Swiss will provide all footwear and apparel for the Pickleball Slam and Amateur Pickleball Slam referee and ball handlers. The specially designed collection is not only for the staff members but is also available for purchase on K-Swiss.com, allowing fans to celebrate this exciting tournament.

Created and produced by Horizon Sports & Experiences (HS&E) and InsideOut Sports & Entertainment (ISE), the Pickleball Slam is a first-of-its-kind tournament featuring tennis legends, John McEnroe, Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick, and Michael Chang competing for a $1 million dollar purse. This must-see sports spectacle will be televised live exclusively on ESPN at Noon (ET).

“We are excited to sponsor and partner for the 2023 Inaugural Pickleball Slam. We support the sport of tennis, as well as the growing and popular sport of pickleball.” said David Malinowski, Director of Tennis for K-Swiss. “It’s an honor to provide our high-performance footwear and apparel to the ball handlers and referee, ensuring they have the support and comfort they need to achieve their roles at the highest level.”

“We are thrilled to have K-Swiss join our growing list of sponsors for the inaugural Pickleball Slam,” said Neal Gluckman, SVP/Head of Sales, Horizon Sports & Experiences. “K-Swiss is an iconic brand known for its on-court performance and style. We’re excited to partner with a brand that has a strong heritage in tennis and a growing fanbase in pickleball.”

The Pickleball Slam will be preceded on March 31 and April 1 by the Amateur Pickleball Slam Challenge, featuring top amateur teams of two competing for a $10,000 team prize. The winners will also have the chance to compete against the tennis legends on April 1.

For more information, visit www.thepickleballslam.com.

The full court collection of tennis and pickleball footwear and apparel is available on K-Swiss.com.

ABOUT K-SWISS
From the beginning, K-Swiss was driven by an entrepreneurial spirit when two Swiss brothers moved to California to create a footwear brand focused on tennis. As avid skiers, the brothers took inspiration from leather ski boots to create a supportive, leather tennis shoe. Introduced in 1966, the K-Swiss Classic was the world’s first all-leather tennis shoe. It quickly gained worldwide acclaim and became a style statement both on and off the court, worn casually in country clubs and just as fashionably on city streets. Now, 57 years later, K-Swiss is building from its heritage as an American tennis brand and writing new chapters in its storied history. Paying homage to the hard work of our founders and the competitive nature of the game that inspired it all, K-Swiss is dedicated to outfitting and inspiring the next generation of tennis players and injecting that same inspiration and energy into other racquet sport and lifestyle products.

ABOUT HORIZON SPORTS & EXPERIENCES (HS&E)
Horizon Sports & Experiences (HS&E) is an affiliate of Horizon Media, the largest U.S. media agency according to AdAge Data Center 2022, and provides a unique and complementary combination of sports, experiential marketing, and media capabilities. HS&E has a core focus on IP creation and monetization, strategic advisory and consulting, media rights, sponsorship, sales, and experiential, Metaverse, and Web3.0 strategy and activation. HS&E is led by co-CEOs David Levy and Chris Weil.

ABOUT INSIDEOUT SPORTS + ENTERTAINMENT (ISE)
InsideOut Sports + Entertainment (ISE) is a Los Angeles based independent event producer founded in 2004 by former world No.1 and Hall of Fame tennis player Jim Courier and former SFX and Clear Channel executive Jon Venison. InsideOut owns and operates numerous proprietary events and promotions including Champions Series Tennis, the Legendary Night Series, The World Series of Beach Volleyball, Major League Pickleball and numerous customized private and public outings. To date, InsideOut has produced over 300 events in 44 states and 12 countries and is committed to a strong charity tie-in with every public event it owns or produces. Since inception, InsideOut events have contributed over $5 million to various charitable causes.

SOURCE K-Swiss