The top-ranked senior female pickleball player in the world organizes a tournament in Naples
Pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in America, and tournaments are cropping up all around SWFL. So when you start a new one, it needs to stand out. The world’s top senior women’s pickleball player, Eva Welsher, is hosting this weekend’s new competition in Naples, which makes it special.
“We don’t want this to just be the same old experience,” Welsher added.
Welsher only started playing pickleball three years ago. And, as a former Division I tennis player at Northwestern University and the top junior player in the country, she swiftly rose to the top of the pickleball rankings.
“My goal was to be the best version of myself as a pickleball player,” Welsher said. “And with that, I assumed I’d be successful in terms of numbers and ranks. But I believe I fulfilled my goal, and the results speak for themselves.”
Now a resident of Naples, she wanted to develop a competition unlike any other. This weekend, she and Randy Sussman of PB1965, a local pickleball apparel and equipment company, presented the first Naples Mixed Doubles Classic, according to a recent article by Bailey Smith of NBC2.
“We haven’t had a pure mixed doubles tournament here in Florida,” remarked Margaret Pfister of Naples. “They usually combine gender doubles (male and female). So this is wonderful. A lot of fun.”
Nearly 400 players registered for the classic’s debut event, ranging in age from 14 to 70+, and it was open to players of all skill levels.
“We really geared this tournament towards the amateur player,” Sussman added. “Because most of the time, amateur players go to these major new tournaments and are treated as numbers. They’re unique around here.”
“Everybody’s a big name to us here, and that is that literally was our main goal and purpose to make sure that everybody felt like they were the big name,” Sussman added.
They aimed for uniqueness.
“We’re gonna make it a party!” Sussman exclaimed.
And so they did, filling each goodie bag with a DJ, pizza, and baked cookies.
“We wanted to just really bring the Naples community together right after the new year,” Welsher went on to say.
Sussman and Welsher expressed excitement at the start of a new yearly event in Naples.
This article originally appeared on NBC2
