PickleCon 2024 opens doors, raises ceiling of possibilities for the sport

Emily Burnett is the creator of The Pickleball Times, where she writes about the bigger picture of pickleball — the people, the stories, the industry, the magic of it all. Capturing what makes it a great sport for almost everyone, and writing to help keep it that way.

The Wild Wild West had a meeting and it was in Kansas City. Topic? Pickleball.

Early in August, Kansas City was host to a couple of big pickleball events -- the PPA Selkirk Kansas City Open, and the focus of this article -- PickleCon, hosted by Triple Crown Sports. This first-of-its-kind event included 70+ vendors, many hundreds of players, dozens of panels (I was honored to speak on the Involving Communities in the Growth of Pickleball one), and countless hours of people playing and watching pickleball.

Much was seen and heard over the three days I spent immersed in what could also have been called The State of Pickeball in 2024. I joked about the Wild Wild West getting together, but in so many ways, what’s happening in pickleball in 2024 does feel like an Old West town responding to a rapid influx of people following the discovery of gold nearby.

Everyone wants the gold, everyone likes the gold, but in order to not be a boom-then-bust town, we need structure and organization and vision and a lot of collaboration.

As an industry, we’re trying to figure out how to (continue to) do just that. I listened to people brainstorm, share and discuss their thoughts and effort on how to help and grow the sport.

How to coach better, how to get more courts so kids on a college pickleball team don’t have to do things like tape tennis courts every single week for the two days they’re allowed to play. 

We – people involved on a community as well as national level – are trying to figure out how to help people stay nice to newcomers, how to monetize the game and increase viewership, how to create paths for kids to develop in this game. 

We’re trying to figure out how to interact with other competing sports, what products people really need to enjoy and enhance their skill development, how to run leagues and tournaments and run clubs, and how to deal with the noise associated with the sport.

It’s a lot. And it’s really exciting for all of us – “us” includes everyone at the event as well as everyone playing and working in individual communities – to be involved at what feels like the beginning of massive growth.

This event highlighted that every wonderful thing and challenge happening on an individual community level is happening nation-wide, and that a lot of smart and passionate people are dedicated to helping the sport grow and thrive. And that it’s going to take continued strategic effort to help it do just this. So that people of all shapes and sizes and walks of life and ages and abilities can thrive in the ways this game has uniquely facilitated.

Like I mentioned, three days of listening and absorbing don’t distill neatly into an article, but certainly every learning will be represented in future articles. To wrap up this column though, I thought you might enjoy just a few specific bullet-point highlights.

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·       A celebrity match between rivaling radio station DJs: The match was complete with blatantly obvious bribes by the coaches and fake calls by the real ref. It was hilarious, and more rivaling organizations and parties ought to do this.

·       A new pickleball entrepreneur friend shared the following, seriously but facetiously, as we discussed a tendency for better players to dismiss newer players: “Oh yeah. If you’ve played this game 3+ times, you’re at least a 4.0 player.”
 

·       My fall on a court during a fabulous clinic run by That Pickleball Guy. I have some feet drama and was wearing shoes that I 100% won’t wear to play pickleball in again. My improper footwear led to a clumsy stumble on the court, followed by a step-and-slip on a pickleball. My bruised ego and knees wouldn’t recommend this at all. The right shoes matter.

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·       I had a couple conversations with head referees and will absolutely be writing more about them and their work. But for the moment, let me just say I was impressed by how easily they let things slide off them and how professionally, and kindly, they handle conflict.
 

·       A college student I talked with from Mississippi who’d driven 10+ hours with her teammates to compete in the DUPR collegiate tournament. She had to duck out of the conversation for the next round of the tournament, but her parents shared their take on everything happening in their pickleball community as well as their daughter’s college pickleball community. Looks like a trip to Mississippi could be in my future.

·       A 12-year-old kid who, I overhead, was competing in a men’s singles tournament and could be found practicing against available concrete walls.

·       A conversation with the man who coordinates adaptive pickleball at each of the The Picklr locations. I look forward to learning more about that.
 

·       Oft-repeated themes and phrases include the following: “A rising tide lifts all boats.” And “It’s the Wild Wild West … we’re all shooting from the hip.” And “We just want to do what we can to help this sport grow.” And “Iron sharpens iron.”

This article originally appeared on The Pickleball Times and Triple Crown Sports/PickleCon is happy to share it with our readers here with permission.