Anna Leigh Waters with mom, Leigh,
at Tournament of Champions.
Y
ou don’t see Anna Leigh Waters too often
without her mother, Leigh. It’s not because
the two are pickleball pros and partners, but
mostly because Anna Leigh is still a minor.
At just 12 years of age, Anna Leigh Waters is making a
name for herself in the world of pickleball and, together
with her mom, the team has already garnered some
accolades and won some gold together.
Their most recent win was the Women’s Double Pro
Match at the Tournament of Champions in August, but
the duo has played in the Atlanta Open, Texas Open,
Las Vegas Open, Nationals and more. Add in the fact
that they’ve only been playing pickleball for two years,
and their rise seems even more astounding.
“We discovered pickleball in September 2017,” Leigh
recalls. “We were evacuated from our home in Delray
Beach, Florida, in the wake of Hurricane Irma. We didn’t
have electricity for two weeks. My dad has a home in
Allentown, Pa., so we went there and he taught us how
to play. We started the same day, same week, same
year. We played straight for two weeks, and when we
got back home, we found that the closest place to us
that had pickleball was the Delray Tennis Center, and
the rest is history.”
For Anna Leigh, playing with her mom isn’t just a way
to enjoy family time, it’s like having the best partner you
could get. “I love playing with my mom because we just
know what the other is going to do before we hit the
ball,” she says. “We know what’s going to happen or
how to react to it.”
Leigh adds that the team’s innate instincts and
approach to the game is a strategy that’s hard to
overcome. “You can both be great players on the same
side of the net, but if you don’t have the chemistry, you
can be disastrous,” she explains. “We practice together
all the time. We have that intuition, and that’s a huge
advantage for us.”
In addition to the inherent chemistry, Team Waters
also plays skinny singles frequently as part of their
practice regimen. “We love playing skinny singles,
where the server comes in, or the server can’t come
in, because it forces you to play total defense,” Leigh
says. “I think that has helped my game tremendously,
because I was always offense, offense, offense. So
I attribute skinny singles to really helping us both
improve.”
Together, their preparation led to one of Anna Leigh’s
highest-rated wins—defeating Simone Jardim and
Corrine Carr at the Florida Grand Slam. While Team
Waters lost to them in the main draw, they met them
again and “had nothing to lose.”
“We went in fearless,” Leigh says. “Everything clicked
that day. We executed really well. Anna Leigh played
like a rock star.”
Off the court, Anna Leigh enjoys soccer, baking and
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway smash, “Hamilton.”
She also loves her bull mastiff, Maggie, and her fish,
Mr. Gills.
While it’s hard to project where any 12-year-old will
be in the future, with a Paddletek sponsorship already
in hand, it’s safe to say that Team Waters will be a force
of nature in pickleball for years to come. They take their
game seriously, but still enjoy growing together as a
family through pickleball.
“Every day feels like a gift for us,” says Leigh. “We
are so grateful to our family, friends, and supporters for
making this possible.” •
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019 |
MAGAZINE
39