Inside the Pickleball Boom
Meet some of the women behind the fastest-growing sport in the country .
By Emma Masur
The great sport of pickleball has been growing and evolving since its establishment in 1965 , when three dads decided to create a backyard game to entertain their children during summer break . And it was a mom who named the game !
All the world ’ s greatest ideas were developed through an entrepreneurial spirit , and this sport is no exception .
Here are 13 talented and influential female entrepreneurs leading the way in the business of pickleball .
How did you get started in the pickleball space ?
Melissa
McCURLEY
In 2014 , I was gainfully employed as the director of data and voice infrastructure at American Express . At the time , pickleball found me and I wasn ’ t looking for a new career . My mom asked me to play in a pickleball tournament because her regular partner was on a cruise . I didn ’ t really play pickleball but said yes . When I came out to play , one of the women , Jettye Lanius , told me her husband , Bob ( who is in the PHOF ), developed
PickleballTournaments . com . Jettye knew my brother and I worked in IT and asked if we ’ d be interested in looking at the system . We agreed , and a few weeks later found ourselves in Southern California at the SoCal Classic helping run the tournament that they were hosting on
pickleballtournaments . com . We continued to evaluate the software for another three months before we made the decision to purchase the system in that year . The rest , as they say , is history !
Stacie
TOWNSEND
I am a partner at a full-service law firm in Florida . I practice business law , which stems from my legal training and love for business . I fell into law school after my softball career , which ended in 2012 when softball was taken out of the 2012 London Olympics . Quite soon after , my mother introduced me to pickleball . She started playing after retiring from Corporate America and encouraged me to play as a stress-relief activity ( particularly since I was a former softball athlete ). I was instantly hooked . The Pickler started soon after that because my mother wanted a shirt to play pickleball that didn ’ t have pickles on it . So , The Pickler was born , and has since evolved to be a pickleball content and media company .