PPA Lakeland!!! 🥇🥉 My season finale!

She’s baaack! Been busy as heck with all things Brighter Pickleball - I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who applied. You guys are all my favorites and it was so hard to choose who would be let into my first-ever bootcamp. I obviously love all of my fans, but I feel like this newsletter is the truest representation of me as a person and that all of you reading “get” me in a way that others don’t, so I’m truly so flattered and appreciative of the outpouring of support and interest you guys had in the bootcamp. I received hundreds of applications and I’m super motivated to keep doing things to stay connected with you guys❤️. Everyone will be hearing from me within the next day about their final application status.

My latest vlog is on YouTube - make sure to check it out if you want more AB content😂 and want to see some BTS of my Fortnite debut, lobbing Dirk Nowitzski, managing very late start times, and more! This was a really fun week and I was in a very silly mood a lot while recording, which makes for an entertaining video! Make sure to like, comment, and subscribe to my YouTube channel if we are friends (which I hope we are!).

PPA Lakeland was an interesting tournament. It was one of the smaller venues we have played at this year, and I would honestly be lying if I said there wasn’t a bit of a let-down feeling after the hype, spectacle, and prestige of Worlds. I mostly felt this energy on Wednesday and Thursday, once the weekend got going and the venue was more full with amateurs and fans it felt much better.

I was definitely feeling tired going into this week, but even so, I was still feeling very motivated. I really wanted to finish my year strong, and of course to finish out my year with another title with Anna Leigh. The last thing I needed was to hear about how we LOST for 7 weeks. Of course, I try not to think about these things before and during events, but since it all worked out, I can be honest here after the fact😂.

In mixed I was also very excited to play with Eric Oncins - I have really enjoyed “playing the field” this year, which Zane hilariously called me out on. I think in the near future I will write a year-in-review edition in which I will discuss my experiences playing with so many guys this year (that sounded weird), in depth. So stay tuned for that! Maybe I will rank them all🤪 (kidding, I won’t get your hopes up- I can’t do that for social reasons, but I will provide in-depth shots on each partnership and what I learned/gained/could improve in each!).

If you haven’t gotten enough pickleball this weekend, I would recommend watching my bronze match with Eric yesterday against Rachel and Andrei. We were down a game and 7-0 and I said to the sideline I was going to speed up every ball, and that’s what I did😂. We became hyper-aggressive and ended up winning that game 11-7 and the third 11-8. I’ve never played mixed so freely and joked to Ben Johns that I felt my hair turning blonde (ie I was turning into AL).

I think that feeling of mild exhaustion explains to an extent a lot of the weirder results on singles day. Kate and Lea’s quarterfinal match has to be one of my favorites of the weekend - huge momentum swings with both of them redlining for a stretch, and some very funny back-and-forth screaming and dialogue. Congrats to Lea on her bronze medal this week, and Zoey for her silver!

Anna Leigh, of course, won women’s singles, and I’m sure she was quite happy about Lea upsetting Kate in the QF because Zoey is a better matchup for her, and because I know she was tired in that singles final😂. I am always so impressed with AL - the 5-game mixed battle after a long week of competition took a lot out of her, and even I was feeling fatigued in our 3-game match with the Kawamotos, I can’t imagine having to play a singles match after as well!!!

In women’s, I was super excited for our final against the twins. It just felt like a perfect, storybook ending to the season to have the ability to “right the wrong” of losing to them in Cincinnati (not that they wronged me or didn’t deserve the win, but you guys know what I mean). I was feeling super excited to play on Sunday and knew that Anna Leigh and I were going to play very well. I really think I’m making a lot of progress on managing my mental state and that’s been a huge positive for me this year.

The Kawamotos are such unique and interesting pickleball players. In a game in which reach is so heavily emphasized and discussed, they have some of the worst. There’s so much rhetoric about the game getting faster and faster and blah blah blah, but the Kawamotos are not power players, in fact, as a team, they play some of the slowest women’s doubles you will find (Jade, in particular is very patient). Further, as our game gets more and more professional and the top athletes are taking it increasingly seriously (recovery, drilling, conditioning, etc), the Kawamotos take it probably the least seriously out of any of us!!! This is their side hustle! But yet, inarguably, they are a top 3 women’s doubles team.

I think this just goes to show three things. One, how time in the sport is an invaluable asset (they have been playing a long time), two, how important it is to “ignore the noise” to an extent and to focus on developing your own style, and three, how special their bond is as twins who have developed both as people and players together. I think I will write an entire piece on the Kawamotos in the future and how interesting I find this third point. The main thing you should take away from this section though is that you shouldn’t let others impact your game too much. Always look to improve and add things, but don’t try to become a player you simply are not. Work hard, put in the reps, develop your natural strengths, and you will find your way!

Just like at every tournament, there were plenty of funny/interesting/dramatic things that happened, but I neither have the word count nor time to be educated on all of it. To me, one of the funniest things that happened this week was Max Freeman’s cards to women asking them to play mixed with him😂😂😂. Ireland’s “love you” video was also incredible.

Some of the cards were borderline flirtatious, and one can’t help but wonder, is Max looking for more than a mixed partner? If so, interesting strategy to publicly ask 12 women at the same time, but even so I certainly felt flattered receiving mine. “I know how hard being in front of Ben Johns on Sundays must be, so let me do that for you” ?!?!?! Don’t make me blush!!!

I wish I could report more on the drama in Roscoe and Hunter’s final, but I didn’t see what happened. From what little I’ve seen of the situation, it seems that the ball hit the post, but again, I haven’t looked closely. Weird way to end such a big match, but very happy for Roscoe for securing his first gold!

This season has been incredible, and I will write more on my year in review in the coming editions. But for now, thank you everyone for reading and for supporting me in Lakeland and in all the other silly little things I take on. Much love, Anna♥️.