Updated June 30, 2026 | 6/30/26
First Pro Pickleball Tour: Professional Pickleball Federation (PPF). History of the rise and fall of the PPF.
– Unify top players
– Structure professional tournaments
– Establish a tour model
– Spread the love of pickleball even further and faster
John Gullo, PPF founder and Pickleball Hall of Fame inductee, shared:
“I had an idea. Let’s have a tournament with a cash prize pool. We invited 36 of the best players in the country at the time, with a $18,000 prize pool as a test. The results were very positive, and in 2013, we created the Tournament of Champions [in Ogden, UT]. The first year, the prize pool was $36,000, with approximately 90 high-level players. Within two years, we had over 150 players and a prize pool of almost $90,000. At that time, I met with 18 of the professional players. I remember asking, exactly, whether it was the right time to start a pro league. I remember Kyle Yates saying:
I love this sport, but if I don’t start making some money, I can’t afford to keep going to tournaments.
That was the trigger! 
Then I formed the Professional Pickleball Federation. The plan was to host tournaments featuring professionals only. We formed the organization as a player-driven entity. We had board representation by geographic sections of the country, plus one from Canada. We put together a tour of three events. In the beginning, we had over 300 registered 5.0-plus players. In addition to the board, we appointed an executive director to coordinate its activities.
My plan was to provide these pros with consulting as the sport grew, including legal advice, contract negotiations, and marketing and branding. All great ideas, but a little too soon or a little too quick. The tour was a success but, unfortunately, not very profitable, and my funds were depleted. You have to realize that all of this happened before the US Open. There was no East Coast in the beginning, except for The Villages. The biggest mistake I made was making it a player-driven organization that benefited the players. To be economically successful, it should have been set up as a for-profit professional tour.
Carl Schmits was hired to be the commissioner. The PPF failed due to a lack of financial resources.”
Carl Schmits, President of PPF, shared the 2016 PPF mission statement: “Our goal is to advance the sport through the support, promotion, and creation of opportunities for professional players to achieve excellence in pickleball.”
The PPF held 3 tournaments. First, #1 took place in Palm Desert, CA. Next, #2 was held in Brigham City, UT, and finally, #3 took place in Bend, OR. After the third tournament in Bend, OR, the finals were scheduled for November at USAPA (USA Pickleball) Nationals; however, that never happened. Below are two of my blog posts from that time:
– April 2017 PPF at The Lakes, Palm Desert, CA
– May 2017 PPF Rocky Mountain Championships, Brigham City, UT
Why did the Professional Pickleball Federation not survive?
Everyone I interviewed said the same thing: The PPF was ahead of its time.
Melissa McCurley, Pickleball Hall of Fame inductee, shared her insight perfectly: “The PPF faced several structural challenges:
Limited sponsorship
Fragmented tournaments
Different organizers ran events independently. As a result, the PPF tour began as a “division” within an established tournament. For example, The Lakes tournament turned the 5.0 division into a PPF division. PPF’s dependence on other tournaments wasn’t a path to success, but it was the only viable financial option at the time.
Broadcast and streaming revenue didn’t exist yet. In fact, FaceTime Live was emerging around this time, and Dave Weinbach and I went courtside using my phone to commentate matches… the country loved it, but let’s just say quality (aside from the great commentary, lol) did not exist.
The USAPA (USA Pickleball) governed amateur rules but chose not to run a professional tour. Consequently, the PPF never fully developed a sustained tour structure.”
I would agree with another of Melissa’s insights: “I refer to John Gullo’s Tournament of Champions, and the PPF is where professional pickleball was born. I refer to the US Open Pickleball Championships as the event that redefined Pro Pickleball.”
The Professional Pickleball Federation stopped operations in December 2017.
Daniel Moore, pro player shared:
“The PPF was exciting because it marked the first attempt to turn pickleball into a professional sport. Previously, prize tournaments were scattered and competing. Around 2014-2016, growth in courts, players, and paddle companies surged, making a professional tour a significant step forward. In 2017 in the US, growth in players and sponsorships mirrored today’s global trends. The rest of the world can leverage US momentum to accelerate growth.”
Hilary Marold, Pickleball Hall of Fame inductee, shared:
“We all knew the sport of pickleball was on the verge of exploding in global popularity and wanted a way to support and advise players who were about to be swept into the professional side of this newly “relevant” sport. Pickleball had been around since the 60s, but in 2016, we, the competitive players, felt like we were being sucked into a whirlwind of big-time sport. It felt a lot bigger, mainly because of the sudden surge of media coverage and the money now being added as incentives. Pickleball paddle companies were paying players to use their paddles and wear their clothing. Tournaments like John Gullo’s Tournament of Champions were the first invitational money tournaments, only for the very top players.
In September 2017, PADDLETEK [Paddle manufacturer] paid certain players, including Kyle Yates, Jennifer Lucore, Christine McGrath, Hilary Marold, Tyler Wren, Suzee Anderson, and Daniel Moore, to teach the sport in England, France, and Spain. Pickleball competitions between countries also began. Celebrities started talking about pickleball, putting courts in their backyards, while commercials and television shows started showing and talking up the game.
The PPF and John Gullo anticipated the need early on and invested $100,000 to launch it. The PPF aimed to support professional pickleball players by helping with contracts and other aspects of their lives. It was a good idea, lasting about 2 years.”
Alex Hamner, Pickleball Hall of Fame inductee, shared:
“I remember the start of PPF not only as an exciting step for pickleball, but also a crazy step to think how history was being made – harkening back to what I imagine the very early tennis, basketball, baseball, etc., professional players experienced. John Gullo had a vision fueled solely by the love of the sport, which is super impressive IMO. I also remember my PPF membership number being #24 haha. And, if I recall correctly, Gigi LeMaster won the largest amount of money at John Gullo’s original 2012 invitational tournament, which was called The Dennis Forbes Memorial. The next year, at the newly named inaugural Tournament of Champions, I surpassed Gigi and won the largest amount of money, I think it was $3,500 – woohoooo! And now, today’s professionals have 6- and 7-digit contracts with the current successor professional tours. Way to go, PPF, for getting the ball rolling!”
Lastly, Anne Reynolds, Tournament Director of the 3rd (and final) PPF event in Bend, OR, shared:
“We had our share of hiccups. The printer went down, there was a power outage, and to top it off, a rain delay! Never a dull moment as a tournament director. Thankfully, Melissa McCurley [pickleballtournaments.com] agreed to travel to the event because it was a very important tournament, and boy was I glad she was there!! I also remembered that Carl Schmits filmed the matches. A lot of preparation went into setting up cameras to capture some great shots.”
2016 Professional Pickleball Federation Members:
Suzee Anderson, Sarah Ansboury, Brian Ashworth, Carolyn Bagley, Michael Barnes, Matthew Blom, Miriam Blom Skrade, Mona Burnett, Kurtis Campbell, Corrine Carr, Vicki Cesario, Charles Clark, Scott Clayson, Jason Cook, Doug Covert, Che Cui, Ken Curry, Jennifer Dawson, Steve Dawson, Tyler Dawson, Callan Dawson, Kim Deamer, Michael Donnellan, Stacy Downey, Cherilyn Drake, Denise Dy, Vivian Edwards, Robert Elliott, Jodi Elliott, Morgan Evans, Laura Fenton, Byron Freso, Daniel Gabenek, Wesley Gabrielsen, Michael Gates, Erik Gertler, Matt Goebel, Lowell Gunderson, Karen Gysin, Jim Hackenberg, Yvonne Hackenberg, Alex Hamner, Heidi Hancock, Kathleen Holterman, Daniel Howard, Peter Hudachko, Darin Hurdman, Robert Hurdman, Kim Jagd, Simone Jardim, Lauren Jones, Barbara Jordan, Dana Juergens, Rich Karnes, Aspen Kern, Kyle Klein, Trudee Klein, Lucia Kovalova, Rachael Kroog, Stephanie Lane, Jo Laspina, Joy Leising, Gigi LeMaster, Brandon Loong, Tyler Loong, Jennifer Lucore, Marcus Luke, Bryan Lundberg, Cammy MacGregor, Lavon Major, Tonja Major, Hilary Marold, Melissa McCurley, Christine McGrath, Tyson McGuffin, Chris Miller, Larry Moon, Scott Moore, Daniel Moore, Vuong Nguyen, Glen Peterson, Victor Phillips, Roxanne Pierce, Ralph Rabago, Bill Ritchie, Rick Roberts, Marcin Rozpedski, Nathan Ruesch, Enrique Ruiz, Camille Schermerhorn, Matthew Schiller, Rob Schmidt, Susan Schneider, Tyler Sheffield, Rafael Siebenschein, Michael Stahl, Matthew Staub, Brian Staub, Jessica Stout, Irina Tereschenko, Rob Thal, Jack Thomas, Ian Titus, Wayne Walden, Dave Weinbach, Blake Wilcox, Bonnie Williams, Rick Witsken, Tyler Wren, Matt Wright, Kyle Yates, Randel Zbinden.
you need a list from 2017. The first tournament was March 2017, so obviously a ton of people who played the tournaments in March, May, and July would not have been on that list. Tao, Joe Frasca, Roberto Donati, Mark Mallott, and I are just a few of the players not on that list
Glenn, yes bummer some great players are missing on the list, it was the only list I found from a tournament director.
Not to many people remember this but when I started Suncoast Pickleball, John and I had several conversations about bringing Pro Pickleball to the East Coast. Our conversations were so positive but decided the sport wasn’t quite ready yet or we didnt really have the knowledge on how to do it!
Hello Russell, thank you to adding to the history. That is interesting! Can you send me 5-8 sentences on that and I will add it to my post. Gotta keep the history going and the story all in one place. Hugs!
One of the best things I’ve ever done for my community and for the sport lost a lot of money, but it was well worth it. Look where the port is today. I was just ahead of my time. In 2018 I was interviewed and everything that has happened the sport. I said what happened five years after that interview and it did.
This is absolutely AMAZING and so WELL DONE! I can’t wait to share it with others.
Thank you so much for doing this….history matters and this piece was captured perfectly. It brought so many memories back to the forefront of my mind. What a special time!!
PPF was ahead of it’s time. :)