About Us

Over 16+ years leading companies in the pickleball space:

• Co-founded Pickleball Central

• Mergers and Acquisitions:

  • Acquired Pickleball Paddles Plus​

  • Acquired Pickleball Inc.

  • Acquired Pickleball Tournaments

  • Divested Dura ball to Escalade Sports

  • Sold Pickleball Central and Pickleball Tournaments to Dundon Capital

• Created and managed first indoor courts (4) in Seattle​

• Served on USAPA (USA Pickleball) Board of Directors

• Tournament Director (700+ players)

• Tournament software

• Ratings design and implementation

• Product management

• Ecommerce software and systems

• Vendor Relationships

In 2014 Melissa became an owner of Pickleball Tournaments and transformed it into a global powerhouse delivering technology, operational consulting and data services to the sport of pickleball.

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Melissa and her team have introduced some of the biggest innovations to the pickleball tournament industry including:

• Creation of an online bracketing and seeding system supporting the various formats of tournaments desired by governing bodies and commercial tournament operators.

• Development of an online tournament operations platform enabling tournaments to increase in size from events with several hundred people to events with 3,000 participants or more operating on as many as 58 courts simultaneously.
• Design and deployment of a best-practices operations methodology that has enabled the world’s largest tournaments to continue operations despite weather problems, power outages, internet disruptions, and more.
• In conjunction with USA Pickleball, Co-creation and launch of the Universal Tournament Pickleball Rating (UTPR) system, the sport’s first algorithmic data-driven rating system.

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Additional accomplishments include:

• First woman to be a broadcaster of pickleball events on CBS Sports.

• First Co-Host of the syndicated Pickleball Show
• Key Advisor and Business Partner to every major tournament operating entity, both commercial and non-profit.
• 2018 – “Most Influential Person in Pickleball” in multiple press accounts
• 2020 – “Pickleball Service Industry Award” presented by the Racquet Sports Industry group
• 2022 – APP Created the McCurley Cup to recognize Melissa’s contributions
• 2022 – Tournament of Champions recognized Melissa as “Hardest Working Woman in Pickleball”
• 2022 – US Open Pickleball Championships “Impact Award”
• 2023 - Pickleball Hall of Fame Nomination

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Tournament Operating Committee Member:

• USA Pickleball National Championships: 2018 - 2023

• US Open Pickleball Championships: 2015 – Current

• APP Tour: 2019 – 2023

• PPA Tour: 2019 – 2023

• Tournament of Champions: 2014 – 2023

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Prior to her pickleball career, Melissa served as

• Naval Hospital Corpsman

• EDS - Navy Crisis Response Center

• EDS - Global Service Delivery Executive

• AXP - Director Voice and Data Infrastructure