Spanish Pickleball Association Launches
Pickleball is taking over the world, one country at a time. Pickleball was introduced in Spain several years ago. Now a core group of Spanish pickleball players have formed the Spanish Pickleball Association, also known as Pickleball Spain. Parts of Spain are similar in climate and culture to Florida and Arizona. Many Europeans visit Spain for holidays and it’s a popular retirement area. Perfect breeding ground for growing pickleball enthusiasts.
Pickleball Spain’s mission isn’t limited just to the country of Spain. They intend to bring pickleball to all of Europe.! Here’s their stated mission statement:
To introduce, promote and support the sport of pickleball to people of all ages and abilities throughout Spain and Europe.
Playing Pickleball in Spain
This is really big pickleball news for several reasons. First, the Spanish Association has established an ambassador program similar to the ambassador program used by the USA Pickleball Association. The USA Pickleball Association’s ambassador program has been extremely successful in growing pickleball into America’s fastest growing sport. Now the same system will be used in Spain, and Europe, to grow pickleball there. It will work as well in Europe as it has in America. Second, pickleball must become an international sport in order to become an Olympic event. We need more countries developing elite pickleball athletes. (I’m serious about this Olympics thing.)
Michael Hess, President of Pickleball Spain
Third, Pickleball Spain is headed up by it’s president Michael Hess. Michael is an American who has lived in Spain many years and teaches sports marketing and management at a Spanish university. Michael is serious about pickleball and committed to having it take root in Europe. He will be successful. Michael led a huge research project with the USA Pickleball Association in 2011-12 to study why people were playing pickleball, their competitive behavior, and their view of pickleball. Michael has the passion, commitment and leadership skills to get pickleball going in Spain.
Pickleball is just so fun to watch and to play. It sells itself. Watch and you’ll see it spread. What country will be next? I’m betting France; the south of France along the Mediterranean Coast. ‘Au revoir! Anna
Anybody know of a place to play in Cabo? March 12-20, 2016. Jim
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Hi Jim, it seems Cabo Blanco Hotel has pickleball weekdays at 8am. You can give them a call to see if you could join in: +52 315 355 6496. You also might want to look at our recent post about Michael Hess’ pickleball tours in Spain: https://blog.pickleballcentral.com/2016/03/07/pickleball-and-spain/ I would get in touch with him via his vivapickleballtours.com site and see if he knows any locations around Cabo as well.
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Thanks. I looked at Hotel Cabo. Its in Mazatlan. Ha. Contacted vivapickleball. Waiting. Jim
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Whoops, haha! Sorry about that, I must’ve glossed over the address a little too quickly. Good luck getting more info from Mike, he leads a fun group.
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Anna, I’m traveling to France next August and would like to find some pickleball along the Riviera there. So I wondered if you had heard of any pickleball groups or racquet clubs with whom I can meet. Thanks so much for any info you might be able to share!
Valerie from San Diego, California
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Hi Valerie, I don’t know of any places to play in France. However, Mike Hess, with Pickleball Spain, might be able to help you. You can reach Mike through email: info@pickleballspain.org
Have a wonderful trip next August. Anna
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For anyone who might be curious about this later on, we now have a blog post that shows several locations in France where you can play pickleball! https://blog.pickleballcentral.com/2016/01/26/pickleball-in-france-a-history/
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Hello,
I have a question about the research that Micahel Hess did. Is this research ever published and is there a possibility to see the research? I doing research myself to introduce Pickleball in the Netherlands.
Thank you for a reaction already.
Niels
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Hi Niels, I don’t think the research was published but I do have some summaries of his findings. I will email them to you. Best regards, Anna
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