DALLAS, TX - If you’re a sports fan, in general, and you love pickleball, the Naples Pickleball Center was the place to be this past weekend for a PBX Pro-Am and Tour Exhibition. 

PBX Pickleball is an organization that unites retired professional athletes with the pickleball community, and some major names were on-site for the two-day event in southwest Florida, including Rick Barry, Tino Martinez, Matt Holliday, Brooke Bennett, Brad Penny, Michael Del Zotto and Peter Bondra.

Those interested could register to play with and against these PBX Pros for a fee that also included, among other things, a meet and greet, dinner, PBX swag, and tickets for the Tour exhibition where the Pros went head-to-head with each other.

“The most important thing about it is the experience and the aspect that we're tying people’s love of sports, love of pickleball, and love of their favorite athletes all together,” said Todd Yancey, Chief Operating Officer & PBX Co-Founder. “When somebody comes out, we want them to have that memory for a lifetime. It all revolves around the experience.”

PBX Pickleball's head coach is a rather familiar name in pickleball circles: PPA Tour pro Ryan Sherry.

Sherry, who was brought on board through Penny, provides training for PBX pros to facilitate their transition from their respective sports into the pickleball world.

“What I really love doing is taking athletes that have never played or barely played, and in just 30 minutes time, being able to instantaneously see success. You can’t do that in any other sport,” explained Sherry. “That’s what makes pickleball so addictive. In golf, you can’t go from a 40 handicap to a 30 handicap overnight. In pickleball, you can really go from never playing to actually enjoying yourself.”

Sherry is no stranger to working with professional athletes, albeit in a slightly different capacity. He's the co-founder and vice president of Legacy Pro Sports, which helps over 5,000 former NFL and MLB players manage their personal, financial and medical matters.

Sherry was particularly eager to see a few of his pupils on-site.

“With Tino, here’s a guy that I know it’s changing his life. He has a smile on his face every time I’ve seen him play. I’m excited to see where he’s at in his game,” mentioned Sherry. “Matt, of course, is an unbelievable athlete and a great competitor, and Brad talks a lot of trash.”

The Fort Myers, FL native, who played collegiate tennis at the University of Florida, certainly doesn't take the unique opportunity with PBX for granted... even if he associates with some of the finest athletes on the planet on a daily basis with Legacy.

He appreciates everything about sharing his pickleball knowlegde with those hungry to improve.

“The thing that makes it so exciting is that as much as a fan as I am, these guys and girls actually love pickleball,” said Sherry. “They ask me questions and treat me kind of the way I was as a kid getting an autograph. It’s kind of humbling.”

PBX Pickleball will continue to add events nationwide, including one of four PBX Experiences: the PBX Tour, PBX Pro-Ams, PBX Dream Weekends, and PBX Corporate Experiences.

The Tour promises to be especially cool with dates and locations to come in the near future.

“Our vision is retired athletes playing against each other with scoring, where it’s league versus league or city versus city. We'll play on the old rivalries like Boston against New York, or even getting down to the college levels like Ohio State against Michigan,” indicated Yancey. “We want to really play on that with high-level competition.”

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