Back in mid-October, the National Pickleball League’s (NPL) Boca Raton Picklers claimed the 2024 DreamCloud NPL Championship by defeating the Columbus Hotshots in Cincinnati.

Now, the Picklers’ momentous victory will be celebrated on home turf with a watch party at Broken Sound Club in Boca Raton, FL on Tuesday, Dec. 3 and a spot in the 52nd Annual Holiday Street Parade on Wednesday, Dec. 4.

The watch party will feature the two-hour CBS Sports Network special broadcast of the Champions Pro (50+) pickleball league’s final event, so the Picklers can relive their road to glory.

"We’re having this celebration because Boca Raton really is the center of the pickleball craze and there’s never been a sports championship there, so people are excited. The whole team is flying in," said Picklers player Brian Levine, who hails from Boca Raton. "Right before the watch party, the mayor is giving us the key to the city and we’re presenting him with a couple of jerseys. The next day, the team is holding a clinic and a pro-am, and then we’ll participate in the parade at night. We’re going to have a golf cart pulling a pickleball net and we’ll be playing down the parade route."

Established in 2022, the 12-team NPL is the first professional pickleball league designed specifically for players over 50 years of age.

It encourages athletes to maintain professional status within America's fastest-growing sport and pursue their passion for competition in the process.

"Those watching the broadcast at home will see the intensity and the fire. The NPL is a really cool thing to do for senior players. Most of our team members on the Picklers have pretty strong athletic backgrounds," shared Levine, who also serves as a United Pickleball Association (UPA) board member and Major League Pickleball (MLP) strategic advisor. "Ginny Purdy and Audra Spielberger were Top 50 in the world in tennis back in the day, Peter Prodanov was drafted by the Boston Red Sox, Bryan Shapiro was a national champion at UC Santa Cruz, Mircea Morariu was an All-Ivy League tennis player at Brown, and Tao Thongvanh was a professional table tennis player in Europe. We've got a lot of people that had that championship pedigree. Pickleball has kind of given them that second chance at the competitive fire. It means something for them."

Case in point, Levine's contingent carried the momentum of securing the NPL's regular-season title into the playoffs and ultimately reached the top of the podium when the stakes were at their highest.

It helped that the group had good chemistry, of course.

"The team concept is fascinating. It's a blast to play and have your teammates root for you, and when you're not playing, you're pulling for your teammates. Our team got closer as the year went on, and we performed better. I don't think it was a coincidence that those two things happened," shared Levine. "You saw it in MLP with the Dallas Flash, too. They were very close. It's something when you're fighting for other players. There's an intensity level that exists in teams playing pickleball that you just don't see on the individual side. That's because of the power of teammates."

In short, this squad did Boca Raton proud.

And Levine is eagerly anticipating the upcoming festivities.

"I think of Boca Raton as the pickleball capital of the world. People will say it's Naples, but if you just look at where the pros reside, six out of the Top 10 right now, men and women combined, are in Boca or within 10 miles of Boca. That's pretty impressive," said Levine, referencing the likes of Anna Leigh Waters, Anna Bright, Jorja Johnson, Christian Alshon, JW Johnson and James Ignatowich. "To represent the city of Boca Raton and for that to be the first professional sports championship for the city is cool."

Click here to learn more about the National Pickleball League (NPL).