Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


Pickleball is going pro – and a local man made it happen.

Michigan’s first professional pickleball league just launched recently, and was founded by Chris Walker of Milford. He’s a Brighton native who previously played tennis and paddle tennis but then got into pickleball about three years ago.

Walker said it was pretty fun but then he was introduced to some higher-level players and found there were some serious players in the sport. From there, he started playing tournaments and has “been hooked ever since”.

Walker went pro and plays professional tournaments and won the bronze medal on the Canadian pro-tour. He recently launched the Michigan Pickleball League – the first ever professional team-based pickleball league in the state. There are five teams – the Ann Arbor Arctics, Detroit Vipers, Flint Tropics, Grand Rapids Rampage, and the Lansing Loons. Each team has its own unique logo and uniforms.

Walker told WHMI he'd been thinking about starting the pro league for a while and gauging interest from players and finally decided to make it happen.

For anyone not familiar, pickleball is a cross between tennis and ping-pong.

Walker says skills from both translate but it’s a sport unlike any other in that it transcends age and gender – meaning he could play with his parents or younger kids and everyone can just get together on the court and have fun. He said even a first-timer would be able to play within a few minutes.

Walker said the sport is very social and there’s a big community around pickleball, with everyone being very welcoming and inclusive. He said the sport just keeps growing in popularity and now the pro game is developed, with professional players on tour who are getting paid. Walker said there’s been really big growth year after year and pickleball has been the fastest-growing sport in the United States for the last 4-5 years.

Walker plays at the Brighton Pickleball Club but also hops around to others in Warren and elsewhere. He said just a year ago, there were no dedicated indoor facilities and almost nowhere to play – fast forward one year later and there are now multiple options. A new club recently opened in Plymouth, and the Northville area. The Brighton club opened last September.

As for the League, each team has four players - two men and two women. Each team plays each other and Walker says every point matters – brining a high-energy level to the sport and also for fans to watch. He said it starts out with men’s or women’s doubles first, then two mix doubles. If it’s tied for the 4th, then it goes to a single showdown. There’s a tie-breaker format if needed.

All matches are played at the Brighton Pickleball Club. The next is Saturday, April 19th at 1pm – with matches at 1, 3, 5 and 7pm. There will be four matches, with the top four teams advancing to the playoffs in June. Teams are competing for the 1st place prize of $10,000 – which Walker says is the single largest prize for any pickleball tournament in Michigan.

Walker says the hope is to continue to grow, and sponsorships are always welcome. Matches are also always free and open to the public, and Walker says they would love for people to come out and watch. He described it as “high octane” pickleball and these are “not little golf claps”. Walker said they want people to be rowdy and have fans get engaged and “bring some noisemakers” – and it’s ok to yell and cheer when players score. Team merchandise is available and the tournaments are also live-streamed on YouTube.

Links to the League website, www.MichiganPickle.com, and YouTube channel are provided. The Instagram is “Michigan PB League”.

Photos courtesy of Chris Walker.