Welcome to Billy McGehee's Wild WORLD OF PICKLEBALL!
And our 1st Pickleball complex located in Fort Myers, Florida at the historic Fort Myers Racquet Club. After four decades of playing, promoting and managing professional sports, Billy McGehee enters the pickleball arena with a plan to continue growing the sport globally. “We are assembling a team of professionals whose goals will be to: establish our brand as a premiere brand in the sport, build additional pickelball facilities to accommodate the millions of players who will enter the sport over the next 5 years, provide management services and certified professional coaches for these facilities, partner with corporations interested in educating, promoting and marketing the sport, host camps, clinics and special events, create exciting promotions and finally team-up with charities who are dedicated to making the world a better and safer place. I believe the sport of pickleball can become the largest racket sport in history because it has no boundaries, anyone can play the game from children to a 90-year-old adult. Whether you’re a beginner or a professional, want to play competitively or just for fun, this sport affords everyone the opportunity to be active, socialize and have fun! Most importantly, it’s affordable for everyone.” Billy McGehee
Our 1st
GIGANTIC PICKLEBALL PROMOTION
Coming Summer 2020!
Let’s Get Wild!
Please provide your contact information to receive updates on our upcoming GIGANTIC PROMOTION:
BREAKING NEWS
For Immediate Release
May 15, 2020
Billy McGehee’s Wild WORLD OF PICKLEBALL and WORLD CHAMPION Kyle Yates Team Up!
It was announced today that Billy McGehee’s Wild WORLD OF PICKLEBALL, located at the historic Fort Myers Racquet Club in Fort Myers, Florida has become the new home of World Champion Kyle Yates.
“This is a great day for Fort Myers sports, Pickleball players around the world and sports enthusiast alike. Kyle Yates was born and raised in Fort Myers and attended the University of Florida. He was a great junior tennis player before his uncle introduced him to the game of pickleball. It has been a privilege for me to get to know Kyle and his family. He is a charismatic young man who loves pickleball which in turn makes him a great ambassador for the sport. He has won numerous US Open Men’s and Mixed Doubles titles as well as dozens of national and international professional titles. I am honored to be associated with him and to have Kyle training and Coaching here. I look forward to expanding my relationship with him” Billy McGehee
“I’m honored to be working with Billy McGehee. It’s a pleasure being a part of the growth of this great new sport. Having been born and raised in Fort Myers, it’s humbling to be able to give back to the community.” Kyle Yates
For more information contact the historic Fort Myers Racquet Club @ 239-896-0813 or by email to: billy@bmwopb.com
Let’s Get Wild!
Kyle Yates has proven himself to be one of the top Pickleball professionals in the world. His playing accomplishments include 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 US Open Men’s Doubles Champion, 2016, 2018 and 2019 USAPA Nationals Men’s Doubles Champion, 2018 and 2019 US Open Mixed Doubles and Nationals Mixed Doubles Champion, 2016 and 2019 Tournament of Champions Men’s Doubles Champion, as well as many other professional titles. Kyle was ranked #1 in Men’s Doubles in 2018 by the World Pickleball Federation.
Besides competing, Kyle devotes his time teaching and promoting the sport of Pickleball nationally and internationally, as well as supporting charitable causes. In February 2017, he and partner Dave Weinbach helped raise over $50,000 for pediatric cancer research.
Kyle is the IPTPA Director for South Florida. He serves as a board member for Pickleball For All, a not-for-profit organization based in Naples, Florida which supports teaching Pickleball in schools.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
With its recent rise in popularity, pickleball has quickly become one of the country’s most popular sports. Whether you’re familiar with the sport or not, pickleball has an interesting history and an even more interesting rise to popularity. Prepare your paddles and widen your knowledge of this new sports craze with these interesting facts about America’s new favorite paddle sport.
Pickleball was invented in 1965 by three fathers from Bainbridge Island, Washington to entertain their kids. Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell, and Barney McCallum made the equipment for the game by hand from items they had lying around the house and used rules from the games of tennis, badminton, and table tennis to create a fun new game for their families to enjoy.
Despite the name, pickleball has nothing to do with actual pickles. The sport is instead named after Joel Pritchard’s cocker spaniel, Pickles, who enjoyed chasing the ball while his owners played.
The sport has continued to grow in popularity among adults with 68% of pickleball players being above the age of 60.
Pickleball is almost equally as popular among men and women, with 53% of players being male and 47% being female.
Pickleball has its own national governing body, the United States of America Pickleball Association (USAPA),which regulates professional play for the sport.
The sport’s popularity across the world led to the creation of the International Federation of Pickleball, helping to regulate the sport in countries like the US, Canada, France, Great Britain and Spain.
The first permanent court for pickleball was built in 1967.
Due to its growing popularity, pickleball is now taught in many grade schools and junior high schools.
Like tennis, pickleball can be played as both a singles and doubles sport and has rules that allow teams with standing players and wheel-chaired players to play each other.
As of 2019, more than 3.6 million people who live in the US actively play pickleball, per a survey done by the Sports & Fitness Industry Association.