Welcome to Billy McGehee's Wild WORLD OF PICKLEBALL!
Event: The Great American Pickleball Marathon to Support The Wounded Blue
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When: Saturday September 11, 2021
Hours: 8am-8pm ET
Where: Ferg’s World Famous Sports Bar & Grill
1320 Central Avenue
Saint Petersburg, Florida 33705
Admission: Free Open to the Public
Event Hosts:
Gentlemen Pickleball : Kyle Yates
Ladies Pickleball: Stephanie Lane
Celebrities:
Streaming Nationwide on 9-11:
Varsity Sports Network
Cost to view: $10
Charity: TheWoundedBlue.org
Official Hotel:
Hilton Carillon
950 Lake Carillon Drive
St. Petersburg, FL 33716
Rate: $129
Phone: (727) 540-0050
Website: www.hilton.com/official_site/st_petersburg
Register to play in the Great American Pickleball Marathon
Welcome to Billy McGehee's Wild WORLD OF PICKLEBALL!
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Welcome to Billy McGehee's Wild WORLD OF PICKLEBALL!
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
BREAKING NEWS
April 2, 2021
Billy McGehee’s Wild WORLD OF PICKLEBALL continues to add incredible partners as we prepare for global expansion.
Billy McGehee’s Wild WORLD OF PICKLEBALL is proud to announce today its newest partnership with King Pickle Entertainment, a new global entertainment conglomerate dedicated to creating, producing, managing, and streaming the finest in pickleball “Special Events”.
“We are committed to providing all pickleball enthusiasts, as well as our loyal fans and followers, an innovative and exciting way to enjoy playing, watching, and learning more about the great sport of pickleball. Together, Billy McGehee’s Wild WORLD OF PICKLEBALL and King Pickle Entertainment will continue to expand the sport by creating our own unique brand of “Special Events” in association with our great partners in the sports, music, fashion, travel, hospitality, health, wellness, and fitness industries!” said McGehee.
To receive more information on our upcoming “Special Events” simply register at www.BMWOPB.com
For more information on Billy McGehee’s Wild WORLD OF PICKLEBALL visit www.bmwopb.com or contact Billy McGehee at 321-377-8864
March 12, 2021
For Immediate Release
ViewStub and Billy McGehee’s Wild WORLD OF PICKLEBALL Team-up!
ViewStub announced today that it has entered into a business partnership with Billy McGehee’s Wild WORLD OF PICKLEBALL!
ViewStub is a hybrid event software offering an all-encompassing solution for event ticketing and registration, live video and on-demand streaming, marketing and promotion. ViewStub clients can sell tickets and host live events directly from their own website and/or host their events in our free marketplace. ViewStub is the perfect solution for business conferences, sporting events, music festivals, concerts, and anyone looking to transition their event experience into a hybrid approach. ViewStub also offers full in-person event ticketing and touch less check in as well as full virtual options for all types of events.
“I have been searching for a company that could provide the technology platforms and management expertise to help us power our pickleball company’s needs for global expansion. ViewStub not only provides these professional products and services, but many other components that we will need in order to bring our “Special Events and Shows” into the homes of millions of pickleball and sports enthusiasts. I am excited to have the opportunity to “team-up’ with this great company and look forward to working closely with their owners, management team and professional staff.” said Billy McGehee.
CoFounder Patrick VanDusen said, “Once I heard pickleball was one of the fastest growing racquet sports in the world, I knew ViewStub had to get in the game. We knew Billy McGehee would be the right person to partner with. With his passion for sports, he’s had some extraordinary success over the past 40 years and brings expertise in the sports and entertainment business second to none. Just a few insights into Billy McGehee:
- After college he became a world ranked professional tennis player, a goal only few actually reach
- A pioneer in the Arena Football League, he assisted in starting and managing six different teams,leading two of them to League Championships
- Once held the record for organizing one of the largest single sports promotions in the US
- Moved by the events of September 11, 2001, Billy founded ATHLETES FOR AMERICA, a non-profit designed to train athletes to help save lives in communities all across America
- Became the President, CEO and Governor of the NHL’s Stanley Cup Champion Tampa BayLightningBilly and his company are a perfect fit for, and solution to, our entrance into the great sport of pickleball. We look forward to a long and prosperous business relationship with him.”
“Sports have always been my passion. I was drawn to professional teams and leagues where I knew we could produce a positive first class and successful experience for the Owners, players and fans. When I was first introduced to pickleball, I knew I had to get involved with this exciting game. Kyle Yates, the #1 ranked doubles player in the world in 2018, has chosen our facility, Billy McGehee’s Wide World of Pickleball, as his training facility and is partnering with us to continue growing the sport of pickleball around the world. I don’t believe in average or good. It’s got to be great or it is not worth doing.” states Billy.For more information on ViewStub contact connect@viewstub.com
For more information on Billy McGehee’s Wild WORLD OF PICKLEBALL visit www.bmwopb.com or contact Billy McGehee at 321-377-8864
For Immediate Release
July 2, 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.