ANDI GODWIN AND MARY MCGOWAN ARE EYEING THE MOUNTAINTOP—
THOUGH THEIR CLIMB IS A STEEP ONE, IT WON’T BE LONG
Promising young talent is easy to find in PPA pickleball. Anyone who is willing to work hard, be serious about the game, and enter a pro-level tournament has clear and realistic expectations. On August 8, 2025, at the Veolia Bristol Open, Round of 16, Andi Godwin, 15, and Mary McGowan, 17, played Anna Leigh Waters and Anna Bright, a match that Waters and Bright won in less than twelve minutes. Godwin and McGowan have had success on the Junior PPA tour, and came into Bristol having earned a reputation for themselves as being capable and consistent. Entering the pro tournament and going rip for rip with the number-one team took guts, determination, and, above all, a willingness to face a whopping challenge, take their lumps, learn, adjust, and improve. If you can’t do that much, well, you’re not ready for the major leagues.
Never underestimating the opposition, Waters and Bright went after their targets as if possessed. Using their entire arsenal and their hustle-and-get-it-done fightplan, Anna B and Anna Leigh vaporized the girls trying to stop their undefeated streak. Though Godwin and McGowan scored no points, they were not intimidated to the extent of falling apart and having too many lapses in concentration. In fact, at 8:28 the four of them got caught up in a long point, during which Waters and Bright slashed at the newcomers with hard drives from every angle. However, in a display of balance, self-belief, and grit, the junior girls defended their side, returning shot after shot, forcing Waters and Bright to work harder than expected for the put-away and earning well-deserved paddle claps from the top team.
So easy it is to sit in the bleachers and criticize or to do so online having never experienced the weight and pressure of pro play—attacks coming high and low, left and right, balls dipping and spinning and rolling and sometimes too ferocious to counter, the players’ unsettled nerves causing unforced errors, the world watching and scrutinizing, opinions spilling over. Anybody can pontificate about what they would or wouldn’t have done had they played that same match. Doing that, many would say, is mindless and cheap. Comments, both positive and negative, have been made about these girls and their performance. What matters most is that Andi Godwin and Mary McGowan not only had the steadiness of mind and heart but also the mental and physical stamina to step on the court as underdogs and play with conviction, knowing judgment would come from everywhere. As many would no doubt agree, they held themselves together all match long, not once sulking or expressing frustration while being overwhelmed with the Annas’ firepower. Instead they showed resilience and spirit. What will the girls do next? Return to the court and try again, one would hope.
Pay attention to these youngsters; they have potential and, from word getting around, the work ethic and wisdom to climb high. Congratulations, Andi and Mary, on your progress! And the same to Anna Leigh and Anna Bright on your golden pickle!
FOUR TITANS OF PICKLEBALL:
ANNA BRIGHT AND KATE FAHEY
TANGLE WITH CATHERINE PARENTEAU AND JADE KAWAMOTO
Watching Anna Bright and Kate Fahey battle Catherine Parenteau and Jade Kamamoto is yet another example of world-class pickleball. These forty minutes of hard-won points will have you on your feet overflowing with awe, appreciation, and admiration. Almost every point is long and demanding, no one losing their spirit or their will to fight and win. Attacks come from every angle, every position as the scoring goes back and forth, neither team ever up by more than a few points. Amateur recreational players, think of all the players you’ve seen strutting around the court, the ones who believe their game is superior to the rest from top to bottom but who have been beaten by others or by you yourself. Next time you see them, watch this match and compare and contrast the players’ talent. Have fun doing a side-by-side analysis and determine who deserves to strut.
Pay attention in this MLP match to the dink rallies, how they move the ball around, how they set up other shots. Also notice the resets, the drops, the angles, the footwork, and how the players turn defense into offense and score. There are firefights, one after another, then slowdowns followed by finesse, speed-ups, and on and on they go, we as spectators never knowing how the point is going to end, the players themselves not knowing either because anything can happen when all four players are scrapping and scrambling. Fahey and Bright play a power game, Parenteau and Kawamoto a softer game. Here, though, opposing styles bring possibilities as well as challenges, and each team plays the other’s game when pushed. In general, the flow of the match is that of a choreographed dance, the players staying nimble and in control no matter where they are on the court and no matter how difficult the shots. Mistakes are minimal. Shot placement is near perfect. Not sloppy, not directionless, not done with poor form. Major errors are shrugged off, or corrected, in the frenzy of gameplay. This is pickleball! — an altogether different game from the one many play.
It is often said that the winner wanted it the most. Some agree with that belief, some don’t. Consider for a moment that luck plays a part in competition. Or perhaps a flub, a miscalculation or two can change the result of the closest match. Or the other team was better that day and had momentum all the way through. In this case, on this day, both teams locked horns with the intention of winning, all wanting a victory with every attack and counter. They hit their shots, applied constant pressure, defended their ground and never retreated. No doubt about it from an objective point of view. Even the most purblind observer would concede that much. Four sensational athletes—Anna, Kate, Catherine, and Jade—put on a show, the ovation for which hasn’t ended. What a match!
WATERS AGAINST JOHNS:
HYPED AS AN EARTHSHAKER, BUT FELT LIKE A TREMOR
The MLP mixed doubles match featuring Ben Johns and Catherine Parenteau versus Anna Leigh Waters and Will Howells came with rising anticipation and expectations (Johns and Waters being longtime PPA doubles partners, Parenteau her former partner as of April 2025). That didn’t change the fact that the players had jobs to do without letting the roaring and screaming and online hype become a distraction. The athletes performed as they always have, concentrating on one shot, one point, one strategy at a time. The four games between The New Jersey Fives and The LA Mad Drops, including the dreambreaker, show the world superlative pickleball, the pumped-up spectators pushing the athletes to outgun and outthink each other. Recreational players who wish to improve would be wise to watch this match and learn, learn, learn, learn.
MLP pickleball is among other things an all-star league. Fans see their favorite athletes work with different players. Some players, doubles players for the most part, have to compete in dreambreakers when necessary to determine the winner. In this match, as in all matches, off-court relationships are immaterial as the players go about their business. They are competitors, after all, with a mission to attack, scrap, and win, no matter the opposition—friend or not, drilling partner or not, family or not, which is what makes pickleball unpredictable, entertaining, and, good news all around, a sport that keeps gaining momentum. Myriad thrills come from the ferocity of the rallies, the blink-of-an-eye transitions from dinking to firefights, from firefights to dinking, and at any moment an ATP, an Erne, a Bert, a poach, a tweener, a lob, the shake and bake.
Some highlights: Anna Leigh Waters displaying her skills, strategies, and overall dominance; Hunter Johnson demonstrating again and again that he is a leading singles player; Jade Kawamoto’s dreambreaker performance making one wish she would enter the PPA singles draws more often; Ben Johns continuing to dazzle under pressure and in precarious situations, his composure, control, and mechanics something to marvel at; Catherine Parenteau, although frustrated with herself here and there, is still one of the strongest and steadiest defensive players; Will Howells remaining unshakable by AL’s side; Meghan Dizon reliable in any situation; Noe Khlif, a man to watch. The Fives and The Mad Drops have rewarded the fans with a match to reflect on with pleasure for years to come. And no doubt Johns and Waters will return to the PPA court and continue as a team and as friends, this match a distant memory, though one that may happen again.
A RECREATIONAL PLAYER’S RANDOM THOUGHTS ON PRO PICKLEBALL
Winners come and go, in men’s and women’s singles in particular. Some players win a lot, while others (newcomers, sometimes) win here and there; hype is built around them but the quality of their game fluctuates throughout the season. The reality is, sustaining excellence at the highest level and competing with regularity on Championship Sunday is not easy, the long season bringing dozens of tournaments, extensive travel, unpredictable weather, and, maybe hardest of all, athletes having to work through, or be sidelined because of, injuries, keep full-time jobs, and raise families. Certain athletes are steadier and more durable than the rest. In my estimation, MLP-PPA players are the best I’ve seen and I respect anyone who tests their skills on a pro court, works hard on and off tour, and never loses sight of their destiny and is grateful for any rewards that come.
I am not interested in flamboyance or showboating, or persona or image. Call it what you want. No matter how talented a player may be, a spectacle does not draw me in. No need to swallow fire, eat glass, or perform a high-wire act. Ha! Playing to (or revving up) the audience is often welcome—charisma is an asset, no denying that. Overdoing it tries my patience. I prefer to let talent—a match well played—command my attention. By all means celebrate a good shot, a wild rally, a hard-fought victory, the winning of a medal, with respect shown to the opposition. Always. No unsportsmanlike conduct. No paddle-smashing or paddle-throwing. Keep it clean. Please.
Losing is hard for some players who seem to carry that burden around and do more harm than good to their game. And there are those who compartmentalize a loss, give it its due attention, show balance, sportsmanship, and grit, then continue learning and improving and come back better, stronger, and more determined than ever, a wise course indeed.
Fans pick players to like, players to despise, players to admire, players to tear down. Who they like and don’t like is not always based on performance alone. In many cases, dislike comes from jealousy, envy, intense emotion, that sort of thing. If a player is talented but obnoxious, and if I care enough to learn what I wish to know about them, I can only respect, study, and understand their game by cutting through the static. When and if that fails, I lose interest.
Some players seem to be natural athletes whose skills develop and mature in short order. Others make slower progress, struggling for long while finding a groove, a groove that may or may not come, may or may not hold. Watching promising players work through the draws (according to a number of players, progressive draws are the most grueling) and scrap with the best athletes has shown me the differences between recreational players and professionals, and those differences are gigantic.
Commentators can be helpful to a sport, pickleball being no exception. Some are not as helpful as they could be. Courtside interviews are from time to time bland, the questions and comments from the reporters lacking substance. Also, excessive dialogue during matches—even worse during points—diverts attention from the athletes at work. A precise, balanced analysis is necessary and important, I agree, but a nonstop commentary overloaded with statistics and other trifles becomes a nuisance.
Players’ personal lives—some fans care. I pay no attention. What pros do off court (not pickleball-related) can stay there. When players let the press/media and the public into their personal lives, their followers tend to want more. Again, I can do without the day-to-day stuff and the social-media narcissism. I admit that I like some players’ personalities and dispositions but don't care for how other players carry themselves. What kinds of paddles and gear they use is also not on my list of curiosities. As I see it, the top players would win using the worst paddle. And only practice and training would improve the skills of lower-ranked athletes.
Bad calls have been made. Referees are human, let’s not forget that. And well-trained. When errors in call-making happen, most players keep going without protest. Although momentum can shift because of a call gone wrong, all a player can do is shake it off and play the next point. In pickleball, maturity, resilience, humility, and a sense of humor work wonders regardless of age or experience.