APP Tour CMO Joins Pod 46 of TPL

By: Jillian Braverman “Jilly B” and Kristin Walla “K-Dubs”

PPA San Clemente

Jack Munro (pictured above adorn with glorious hair and a busted shoe) is a class act and the only guy on tour with a right-handed serve who plays lefty!? What?! He has really been blossoming over the past few months and (finally!) our schedules aligned to play. We ran into a tough match vs. Maggie Brascia and Julian Arnold who we knew we needed our A games against and we did not bring it. Kudos to Julian and Maggie.

I also got to play (for the first time) with my (older) sister, Natalie Raney, a.k.a. "Nocki". This was a battle for the ages. We breezed through round one 11-0 11-1. Ps I don't appreciate everyone asking if we are twins--she is 5.5 yrs older, people!

Round 2 we faced off against another pair of sisters, the Walkers, Angie and Alex. After losing game one we fired back in game two thanks to some great coaching by Scott Crandall who said, "Jill, do you think you could just cover like 65% of the court instead of 85%?" after getting burned down my line 5 times in game one. LOL.

I listened, and we battled for the win 12-10 to force a game three that ultimately didn't go our way. Nonetheless, I wouldn't trade anything in the world than to be by Nocki's side for her pro pickleball debut. After all, I've spent most of my life trying to keep up with her!

APP Newport Beach

So darn proud of my partners from the APP Owl Newport Beach Open—my hometown event!

Mixed with Eric Oncins

Eric, what a competitor and a class act. Mark my words, he will be top 30 in the world in 6 months. Buy the stock. I can’t remember the last time I felt so comfortable in mixed or had so much fun—he makes it easy. I’ve been working really hard on my right side game in both mixed & women’s and I am super happy with the progress and the results. Thank you to my coach, Scott Crandall (@socal_lefty) for all the amazing coaching this weekend! #notsosecretweapon (TPL pod episode with Scott coming very soon!) 👂 📺

Women's with Megan Fudge

In the semi-finals with Megan, I sprained my ankle chasing down a drop shot and accidentally landed on the net post. I’m happy to not have done any further damage in the finals—thank you to everyone who reached out to ask how I was doing. Huge kudos to Yana Newell and Emily Ackerman Cederquist —they played lights out and deserved the win! 💥

Now it’s time for a 2 week “off season” — K-Dubs and I head to Aspen and then MLP Salt Lake City. No rest for the wicked. 😈

Tom Webb Joins the Pod

APP CMO Tom Webb joins Kristin and Jill to discuss all things professional pickleball. The APP is now home to the most pros anywhere and does NOT consider themselves a “feeder” tour. The APP does, however, look at “other” tours as “exhibition tours” (shots fired!). Tom breaks down the shocking truth about viewership numbers in pickleball and poses an answer to the question we all want to know: is their enough air for the multiple competing entities in pickleball to all survive 3, 5, 10 years down the road? Kristin and Jill also recap the PPA San Clemente where Jill played with Jack Munro in mixed and her sister, Natalie “Nocki” Raney, in women’s. Jill walked away with two medals the following week at the APP Newport Beach with Eric Oncins and Megan Fudge. Don’t miss Pod 46—we’ve got Tom Webb in the mix!

Here are a few topics we discuss with Tom:

Why he joined the APP?

The "Ken Hermann Effect"

The APP Difference

Why is sanctioning important?

When is the soonest we could see Pickleball in the Olympics?

What is a Governing Body and is USAP Doing Enough?

Why So Few APP Events?

Is the APP the Cockroach or the Phoenix?

A Competitive Tour (APP) vs. an Exhibition Series (PPA)

Is “The Fort” the BEST (future) Venue in PB?