It’s been a whirlwind year of excitement at the Association of Pickleball Players, with seven nationally televised APP Tour events, APP Passports, USA Pickleball Golden Ticket tournaments, and countless memories. Among the most exciting has been our youth development programs, APP Next and the APP Academy, setting the standard worldwide for young player programs, and I’m pleased to share some highlights from the past few weeks from our HQ at the Fort.

Let’s start with APP Next. We hosted the second stop of the 2025 APP Next Series on June 20-22 in St. Louis with our good friends Chicken N Pickle. The three-day tournament saw some of the most talented and aspiring young pros ages 16-23 compete for $15,000 and bragging rights for who is leading the charge of the next top generation of talent ready to explode on the APP professional tour. For many players, this was their first time experiencing a competitive tournament environment. Among the top performers were Emilia Schmidt, a 20-year-old phenom out of Brisbane, Australia, and 2025 APP U.S. National Team member Jayden Broderick, taking home the women’s and men’s overall titles respectively. Congratulations to Emilia and Jayden – you've made us all very proud!

To learn more about APP Next and sign up for an upcoming tournament, click here.

Among the competitors in St Louis were 11 APP Academy students, who traveled to St. Louis for the tournament and to receive coaching and mentorship while getting a taste of the fast-paced competitive environment the APP Tour prides itself on.  

Next up, it’s the the APP High Performance Summer Academy which is in full force at the Fort, running until August 8 this year. One of the daily highlights of our activities is at the end of day, the “tug of war” contest with all players heading to the Fort’s beachside. The winning team chooses a player from the non-winning side to get the “dunk.” APP Next player Axel Morgan, from San Antonio, was the unlucky player most recently chosen for this, an experience I’m pretty certain he wants to avoid in future!

The fall session of APP Academy begins August 18. To learn more about APP Academy and its many program offerings, click here.

Finally, congratulations again to all our young players for competing so hard against some of the best players in the USA. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for your pickleball futures.

Ken Herrmann