Airport Fitness hosted the Island’s first-ever professional pickleball exhibition on Friday night. The match included professional pickleball players Ryan Fu and Oscar Serra, coach Cobi Moore, and the Island’s own Grant Pertile.
The event was organized by Moore Elite Pickleball and included two adult training camps over the weekend.
Attendees sat courtside, swiveling their heads side to side watching the action. After each game, the players stopped to answer questions from viewers hoping to improve their own pickleball skills.
Connie McHugh, owner of Airport Fitness, said it was a special moment to bring professional pickleball to the Island.
“We’ve had such a growing community, so it was really nice to offer them something unique,” she said. “For them to have it here on the vineyard where you don’t have to travel to Florida or California to find a camp like this is great. It’s in your backyard.”
Ms. McHugh brought pickleball to Airport Fitness 15 years ago, a move that was far ahead of the curve for the growing sport. She said that for the first few years, the staff used blue painter’s tape to mark the lines for the pickleball court, but eventually painted them.
“I went to a conference, and they did a little demo, and I thought, this is gonna be big,” Ms. McHugh said.
Oscar Serra only started playing pickleball three years ago. Mr. Serra, who is from Sardinia, Italy, is the number one pickleball player in Italy and currently competes in professional tournaments in the United States. He played Division I tennis in college, but switched from a racket to a paddle after a wrist injury left him unable to play the way he used to.
“My senior year of tennis, I couldn’t hit a two-handed backhand, which was one of my favorite shots, so I was just hitting forehands and slicing,” Mr. Serra said. “I was struggling because I’m not playing how I’m supposed to. After I graduated, two weeks later I sold my rackets to somebody.”
Mr. Serra is currently in graduate school at Temple University in Philadelphia, but he still finds time to practice five times a week. He said the transition from tennis to pickleball after his injury was hard but worth it.
“When you grow up playing a sport since you were a kid, and you go through school while playing a sport, and then you suddenly don’t have it, to have to do my PhD without a sport, I think I would’ve gone crazy, so I’m glad there was this,” he said.
Ryan Fu, a touring professional pickleball player and coach, played Division I tennis at the University of Michigan and switched to pickleball in September of 2023. Mr. Fu, who coaches and plays all over the world, said teaching in smaller communities like the Vineyard is just as special as playing in front of large crowds.
“Usually pros don’t go to those areas, so it’s pretty nice to see people get excited that there’s high level players that are coming to coach them. They’re really appreciative of it,” he said.
The exhibition match and two camps were organized by Cobi Moore, a professional pickleball player and coach who has been coming to the Island for 12 years. Mr. Moore said he picked up a paddle for the first time five years ago.
“My mom worked at a tennis club and she was like, ‘Come play pickleball with us; we need a fourth,’ and I was like, ‘no chance I’m going to play pickleball; I’m golfing,” he said. “I ended up going, and I played for the first time, and I lost.”
Mr. Moore said after that he kept playing one match at a time until he started to win at local tournaments and later at a state and national level. He said he has loved seeing the Vineyard pickleball community grow and hopes to continue hosting camps in future years.
“It feels good that people are taking to the teaching and they want to do it again, so we’re definitely going to run it back here again the next couple years.”
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