What better way to kick-off four days of wandering around inside the Denver Convention Center than to get outside and enjoy the beautiful Denver weather? And what better way for a bunch of our industry colleagues to get together and hang out than on the pickleball courts!
Pickleball is kind of like a hybrid between tennis and ping pong and is the fastest growing sport in America for the past three years running. Not only is it a fun way to get some exercise, it is one of the most social sports around, offering a great opportunity to mix, mingle, and meet new people.
On Tuesday, over 40 CEDIA professionals from around the globe, including dealers, installers, manufacturers, public relations, and CEDIA employees, got together at The Gates Tennis Center in downtown Denver for four hours of pickleball action. Some players included Alex Capecelatro, CEO of Josh.ai, Jeremy Glowacki, editor at Residential Tech Today, Mitch Klein, CEDIA, and Eric Thies, DSI. There were also tons of women playing, including four of CE Pro’s “40 Women to Watch,” Jamie Briesemeister, Veronica Esbona, Jennifer Mallett, and Katherine Spiller.
Players were divided into three skill groups — advanced, intermediate, and beginner — and dinked, dropped, and drived (ok, drove) in a round-robin format across multiple matches where they had a different partner and opponents for each game. This gave the maximum opportunity to meet and mix-it-up with a large group of your industry peers.
Congratulations to Gordon van Zuiden of Daisy/cyberManor, who took gold in the advanced group, with John Sciacca from Custom Theater and Audio/Residential Systems taking silver, and Simon Spears of Audio Gear Group grabbing bronze.
Matt Nimmons with CEDIA, EMEA came from England to win the intermediate bracket, with Aaron Singleton of Multimedia Solutions Group taking second, and Michael Storch of Storch Entertainment Systems grabbing third.
Chris Lambrecht of CWAV won the beginner bracket, with Chase Mosman of Integration Controls nabbing second, and Matt Manalis of XONE (Experience One), coming all the way from Australia, netting third.
Winner van Zuiden commented, “I can’t think of a better way to start the best trade show of the year for our industry!”
Thanks to the generosity of sponsors — which included Crestron, Daisy, Hunter Douglas, InGear Public Relations, Josh.ai, Juke Audio, Just Add Power, KMB Communications, Legrand AV, Origin Acoustics, Rosewater Energy, Somfy, Sonos, Steinway Lyngdorf, and CEDIA — there were some terrific giveaways and prizes including a logoed t-shirt and water bottle and custom-made pickleball paddles. And the event raised enough money to donate $2000 to CEDIA education!
As Katherine Spiller said, “It was too much fun for it to be a one-time event!” so hopefully this will become an annual pre-Expo kickoff!
