If you notice anyone walking around the show floor with a navy badge ribbon that says “CEDIA Pickleball 2026,” you’ll know they participated in this year’s third industry pickleball meetup!
What better way to kick off three days of wandering around inside the Denver Convention Center than to get together with some of your industry colleagues and hang out on the pickleball courts? And this year’s pickleball event garnered players from all across the U.S. and the U.K.
Pickleball is kind of like a hybrid between tennis and ping pong, and has been the fastest-growing sport in America for the past five years running. Not only is it a fun way to get some exercise, but it is also one of the most social sports around, offering a great opportunity to mix, mingle, and meet new people.
On Monday, nearly 50 CEDIA professionals from around the globe, including dealers, manufacturers, installers, public relations, media, and CEDIA employees, got together at 3rd Shot Pickleball in Wheat Ridge (about 15 minutes from downtown Denver) for four hours of pickleball action.
For the second year, we rented out the entire club, 13 courts, which allowed us to accommodate more players and have spectators hang out, network, and watch the play. Everyone who came out to play and watch seemed to have a great time, and it was terrific to see this event continue to pick up steam.
Some players included Alex Capecelatro, CEO at Josh.ai, Todd Anderson of AV Nirvana, PG Gall from Crestron, Ron Callis from One Firefly, and Jeff Hayward all the way from England repping Wildwood PR. There were also multiple women playing, including Veronica Esbona and Kat Wheeler of TIG Global PR, Jennifer Mallett and Kristen Temple from Level Up Your Home, Eileen Gosvig of Hegel, Kendall Clark of One Firefly, and Julie Berne of Hunter Douglas.
Players were divided into three skill groups, advanced, intermediate, and beginner, and competed in a round-robin format across eight matches where they had a different partner and opponents for each game, giving the maximum opportunity to meet and mix it up with a large group of your industry peers.
“Beyond the competition, it was a wonderful reminder of how strong our community is when we come together, and I’m grateful to all of our sponsors for helping make it possible, all in support of the CEDIA Foundation and its mission,” commented Alex Capecelatro, CEO of Josh.ai
Last year’s winner Andrea Rokicsak, founder and CEO of Gumbuni and co-founder of AV Imagined — as well as an actual ex-professional pickleball player — was unable to defend her advanced title due to work, which opened up the opportunity for a new champion for the third straight year.
The competition was fierce and tight this year, with multiple players tying in each bracket requiring scorecard playoffs to determine the winners.
Congratulations to Kellen Fleener, co-owner & founder of ODSY, who took gold in the advanced group! Jimmy Lindell of Origin Acoustics took silver, and I — John Sciacca of Residential Systems [and the event organizer] — grabbed bronze.
PG Gall, senior product strategist at Crestron, won the intermediate bracket, with Cameron Cox of Everflow Solutions taking second, and Tommy Brand of Phantom Sound grabbing third for the second straight year.
Matt Scarborough of Kaleidescape won gold in the beginner bracket, with Veronica Esbona of TiG Global PR nabbing second, and James Smith of Innovation & Tech Today taking bronze.
Thanks to the generosity of sponsors, which included Caster Communications, CEDIA, Crestron, Daisy, Hegel, Hunter Douglas, IC Realtime, Josh.ai, L-Acoustics, Level Up Automation, Lutron, Origin Acoustics, Somfy, Sonos, Stealth Acoustics, Theory Audio, and TiG Global PR. There were some terrific giveaways and prizes, including a logo’d t-shirt and microfiber sports towel.
The event raised enough money to donate over $5000 to help support the CEDIA Foundation provide scholarships and grants to fund education, certification, and career development in the industry.
“As a manufacturer, the pickleball tournament provides the perfect environment to network with integrators, other manufacturers, and others in between,” Crestron’s PG Gall commented. “It’s a great way to get the week going before the craziness truly begins. And of course, it’s a blast!”
