To save a photo, simply scroll to it on this gallery, tap and hold (right click on desktop) and then select “Download Linked File” (“Save Image” on Google Chrome.) Feel free to tag me on Instagram @juanmverduzco if you’d like. Thank you to everyone who attended this year’s California Pickleball Classic 2023. We’ll see you next year! 🏓

The Job

Sport Photography

I’ve been hearing whispers of pickleball for years but it always sounded like “diet tennis” to me. If I’m being honest, I never really gave it an honest chance even from a spectator standpoint. Then my friend Aren hired me to come shoot this event for him and I realized two things:

  1. Pickleball is incredibly intense for a sport that I previously perceived to be “low mobility”.
  2. It was a towering challenge to shoot. Suddenly, the intensity of the players’ speed became very tough to capture.

I did the branding for Central California Pickleball and have been doing the signage design as long as this entity has existed to put on this tournament event, which we now know as the California Pickleball Classic. This is the second year they’ve held this event and both days of the event were an intense romp in sports and photography for me.

Location

Sierra Sport & Racquet Club

Fresno, CA