{"id":3462,"date":"2026-04-14T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/news\/paddle-battle-pro-contract\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T20:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T11:00:00","slug":"paddle-battle-pro-contract","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/news\/paddle-battle-pro-contract\/","title":{"rendered":"[Pro contract] Two amateur players featured on the reality show \"Paddle Battle\" land pro contracts\u2014topping 4 million views and heading to the APP Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The reality show \u201cPickleball Paddle Battle\u201d\u2014from this program, where players compete on pickleball skill, two amateur players earned pro contracts. Brandon Fritze (from Philadelphia) and Nicola Slater (from Scotland) have been confirmed to compete on the APP Tour as Pickleball Kingdom players. The program's total YouTube views are approaching 4 million, and the real story of \u201can ordinary person's dream of becoming a pro\u201d has pickleballers around the world captivated.<\/p>\n<h2>What is the program \u201cPickleball Paddle Battle\u201d<\/h2>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Item<\/th>\n<th>Details<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Program name<\/td>\n<td>Pickleball Paddle Battle<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Host<\/td>\n<td>Pickleball Kingdom (the largest pickleball facility franchise in the U.S.)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Format<\/td>\n<td>Reality competition program<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>YouTube views<\/td>\n<td>Surpassed about 4 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Pro contract signees<\/td>\n<td>Brandon Fritze (Philadelphia) and Nicola Slater (Scotland)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>League entered<\/td>\n<td>APP Tour (Association of Pickleball Professionals)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>The program's concept is \u201can ordinary pickleball player opens the path to becoming a pro through the show.\u201d The winner is awarded a contract with Pickleball Kingdom and the right to compete on the APP Tour.<\/p>\n<h2>Brandon Fritze and Nicola Slater: two \u201cCinderella stories\u201d<\/h2>\n<p>Brandon Fritze is an amateur player from Philadelphia. He started pickleball as a hobby and opened the door to the pro world through the program.<\/p>\n<p>Nicola Slater is from Scotland. Even from an international perspective, she has drawn major attention across the world's pickleball community for becoming a competitor via the unprecedented route of \u201cpickleball \u00d7 reality TV \u00d7 a pro contract.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The APP Tour is one of the major U.S. pro leagues alongside the PPA Tour. The route of an amateur player fighting on the APP Tour after going through a reality show has no precedent.<\/p>\n<h2>Why this story captivates pickleballers around the world<\/h2>\n<p>One of pickleball's biggest features is how easy it is to start. Compared with tennis or table tennis, the hurdles of equipment and courts are lower, and many people take up the sport in their 30s and 40s. That real pros can genuinely emerge from this \u201canyone can enjoy it\u201d sport\u2014this reality gives the whole community a dream of \u201cmaybe I could too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In Japan too,<a href=\"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/news\/jpa-pjf-pickleball-japan\/\">Pickleball Japan (the JPA\u2013PJF merger)<\/a>launched on April 14, and the increase in competitors is accelerating. The day a Japanese version of \u201cPaddle Battle\u201d is born may not be far off.<\/p>\n<h2>The difference between the APP Tour and the PPA Tour<\/h2>\n<p>For Japanese pickleballers hearing \u201cthe APP Tour\u201d for the first time, here's some added context.<\/p>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>League<\/th>\n<th>Features<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>PPA Tour (Professional Pickleball Association)<\/td>\n<td>The top-tier league where the world's best players like Ben Johns and ALW compete<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>APP Tour (Association of Pickleball Professionals)<\/td>\n<td>More open entry qualifications, held across the U.S., and a gateway to the pros<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>The APP Tour has a lower barrier to entry than the PPA and has many tournaments mixing pros and amateurs. For Brandon and Nicola too, the APP Tour is an ideal starting line for a pro career.<\/p>\n<h2>FAQ<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Q. Where can I watch \u201cPickleball Paddle Battle\u201d?<\/strong><br \/>\nA. It's available on the Pickleball Kingdom channel on YouTube. It's English content, but you can enjoy the matches through the footage.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q. Is there a similar pro-gateway tournament in Japan?<\/strong><br \/>\nA. At this point there is no Japanese version of a \u201creality \u00d7 pro contract\u201d program, but the JPA and Pickleball Japan are working on scouting competitors. Future developments are worth watching.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q. How can I check the APP Tour schedule?<\/strong><br \/>\nA. The annual schedule is published on the APP Tour official website (theapptour.com).<\/p>\n<p>[Source]<br \/>\nPR Newswire, \u201cPickleball Kingdom Paddle Battle Show Gets Nearly 4 Million Views\u201d (April 2026)<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.prnewswire.com\/news-releases\/pickleball-kingdom-paddle-battle-show-gets-nearly-4-million-views-302710418.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/www.prnewswire.com\/news-releases\/<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brandon Fritze and Nicola Slater, stars of the reality show Pickleball Paddle Battle, join the APP Tour with Pickleball Kingdom. The dream story of everyday players turning pro after topping 4 million views.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ssp_meta_description":"","swell_btn_cv_data":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"region":[],"class_list":["post-3462","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"summary":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/3462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3462"},{"taxonomy":"region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/region?post=3462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}