Wellington Pickleball Cup

CocoLococo002 and Dylan Kimlin Commentary and Broadcasts both Legends of the Pickleball community and Both will be at the Wellington Pickleball Cup.

People in pickleball, legends edition:

I had the chance to sit down with one of the best coaches in Australia CocoLococo002. Coco has been instrumental with coaching many players across the country and running great clinics for all.

DK: What roles do you have within pickleball and what’s your goal within pickleball?

C: Coaching director of PPA-A and MLPA Australia. Coach of the Melbourne Mavericks pro and masters teams and first female coach in Australia to coach a pro team. My goal is to achieve two things. 1: bridge the divide between pro and club level players, by bringing clinics like ‘train like the pros’. And 2: to be a voice for the community so that we can all grow together and build the best tribe in the world.

DK: How did you first discover pickleball?

C: Through my best mate Tina Bianchi, she said that she discovered a new sport for me to try. I laughed at her and said I doubt there would be anything like that in QLD. It turned out that some of the best players competed in QLD at that time. My first tournament was playing with the legend Jen Rama down in Gold Coast.

DK: How can people find out about your coaching clinics and services?

C: Everything at the moment is on social media and the PPA-A/MLPA website. My tag is cocolococo002 chuck me a follow for all info! My next ‘train like a pro’ session has a 3 to 1 ratio! That’s 3 players to one professional in Melbourne! It’s the first time this has been done and there are still spots available! Take a look at the website and pickleball brackets for the info.

DK: What is your top tip for up and coming intermediate players trying to get to open level?

C: The ‘swear word’ which is drilling. Drill with quality not quantity. To get the right info that suits you as a player and practice that in the right form. I’d suggest that players do some intermittent coaching, there is no point consolidating the wrong shot. Go get help and gradually over time you will turn it into a weapon. As a player I preach 1) Belief, you must believe that you can achieve 2) Healthy Respect, you must respect that the opposition can also achieve. 3) Forgiveness, when you make a mistake you forgive yourself and move on. Play the next ball and move forward.

Thanks so much for the words of wisdom Coco! I’d highly recommend taking a look at one of the clinics Coco discussed. What a fantastic role model for our sport.

The Committee are so grateful for the support given again by
Flamingo Scooters to the Wellington Pickleball Cup.
Flamingo jumped on board and supported us at our first Pickleball tournament, having no affiliation with us at all. They are just a really good, community focused, local NZ brand, and they wanted to help an unknown sport. Amazing right ?
As well as our hydration station, we want to keep our competitors fuelled and Flamingo are sponsoring our free Banana Station. (last year we went through a LOT of bananas !)
There will also be a voucher in your goody bag so you can take a quick squiz around the waterfront on their wicked Flamingo scooters and they are giving some amazing spot prizes.
Full kudos to Flamingo Scooters - and Jacksen Love for just being, well, awesome. Enjoy those bananas and keep those cramps at bay!

We have posted multiple messages about the Cup and extra activities available. In case you have missed them individually, we have it ALL going on. Pickleball Brackets registrations are open. Coco's clinics. Dave's Referee courses, level 1 and 2, and registration of interest for the Pub catch up Saturday night. All of these activities are in Helloclub to book. If you can't find anything or need assistance, reach out to the Committee and we are happy to guide you.

Congratulations to our first 50 registered players for the Cup ! We love seeing those registrations flowing in - It's gonna be a cracker tourney, and well, you might just find yourself competing against one of our World Cup NZ team Representatives ! Make sure you give them a big high five !

This is the Wellington Pickleball Cup - participants competing represent their Region/Club, and the most points won by a Region is the supreme winner of the Cup. The Cup was donated by a stalwart of the Wellington Pickleball scene James O'Hare and we thank him for his contribution and creating this tradition of our tournament. Last year's winners were "Australia", sorry to our Cussies, you will also be split into regions this year. Game on !!

The Cup team is delighted to announce that James from Natural Light Photography
https://www.facebook.com/naturallightphotographycompany will be at the tournament to capture all your Pickleball action shots. Smile!! James captured our tournament a couple years ago, and we welcome him back for 2025.

Natural Light Photography Based in Welly & Christchurch

IG : natural_lightphotogram

www.naturallightphotographycompany.com

The support we have received from sponsors for the Wellington Pickleball Cup has been outstanding, and we are extremely grateful. We are chuffed to announce that Pickleball Stuff NZ is our official tournament ball sponsor. The tournament will be using the Orange Onix Fuse Indoor ball. If you want to purchase any to pre-practise with, go to your one stop shop for everything pickleball in New Zealand https://pickleballstuffnz.co.nz/ they will send you some out in a jiffy.
Pickleball Stuff NZ will have a stall at the tourney for all your goodies, if you have a specific brand of paddle you would like to try, contact them and they will bring for you to try out.
They will also have stock of our tournament Paddle Standout Pickleball available for demo or purchase.

UPDATE: all sorted but let us know if you encounter any issues.

We have been made aware of an initial teething issue registering and ticking yes or no to a t-shirt purchase which is preventing you completing your registration. Please be patient as we get a nights kip and will look into it tomorrow first thing. We know you are all very keen to register!!

We're live !!
Registrations are now open for the Wellington Pickleball Cup 2025 through Pickleball Brackets.
There are a lot more divisions available than you are used to seeing from our tournament, if you are struggling to understand, reach out to us and the friendly Committee will assist. Let's make this a cracker tourney !!

Wellington Pickleball Cup 2025 Pickleball Tournament in Wellington, Wellington. Register at PickleballBrackets.com

Congratulations to Ākau Tangi Sports Centre our Wellington Pickleball Cup tournament facility. Players, You are in great hands !

The Wellington Pickleball Committee are beyond excited to announce that the one and only Coco Lococo is visiting Wellington shores. Coco is coming to the Wellington Pickleball Cup and will be doing some clinics beforehand. Coco has played two seasons for the MLP Mavericks, is now their Coach and also the Coaching Director at PPA Tour Australia. There is a reason her clinics in Australia sell out fast ! Details to be confirmed, but we were too excited we just had to share the news. Don't book your flights yet until you see the clinic dates. This is an opportunity not to be missed, Coco is one of the best, she caters for all levels, and I promise you, an all out bloody good person. Welcome to the Cup Team CocoLococo002 and thanks for your message to us from Vietnam !

Wellington Cable Car have kindly offered us a 20% discount on adult and child return Cable Car tickets from 4 Feb 2025 - 11 Feb 2025 to cover the period of our Wellington Pickleball Cup.
This discount is an online only deal and can be purchased through their website.
Your promo code will be "WPC".
They have said their online sales are likely to be off from 9am-12pm on Feb 6/7/9th as there will be a cruise ship in port, in order to manage demand, so get your tickets early.
To use their promo code, jump on their website to purchase tickets at the following link
https://www.wellingtoncablecar.co.nz/English/Tickets
Once you have added your tickets to your cart, enter the promo code into the promotion code box. This should then take 20% off the price of your tickets.
Once you have completed your transaction, you will receive an email with a pdf attached. The pdf contains your tickets and you can then scan the barcodes on their gates using your phone.

Tournament Dinner:
There is a lot of extra work to go into organising a tournament dinner, and numbers last year told us it wasn't a viable thing.

It's not everybody's cup of tea, however, we do know that some people like to socialise on Saturday night, especially out of towners connecting with local friends etc.

The committee have decided that we are not 'putting on a dinner', however have approached our Club Pub 1852 in Brooklyn to host our Picklers.

There is no up front payment, however, to assist 1852, we will collate a rough idea of numbers so they can staff appropriately. If you think you would like to meet up in a pickleball communal space on Saturday night 8th Feb, please log your interest.

https://wpc.helloclub.com/public/event/66fb94a0fe5be11b8043ee90/saturday-tournament-dinner-at-1852

Individuals are to pay for your own meals and drinks. We have indicated from 7pm-ish, but you can go any time!

1852 Pub and Kitchen
55 Cleveland Street
Brooklyn, Wellington

Link to their menu here: https://www.1852.co.nz/

We thank 1852 for also supplying us with some vouchers for spot prizes, so you may win your dinner and a beersie for free !

The Committee is very excited to announce our official Tournament Paddle
We welcome Standout Pickleball to the Wellington Pickleball Cup, and the support from Ludovica Sciaky, MLP Captain of the Brisbane Breakers to our tournament

Read about the Standout brand here:
https://standoutpickleball.com/

Lu has been extremely generous with sponsorship and we are delighted to have some awesome Standout merch up for spot prizes, as well as some Demo paddles for you to try out over the week-end.

Standout paddles are available for purchase in NZ from Pickleball Stuff NZ here: https://pickleballstuffnz.co.nz/product-category/standout/