GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS ACKNOWLEDGES 48-48-48 PICKLEBALL CHALLENGE!

What is the 48-48-48 Pickleball Challenge?

The 48-48-48 Pickleball Challenge is a world record attempt by Dean Matt ( AKA, the Pickleball Pilot) and Shannon Yeager who are both avid pilots and pickleball players, so they thought they would combine the two passions and set a world record for the fastest time to play a game of Pickleball in all 48 contiguous United States.

48-48-48 Challenge Flight Path:

The 48-48-48 Challenge Flight path is going to be approximately 8,122 nautical miles and take approximately 80.5 flight hours. Add in flight prep, weather delays, eating, sleeping, ground travel and playing a Pickleball match, and you have a real challenge.

When is the 48-48-48 Pickleball Challenge Starting?

May 1, 2023 from Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport and the first game will be played in Mobile, AL at the Mobile Tennis Center.

PICKLES IS ONE OF THE CHOSEN FEW Venues! #HONORED

We could not be more excited to share in the history making event and partner with the Guinness Book of World Records!

WHEN WILL THE 48-48-48 challenge BE AT PICKLES?

Monday May 22nd at 12:00 Noon: 39TH LOCATION STOP!

HOW CAN I BE A PART OF HISTORY ?

Join us at 11:00AM Monday, May 22nd to meet the player pilots!

FOLLOW ALONG ON INSTAGRAM: muchodeanaero

(AKA, the Pickleball Pilot) Will document every mile and match along the journey so that everyone watch history in the making!

Pickleball Across the USA: Two Pilots Plot Continental Journey 

Two buddies in Sarasota, Florida, who share a love for flying and pickleball have found a way to combine them in an unusual feat. 

Shannon Yeager, 47, a professional private pilot, and his friend, Dean Matt, 63, who calls himself “The Pickleball Pilot,” are trying to set a Guinness World Record by playing one game of pickleball in each of the 48 states in the continental United States over a 48-day period.  The 48-48-48 Pickleball Challenge will fly them in a Cessna Turbo 206 plane over a mapped-out route spanning 8,122 nautical miles and 82 hours of flight time. 

“The event is just to showcase all the different places pickleball is played,” Matt said. “From park district courts, to country club courts, to private residences. We’ll be playing in the places the pros play. And we’ll be playing with people who are just learning.” 

The route includes 15 state capitals, the amazing Pickles Indoor Pickleball Club in New England, lots of tennis centers, a motor home resort in South Carolina, and sometimes multiple states in a day. Matt said that when he conceived the challenge of playing pickleball in every state in the continental United States, he wondered if it was even possible. “When I first got started, I thought, ‘Does Bismark, North Dakota, have pickleball?’ Well that question got answered right away.”

“Pickleball is everywhere and it’s growing every day.”  Yeager and Matt became friends over pickleball in their Florida community. Yeager had been playing for nearly four years, describing himself as a plateaued 3.0 player. Matt and his wife moved to Florida from the Midwest for recreation that took a surprise turn. “We moved to a golf course community, because we thought we’d be playing golf, but instead, we’ve been playing pickleball,” Matt said. Yeager, a working private pilot, said he is used to traveling with his pickleball paddle in his overnight bag. “No matter where I am, I can walk in and find a game within 15 minutes,” he said.

 The trip, scheduled to begin on May 1, 2023, will take the pair from their Southwest Florida home to Mobile, Alabama, for the first stop. The route then marches westward on a southerly route across the United States, then loops up toward Washington state, then eastward, through the Plains and Midwest, to eventually scooting southward along the East Coast and ending in a final match in Sarasota, where they live. “I’m sure that by the time we get done with this we’ll both be sick of each other and need a vacation,” Matt said. But for now, as the trip gets closer, there’s just anticipation and lots and lots of planning. Matt is still filling some holes in the calendar and lining up accommodations, sponsors, and what he hopes will be local news interest in their journey as they hopscotch across the country. Yeager says, “it’s the people, not the flying, that will be the real adventure.”

EVENT DAY & TIME 12:00 noon - monday MAY 22, 2023

Lisa DeMeritt, Co-Founder

lisa@picklesne.com | 781-816-5021  | picklesne.com | 357 Columbia Road in Hanover, MA