Kyle Yates

Background

Kyle Yates was introduced to pickleball by his uncle, Mike Welter, in 2011, down at Wakehatchee Rec Center in Fort Myers, Florida.

As a kid, Kyle enjoyed playing many sports such as tennis, soccer, golf, table tennis, basketball, among others, but quickly fell in love with pickleball in high school.

To find more competitive games, he would often travel to The Villages, FL, to hone his skills with some of the country’s best players at that time. He even participated in the annual Pickleball Pro Exhibition at The Villages in 2014. Those top players inspired Yates to compete on the national scale by traveling to California for the annual SoCal Classic where he won Gold in the Men’s Pro Singles Division. He also played in his first professional tournament and the USAPA Nationals in Arizona where he claimed gold in Men’s Doubles 19+ and Bronze in Open Mixed Doubles.

Yates became a household pickleball name after taking the Men’s Pro Doubles title at the Minto US Open in 2016, which was broadcast nationally on CBS Sports Network for the first time. He would go on to keep that title for 4 straight years with a career total of 7 Pro Gold medals at that event to date.

COMPETITION AND AWARDS RECOGNITION: