Pickleball influencers face off in (mostly) friendly competition

Alex Lantz

Director of Content

Last Edited

Jan 28 2026

Category

News

Many of the biggest paddle reviewers and personalities in pickleball are now competing against each other in a new competition organized by Pickleball.com.

The contest -- appropriately called Pickleball Pick'em -- involves teams of 3 making their picks for every PPA Tour event. The participants are asked to make their selections for each bracket (men's singles, women's singles, mixed doubles, men's doubles and women's doubles), and a running score total is kept throughout the season.

Here are the teams in the competition:

Identify as a 5.0 (past champions)
Captain: Marcus Noftle (Pickleball.com personality)
Brett Mack (janitor)
Samson Falau (paddle reviewer)

Pickleball Studio
Captain: Chris Olson (paddle reviewer, 2nd place last year)
Aizec Olson (paddle reviewer, 2nd place last year)
Sam (fan/player)

The Kitchen
Captain: Alex Lantz (writer)
Katie (fan/player)
Mary (fan/player)

Team Kew
Captain: John Kew (paddle reviewer)
Levi (fan/player)
Clayton (fan/player)

Pickleball Effect
Captain: Braydon Unsicker (paddle reviewer)
Aaron The Editor (creator)
Wesdawg (creator)

The teams are competing for bragging rights and a trophy at the end of the season. The first edition of this competition started in the fall of 2025, but the format has since been tweaked and there was some shuffling/consolidation of the teams.

Identify as a 5.0 is technically the defending champs, but given the changes in the offseason, at this point that seems a little bit like winning the AFL title before the Super Bowl existed. We're not sure if it should be recognized.

After two events in 2026 -- the PPA Tour Masters and the Indoor National Championships -- the standings are close.

Pickleball Studio: 3,976 total points
Identify as a 5.0: 3,970
The Kitchen: 3,956
Team Kew: 3,819
Pickleball Effect: 3,809

You can catch new episodes of the recap show every week on the Pickleball.com YouTube channel. Watch Episode 1 below, which explains the updated format, new team lineups and early predictions from the crew on where everyone will finish.