{"id":373,"date":"2026-05-16T04:32:49","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T04:32:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=373"},"modified":"2026-05-16T04:32:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T04:32:49","slug":"phoenix-area-pickleball-prodigy-eyes-going-pro-at-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=373","title":{"rendered":"Phoenix-area pickleball prodigy eyes going pro at 14"},"content":{"rendered":"
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PHOENIX (AZFamily)<\/b> \u2014 A Valley 14-year-old is making waves in the up-and-coming sport, putting him on the doorstep of becoming a pro before he can even drive.<\/p>\n

Read more Phoenix social media influencer accused of hiding $1.2M from IRS<\/a><\/p>\n

While Maverick Messinger has tons of talent, like most teenagers, he started by playing with his family.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started playing during COVID and I hated it, but I think I just didn\u2019t like playing with my family,\u201d Messinger said.<\/p>\n

It was not all sunshine and rainbows right off the bat, as Messinger said he was losing to people who are experts in the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started playing with my sister and one of my friends and I mean I would get beat up by all the grandmas because I didn\u2019t know what to do,\u201d Messinger said.<\/p>\n

Since then, he has found himself collecting medals at all sorts of events, most recently winning the Boys Doubles Championship at the PPA San Clemente Finals, placing him at No. 7 in the junior rankings. For a competitive kid, the thrill of winning is what he plays for.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just love the feeling I get when I win, I don\u2019t know how to explain it but it only happens when I win,\u201d Messinger said.<\/p>\n

Read more Judge blocks Pinal County attorney\u2019s cooperation deal with ICE<\/a><\/p>\n

He trains with other local pros who are full-grown adults, and he said playing a pickup match against someone who doesn\u2019t know how good he is is always a treat.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I play, they are definitely surprised, they make this face and lift the eyebrow,\u201d Messinger said.<\/p>\n

The 14-year-old now has his eyes set on going pro. He already has sponsorship deals and hopes next year he cracks through.<\/p>\n

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? <\/i>Please click here to report it<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send <\/i>it to us here<\/i> with a brief description.<\/i><\/p>\n

Read more Small plane hits pole in Tucson near Park, Bilby<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Valley 14-year-old is taking aim at pickleball\u2019s big leagues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":372,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nPhoenix-area pickleball prodigy eyes going pro at 14 - Tucson Moving Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=373\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Phoenix-area pickleball prodigy eyes going pro at 14 - Tucson Moving Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Valley 14-year-old is taking aim at pickleball\u2019s big leagues.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=373\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Tucson Moving Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-16T04:32:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=373#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=373\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/71841c7d449e6ab1ace6bce2f5277255\"},\"headline\":\"Phoenix-area pickleball prodigy eyes going pro at 14\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-16T04:32:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=373\"},\"wordCount\":346,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=373#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/8a3581634c45314235a1b434f4aa8b8c.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=373#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=373\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=373\",\"name\":\"Phoenix-area pickleball prodigy eyes going pro at 14 - 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