Eric Amend

Eric’s unique talents and skills will support Kingdom Franchisees by training their staff on how to keep the club and courts looking great!

Eric comes to us from the tennis world.  Eric represented the United States in the 1984 Olympic Games in Men’s Singles Tennis at the age of 18!  He went on to play tennis for USC where he was a 3x All-American.  Eric also played at Wimbledon, the US Open, and French Open.  Then he coached at USC for 5 years.

Eric now has transitioned his game from tennis to pickleball.  He plays competitively at the 4.5 and 5.0 levels and sees many podium appearances.   

In the corporate world, Eric has had various management jobs running sporting goods stores.  At Pickleball Kingdom, he oversees the facility itself as the Facilities Director at Pickleball Kingdom.  He assists franchisees in the process of maintaining their clubs.

Eric Amend

Ace Rodrigues

Founder and CEO

When asked how he came up with the concept of Pickleball Kingdom, Ace likes to say, “On a windy, dirty court while standing in the sun waiting to play on January 9, 2021, I said out loud, ‘There has to be a better way.’ And then God threw this lightning bolt of a mission into my heart that has lit my brain on fire, and it’s been blazing ever since.”  

And the pickleball world has been better for it. Ace’s past experiences founding companies, scaling growth, and creating support networks, primarily in the financial services and energy efficiency sectors, serves him well in setting the go-forward vision to build Pickleball Kingdom.   

Having developed and coined numerous concepts and phrases that are now industry standards, Ace’s innovative approach continues to craft the path for not only the Kingdom brand, but the greater indoor pickleball industry itself. The creation of “Pickleball Paddle Battle,” a competition reality show is one such example of Ace’s leading-edge thinking.  

Originally from Hawaii, Ace has been married to Tracy for over 30 years and they have 2 children and 2 grandchildren. Ace and Tracy love sports, movies, and eating out. 

What motivates him? “I’m the most blessed man on the planet. So, my drive is to create Kings and Queens of Kingdoms, which are our franchisees, first throughout America, then throughout the world.”