Shelby Bates

Please welcome our newest Team ONIX member, Shelby Bates.

Shelby has quickly made a name for herself in the pickleball world and has already become a household name. She started competing in early 2022 and states that "My club needed to add pickleball because it was growing as a sport. We had an exhibition at our club and that’s when I got started.”

Within just six months after that, she decided she wanted to go pro. Shelby started competing professionally in August of 2022. Shelby was born and raised in Jericho, New York, and was the daughter of a tennis pro. She played junior tennis before receiving a scholarship to Coastal Carolina University in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where she finished her senior year playing 1 doubles and 2 singles.

Shortly after finishing up her career as a tennis player, she started teaching the sport after moving to St. Augustine, Florida, and she now resides in Jupiter, Florida. She now continues to teach tennis and pickleball at a private country club in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

Shelby says she loves pickleball because the sport “is super inclusive, super fun, and exciting. I love the energy that it brings, but it also allows everybody to participate and always have fun no matter what their skill level, no matter what their age or sports background is.”

Accolades:

• 2023 Boca Raton Masters Bronze Women’s Pro Doubles

• 2022 World Pickleball Open Silver Women’s Pro Doubles

• 2022 PPA Texas Round Up Bronze Women’s Pro Doubles