Lesa Carter stumbled onto pickleball while helping a friend move to Fort Meyers, Florida, back in 2010. During her visit, someone asked Lesa to play pickleball and she was immediately hooked.

 

When she returned to Ithaca, however, Lesa couldn’t find anyone who was playing pickleball. So she joined a game with a group of seniors at the Cortland County Office of the Aging. She became so good that she starting playing in tournaments across the country, and winning.

 

Lesa finally found a venue for pickleball in Ithaca when she saw a vacacy in The Shops at Ithaca Mall in 2020 and rented it on the spot.

 

Today, Pickleball Mania attracts nearly 400 players a week, holds at least four tournaments a year and offers clinics and private lessons. Lesa has not only created a pickleball center where people can play year-round, but she has also created a community that has brought people together to enjoy America’s fastest growing sport.