APP Next Heads to Dallas The Future of Pickleball Takes the Court
While the headlines often focus on the established stars of the APP Tour, there's another stage where the sport's future is quietly being built — and this weekend, that stage is in Allen, Texas.
APP Next Dallas runs Friday, June 19 through Sunday, June 21, at the Chicken N Pickle complex located at 1221 Johnson Rd, Allen, TX — an indoor facility built for exactly this kind of high-level competition. Founded in 2021, APP Next remains the only dedicated player development tour in professional pickleball, designed specifically for athletes 23 and under. The DinkAssociation of Pickleball Players
Why This Tournament Matters More Than the Scoreboard
It would be easy to look at APP Next as simply a smaller, junior version of the main tour. But that view misses what is actually happening here — and why it matters so much for the long-term health of the sport.
Every major sport that has achieved lasting global relevance has built its success on the same foundation: a structured pipeline that identifies, develops, and elevates young talent long before they ever reach the professional stage. Tennis has its junior ITF circuit. Golf has its amateur and collegiate pathways. Basketball has AAU and high school showcases feeding directly into college and the pros.
Pickleball, as a sport still defining its own infrastructure, needed exactly this. APP Next is that foundation.
What makes this format so valuable is not just the prize money or the ranking points — it's the environment itself. These are players under 23 competing against each other at a genuinely high level, in a structured, professional-style event, with real stakes and real visibility. That is fundamentally different from playing in a local club tournament or an open amateur bracket. It teaches young athletes how to handle pressure, how to manage a multi-day competitive format, and how to build the mental and physical habits that separate good players from future professionals.
For the sport as a whole, this matters enormously. Every young player who comes through APP Next and eventually makes the jump to the APP Tour represents proof that the pathway works — that pickleball is no longer just a sport people discover as adults, but one with a genuine developmental ecosystem capable of producing homegrown talent from a young age. That is exactly the kind of infrastructure that turns a fast-growing sport into a sustainable global one.
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The Weekend in Allen, Texas
This year's Dallas stop has drawn 68 competitors under the age of 23, registered through UTR Sports, all competing for a $15,000 prize purse. The event features Open categories along with U12 and U14 divisions, spanning skill levels from 3.5 all the way up to 5.0 and above, in a round-robin format that advances into single elimination. The Dink
The weekend breaks down like this:
Friday kicks off with Mixed Doubles play, alongside Men's Doubles alternates. Saturday shifts to Gender Doubles — Men's and Women's. And Sunday closes the tournament with Gender Singles matches and the finals. Because of the round-robin structure, matches run continuously throughout each day — meaning there's rarely a dead moment on the courts. The DinkThe Dink
Seeding for each bracket is determined officially right before the day's matches begin, based strictly on each player's dynamic UTR ranking — ensuring the country's young talent is distributed fairly across groups, with every match meaning something for the bigger picture. The Dink
The inclusion of U12 and U14 brackets this year is particularly notable. It signals that APP Next isn't just thinking about today's under-23 talent pool — it's already building the pipeline for the generation coming after this one, starting the developmental clock even earlier.
Want to watch? The event will not air on national television, since CBS Sports and ESPN coverage is reserved exclusively for the 13 major events on the main APP Tour circuit. But fans can follow the action through digital streaming on the APP Tour's official channels — YouTube and Facebook — along with live, point-by-point scoring through the UTR Sports platform. The Dink
Watching the Pipeline Build in Real Time
For many of these 68 players, Dallas represents a genuine opportunity — a chance to be seen, to climb the rankings, and to take one more step on the pathway that leads directly toward the professional APP Tour. These are the talented and aspiring young pros ready to explode onto the professional tour in the years ahead. The Kitchen
At DINK Authority Magazine, we'll be following this developmental pipeline closely — not just this weekend, but throughout the season. We believe events like APP Next deserve the same attention and respect as the headline tour stops, because the names that emerge from Allen, Texas this weekend may very well be the names headlining Cincinnati, Chicago, and Detroit a few short years from now.
If you want to know who pickleball will be talking about in 2030, this is exactly where you start looking. And we'll be right here, watching it unfold — bringing you the best of this APP stop and every one that follows.
"See you on the courts."
While the headlines often focus on the established stars of the APP Tour, there's another stage where the sport's future is quietly being built — and this weekend, that stage is in Allen, Texas.
APP Next Dallas runs Friday, June 19 through Sunday, June 21, at the Chicken N Pickle complex located at 1221 Johnson Rd, Allen, TX — an indoor facility built for exactly this kind of high-level competition. Founded in 2021, APP Next remains the only dedicated player development tour in professional pickleball, designed specifically for athletes 23 and under. The DinkAssociation of Pickleball Players
Why This Tournament Matters More Than the Scoreboard
It would be easy to look at APP Next as simply a smaller, junior version of the main tour. But that view misses what is actually happening here — and why it matters so much for the long-term health of the sport.
Every major sport that has achieved lasting global relevance has built its success on the same foundation: a structured pipeline that identifies, develops, and elevates young talent long before they ever reach the professional stage. Tennis has its junior ITF circuit. Golf has its amateur and collegiate pathways. Basketball has AAU and high school showcases feeding directly into college and the pros.
Pickleball, as a sport still defining its own infrastructure, needed exactly this. APP Next is that foundation.
What makes this format so valuable is not just the prize money or the ranking points — it's the environment itself. These are players under 23 competing against each other at a genuinely high level, in a structured, professional-style event, with real stakes and real visibility. That is fundamentally different from playing in a local club tournament or an open amateur bracket. It teaches young athletes how to handle pressure, how to manage a multi-day competitive format, and how to build the mental and physical habits that separate good players from future professionals.
For the sport as a whole, this matters enormously. Every young player who comes through APP Next and eventually makes the jump to the APP Tour represents proof that the pathway works — that pickleball is no longer just a sport people discover as adults, but one with a genuine developmental ecosystem capable of producing homegrown talent from a young age. That is exactly the kind of infrastructure that turns a fast-growing sport into a sustainable global one.
LOVE PICKLEBALL?
Get Dink Authority Magazine updates, new editions, pro stories and event alerts.
We respect your privacy. Unsubscribe anytime.
The Weekend in Allen, Texas
This year's Dallas stop has drawn 68 competitors under the age of 23, registered through UTR Sports, all competing for a $15,000 prize purse. The event features Open categories along with U12 and U14 divisions, spanning skill levels from 3.5 all the way up to 5.0 and above, in a round-robin format that advances into single elimination. The Dink
The weekend breaks down like this:
Friday kicks off with Mixed Doubles play, alongside Men's Doubles alternates. Saturday shifts to Gender Doubles — Men's and Women's. And Sunday closes the tournament with Gender Singles matches and the finals. Because of the round-robin structure, matches run continuously throughout each day — meaning there's rarely a dead moment on the courts. The DinkThe Dink
Seeding for each bracket is determined officially right before the day's matches begin, based strictly on each player's dynamic UTR ranking — ensuring the country's young talent is distributed fairly across groups, with every match meaning something for the bigger picture. The Dink
The inclusion of U12 and U14 brackets this year is particularly notable. It signals that APP Next isn't just thinking about today's under-23 talent pool — it's already building the pipeline for the generation coming after this one, starting the developmental clock even earlier.
Want to watch? The event will not air on national television, since CBS Sports and ESPN coverage is reserved exclusively for the 13 major events on the main APP Tour circuit. But fans can follow the action through digital streaming on the APP Tour's official channels — YouTube and Facebook — along with live, point-by-point scoring through the UTR Sports platform. The Dink
Watching the Pipeline Build in Real Time
For many of these 68 players, Dallas represents a genuine opportunity — a chance to be seen, to climb the rankings, and to take one more step on the pathway that leads directly toward the professional APP Tour. These are the talented and aspiring young pros ready to explode onto the professional tour in the years ahead. The Kitchen
At DINK Authority Magazine, we'll be following this developmental pipeline closely — not just this weekend, but throughout the season. We believe events like APP Next deserve the same attention and respect as the headline tour stops, because the names that emerge from Allen, Texas this weekend may very well be the names headlining Cincinnati, Chicago, and Detroit a few short years from now.
If you want to know who pickleball will be talking about in 2030, this is exactly where you start looking. And we'll be right here, watching it unfold — bringing you the best of this APP stop and every one that follows.
"See you on the courts."
