On a recent Saturday afternoon, some 400 tan and toned Hollywood types trekked out to ‘s L.A. estate to attend a pickleball party.
The gathering came complete with influencer-led cardio classes, swimming, a taco truck, a full bar and a DJ. As pickleball has matured during the past few years from a craze to an entrenched pastime, various games around Los Angeles jockey for top honors as the favored spot to play and be seen. And Foxx’s game is serving up both great play and the Hollywood sport of great networking.
“If you get good at pickleball, you never know who you might meet,” explains Taylor Chien, a producer who has partnered with Foxx in the gear company The Best Paddle. “I tell young people it’s the greatest way to network. Doors open up quickly on the pickleball courts.
” Two years ago, Chien and Foxx started a brand that designs and manufactures paddles for pickleball. (Their top-of-the-line carbon fiber paddles retail for $120, at .) Foxx’s estate undoubtedly is one of the best paddle compounds ever built, sporting three courts on the property.
And getting on the list for the Oscar-winning actor’s pickleball parties is not easy. “People are sending us DMs to get into the events,” says Chien of the bigger tournaments they put on. “It started with 50 people and has grown to 400.
” One of the guests who always makes the cut is Matt Manasse. When he recently stepped onto the court, he received the star treatment. The 36-year-old pro pickleball pla.