This is a developing story. Erik Tice contributed to the reporting of this article.
Somewhere near Austin, TX, roughly 10 miles north of downtown, a large black case full of pickleball paddle testing equipment disappeared out of a moving truck and vanished into the night.
The case (pictured above) contained the Pickle Press, the deflection testing machine made by Pickle Pro Labs and used by the UPA-A for onsite testing at their pro events, including the PPA Tour and MLP.
Here's What We Know
At the conclusion of MLP Austin, the machine, valued at $60,000, was loaded onto a moving truck destined for the following weekend's MLP Phoenix event.
Sometime between the crew packing up the truck on Tuesday night (May 27) at the Austin Pickle Ranch and departing for Mesa, AZ, the following morning, the equipment was stolen.
We don't know who took it, or if they had any idea what it was when they did. We just know it's gone.
The Pickle Press is stored in a black, heavy-duty protective case that measures 19 inches long, 10 inches wide, and 30 inches high. It weighs 167 pounds.
A police report was filed (which we've seen). We're told Austin authorities are actively investigating the whereabouts of the equipment, but it has not yet been recovered.
Alex E. Weaver
What Happens Now?
Pickle Pro Labs has three of these machines at its disposal. One is missing, one stays at their lab at all times, and the third will now be deployed to MLP Daytona and subsequent UPA events to continue regularly scheduled onsite testing.
These machines are one prong in a paddle testing protocol rolled out by the UPA-A early this year.
- All paddles in MLP and on the PPA Tour require UPA-A Certification
- Paddles are then tested onsite to ensure compliance
- During an event, players can challenge a paddle they think is outside the allowed performance standards
It's worth noting that we didn't hear of any issues with paddles from the most recent MLP event in Mesa, AZ, despite the absence of an onsite testing machine.
It was only one event, but this could be seen as a positive indicator for the UPA-A – perhaps the already established certification process and the looming threat of a player challenge was enough to compensate for the void in onsite testing. At least for a single event.
Luke Burton
Where Is the Pickle Press?
The case of the missing Pickle Press is an active police investigation, so we can't disclose some details and there's many more we just don't know.
We can say police are actively investigating the machine's whereabouts, but it has not yet been recovered. We'll also concede this whole thing is a rather odd situation, with far more questions currently than answers.
It's hard to imagine what some opportunistic nocturnal truck bandit might do with such a highly specialized and complex piece of equipment. It's also hard to believe, though we suppose not impossible, that this was anything more than just that – someone, somehow caught sight of a big black case in the back of a truck that looked like it might contain something expensive, so they took it.
Here's hoping Pickle Pro Labs can fully recover their pricey Pickle Press without incident.
A small piece of us, we'll admit, would love to see a mysterious, 200-pound carrying case get plopped down on the counter in a future episode of "Pawn Stars"...
This story is ongoing; we'll update this article as more information becomes available.
