New Jersey native sets sights on pickleball glory
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Pickleballin' ain't easy, but someone's gotta do it! Photo: Courtesy of Richard Livornese Jr.
Wake up, hit the gym, train, teach, jet set across the country, hop on a red-eye flight home. Welcome to a day in the life of rising pro pickleballer Richard Livornese Jr.
State of play: The 22-year-old Flemington, New Jersey, native turned down a six-figure job in finance to risk it all on pickleball.
- Livornese works as an instructor and pro-in-residence at Malvern's Bounce Pickleball, which wants to become an Olympic-style training ground for the region's top pickleball players.
Why it matters: Serious-minded athletes are looking to cash in on the pickleball craze where players can earn well over six figures and haul in more in endorsement, like stars in the NFL, NBA and MLB.
Livornese, who competes on the Association of Pickleball Players tour, recently spoke to Axios by phone from California, where he won the silver medal in the men's doubles championship.
- Now with more than a half-dozen pro events under his belt, including many top 10 finishes, Livornese has signed an apparel deal that he hopes pays off one day.
Backstory: Livornese said he could've been a walk-on punter for Boston College's football team but instead focused on college lacrosse at the Stevens Institute of Technology, from which he recently graduated. He changed sports again when he was introduced to pickleball a couple years ago.
What they're saying: "This has been my dream – sports of some kind – since I was 3 years old," Livornese told Axios.
The big picture: A decade ago, this would've been a pipe dream.
- Thanks to pickleball's soaring popularity, Livornese can transform a hobby that began during a trip to his grandparents' home in Lake George, New York, into a potentially lucrative profession.
Between the lines: Bounce Pickleball also sees Livornese's star potential and is surrounding him with the resources to turn him "into the next LeBron James" of pickleball, Braden Keith, Bounce's marketing and operations manager, told Axios.
- They're bringing some of the sport's top coaches and players to train with and compete against Livornese.
What's ahead: Livornese is following a dedicated training regimen that includes film study and a strict diet he hopes will propel him to the next level.
The drawbacks? Coming from a big Italian family, Livornese has traded pasta and pizza for more salads.
- But he still eats ice cream and banana chocolate chip muffins and consumes about 4,000 calories, required to keep him going while he logs up to 60,000 steps on the pickleball court.
The bottom line: Hard work pays off. Livornese is on the APP's team of top rising stars under 23.
- "It's an unbelievably easy sport to play," he said. "And it's unbelievably challenging to master."